Chapter 6 - The Man Behind the Target
Victor Kane looked older than Gabriel remembered.
His hair was silver.
His face was thin.
But his eyes were exactly the same.
Cold.
Patient.
Predatory.
He looked at Gabriel.
"You've become sentimental."
Gabriel raised his weapon.
"You've become stupid."
Victor smiled.
"Maybe."
He looked at Emma.
"Give me the child."
"No."
"Then everyone dies."
Sarah stepped forward.
"Victor."
He looked at her.
"You should be dead."
"I was."
"You survived."
"So did you."
Victor laughed.
"That's why I like you."
Gabriel kept his weapon trained.
"Why Emma?"
Victor's expression changed.
"Because her mother left something inside her."
Hannah frowned.
"What?"
Victor smiled.
"Not the ledger."
Gabriel's eyes narrowed.
"What then?"
"A key."
Silence.
Hannah looked at Emma.
Victor continued.
"Daniel knew he couldn't hide the ledger forever."
"He hid it."
"Yes."
"Where?"
Victor looked at Emma.
"With the child."
Gabriel stared.
Then remembered the baby's crawling.
Her pink onesie.
The missing sock.
Her tiny hands.
Nothing.
Then he noticed something.
The bracelet around Emma's wrist.
A small silver charm.
Gabriel reached for it.
Hannah stopped him.
"What?"
"That bracelet."
Sarah whispered:
"Daniel gave it to her."
Gabriel examined it.
The charm opened.
Inside was a microchip.
Victor smiled.
"Finally."
Gabriel looked at him.
"How did you know?"
"Because I gave Daniel the chip."
Gabriel's expression changed.
"You?"
Victor nodded.
"Daniel worked for me."
Hannah stared.
"Why would he?"
"Because he wanted to save his sister."
Hannah's face went white.
"Me?"
Victor nodded.
"You were the leverage."
Gabriel understood.
The entire story had been constructed around Hannah.
Daniel had pretended to be her husband.
Hannah had believed him.
Emma had been placed with her.
The child had been used as a hiding place because no one would suspect an infant.
Gabriel looked at Victor.
"What is on the chip?"
"Everything."
"Everything?"
"Names. Accounts. Payments. Judges. Police. Politicians."
Gabriel smiled coldly.
"Then why don't you take it?"
Victor's eyes moved toward Emma.
"Because the chip is encrypted."
"Password?"
"Daniel never told me."
"Who knows?"
Victor looked at Hannah.
"She does."
Hannah shook her head.
"I don't."
"You don't remember."
Gabriel turned toward her.
"Remember what?"
Victor smiled.
"The lullaby."
Hannah stared.
"What?"
"The song Daniel used to sing to Emma."
Hannah's face changed.
"He taught it to her before he died."
"That's the password."
Gabriel looked at Hannah.
She began humming softly.
A children's lullaby.
The chip flashed.
Victor smiled.
"Perfect."
Gabriel's eyes narrowed.
He suddenly understood.
The password had been hidden in plain sight.
But there was one problem.
Victor needed the chip.
Gabriel didn't intend to give it to him.
He moved.
The fight was immediate.
Sarah fired.
Matteo's men stormed the warehouse.
Victor escaped through a side door.
Gabriel chased him.
They reached the river.
Victor stopped.
"You're protecting the wrong people."
Gabriel raised his gun.
"No."
"You're risking everything for a maid and a baby."
Gabriel looked back.
Hannah stood at the warehouse entrance.
Emma rested against her shoulder.
Gabriel turned back.
"They're my family."
Victor laughed.
"You don't have family."
Gabriel's expression hardened.
"I do now."
Victor raised his weapon.
Gabriel fired.
Victor fell.
The river swallowed the weapon from his hand.
He survived.
Barely.
The police arrived minutes later.
The evidence on the chip was enough to trigger the largest corruption investigation New York had seen in decades.
But there was one final question.
Who had ordered Daniel to hide Emma?
And why?
Sarah knew.
She sat in Gabriel's study that night.
"You deserve the truth."
Gabriel looked at her.
"Tell me."
Sarah took a breath.
"Emma is not random."
"Who is she?"
Sarah looked toward the nursery.
"She is Gabriel Marlowe's niece."
He froze.
"What?"
"Your sister Lucia had a daughter."
Gabriel couldn't breathe.
"Lucia died twenty years ago."
"Yes."
"She never had a child."
Sarah shook her head.
"She did."
Gabriel stared at her.
"Where is she?"
Sarah looked at the nursery.
May you like
"You're looking at her."
Gabriel's world stopped.
