Chapter 4 - The Wrong Meeting
At 11:42 p.m., three black SUVs belonging to Gabriel Ross rolled toward Pier Seventeen.
Gabriel wasn’t in any of them.
Neither was Leo.
They approached Hawthorne Rail Depot from the south in an unmarked sedan.
Ella sat in the back, her wounded leg tightly bandaged.
Gabriel looked at her through the mirror.
“You stay in the car.”
“No.”
“That wasn’t a question.”
“Tyler needs to see me.”
“He needs to survive.”
“So do I.”
Gabriel turned.
“Exactly.”
Ella leaned forward.
“You promised to bring him home. You didn’t promise to lock me in a car.”
Leo muttered from the driver’s seat.
“She’s got you there.”
Gabriel glared at him.
“I pay you to agree with me.”
“No, you pay me to keep you alive.”
They entered through an abandoned maintenance tunnel.
Inside the depot, Tyler Bennett sat tied to a chair beneath a hanging industrial lamp.
Malcolm Barlowe stood beside him.
Nolan Wexler stood opposite.
Tyler laughed weakly.
“You two deserve each other.”
Barlowe struck the back of his chair.
“Where’s the original ledger?”
“You already had it.”
“We had files.”
Tyler smiled.
“I kept the source.”
Wexler leaned down.
“You’re going to tell me where.”
A voice came from the darkness.
“He already did.”
Gabriel stepped into the light.
Wexler spun around.
“You.”
Gabriel smiled.
“You expected me at the pier?”
Barlowe looked toward the doors.
“Kill him.”
Nothing happened.
Gabriel’s men had already secured the outer guards.
Leo appeared behind him.
“Problem?”
Ella stepped out.
Tyler’s eyes widened.
“Ella!”
“I’m okay.”
“What are you doing here?”
“Saving you.”
“You can barely walk!”
“Family tradition.”
Wexler grabbed Tyler.
“You think this changes anything?”
Gabriel stopped.
“It changes everything.”
Wexler laughed.
“You’re a criminal threatening a deputy commissioner.”
“No.”
Gabriel reached into his coat.
He removed a phone.
“You’re a deputy commissioner explaining your crimes to three separate federal investigators.”
Wexler’s face changed.
Ella stared at Gabriel.
“You contacted federal investigators?”
“I contacted people who dislike corrupt cops more than they dislike me.”
Sirens sounded outside.
Barlowe backed away.
“You gave them the ledger?”
“Copies.”
Wexler’s confidence collapsed.
“You’ll destroy yourself.”
“Possibly.”
Gabriel looked at Ella.
“But apparently I’ve developed expensive priorities.”
Federal agents entered the depot moments later.
Wexler was arrested.
Barlowe tried to bargain.
Nobody listened.
Ella limped toward her brother.
Tyler stared at her bruised face.
“What did they do to you?”
“I’ll explain later.”
He began crying.
“I’m sorry.”
Ella untied him.
“You should be.”
“I ruined everything.”
“No.”
She hugged him.
“You made terrible decisions.”
“That sounds worse.”
“It should.”
Gabriel watched them.
Leo stepped beside him.
“You’re smiling.”
“I am not.”
“You definitely are.”
“Leo.”
“I’ll stop.”
Gabriel looked at Ella again.
May you like
“Good.”
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