Chapter 5 - Pier Nine
At 11:42 p.m., fog covered the waterfront.
Helena wore a concealed vest beneath her coat.
Marcus checked it personally.
“You pull this strap any tighter, I won’t breathe.”
“That solves the getting-shot problem.”
She looked at him.
“Was that a joke?”
“No.”
“Yes, it was.”
Marcus handed her a small earpiece.
Nico waited nearby.
Renner remained at Marcus’s house under guard.
Helena held the recorder.
A copy.
The original was somewhere Hale would never find.
“You stay behind me,” Marcus said.
“I’m the police officer.”
“I’m the person they expect to kill first.”
“That isn’t reassuring.”
“It wasn’t intended to be.”
They entered Pier Nine.
Shipping containers formed narrow corridors beneath yellow industrial lights.
Captain Barrett stepped from the shadows.
Three armed men stood behind him.
No uniforms.
Helena stopped.
“Where’s the girl?”
Barrett smiled.
“Detective Callahan.”
“Where is she?”
“Safe.”
Marcus spoke.
“You should have brought Hale.”
Barrett’s expression hardened.
“He’s busy.”
Helena raised the recorder.
“You want this?”
“Yes.”
“Bring me the girl.”
A van door opened.
A teenage girl stepped out.
Terrified.
Alive.
Helena exhaled.
“Let her walk.”
Barrett nodded.
The girl moved toward Helena.
Halfway across the yard, headlights appeared.
Multiple vehicles.
Deputy Chief Warren Hale stepped from the first.
Helena stared.
Hale wore a long black coat.
No badge visible.
“You always were stubborn,” he said.
Helena pushed the girl behind Marcus.
“You murdered my father.”
Hale sighed.
“Thomas murdered himself.”
Marcus’s expression changed.
Helena stepped forward.
“Say that again.”
“Your father had a choice.”
“What choice?”
“To understand how this city works.”
Hale gestured toward the port.
“Money enters here. Power enters here. Politicians pretend they control it. Police pretend they enforce it. Men like Ferraro pretend they’re outside the system.”
Marcus’s jaw tightened.
Hale continued.
“Thomas wanted rules.”
“He was a cop.”
“He was naive.”
Helena’s voice hardened.
“He was better than you.”
Hale smiled.
“That belief cost your mother everything.”
The words struck harder than Helena expected.
Marcus moved slightly closer to her.
Hale noticed.
“Oh.”
His smile widened.
“This is interesting.”
Helena said nothing.
“The detective and the criminal.”
Marcus’s voice was flat.
“Careful.”
Hale laughed.
“You carried her straight into a hospital this morning in another version of your future, Ferraro?”
Marcus frowned.
Hale was speaking strangely.
Then Helena saw Barrett’s hand move.
Too late.
A shot cracked through the fog.
Pain tore through Helena’s side.
She fell.
Marcus caught her before she hit the ground.
Chaos erupted.
Nico’s men moved from hidden positions.
Helena heard shouting.
Engines.
Someone screaming.
Marcus dragged her behind a concrete barrier.
“Helena.”
“I’m okay.”
“You’re bleeding.”
“I noticed.”
His hands pressed against her side.
She gasped.
“Sorry.”
“Don’t apologize. Fix it.”
Marcus looked at her face.
“Stay awake.”
“You’re very demanding.”
“Helena.”
She forced her eyes open.
Through the fog, Hale shouted:
“Give me the recorder!”
Helena laughed weakly.
Marcus stared at her.
“What?”
“He still thinks it’s real.”
Marcus understood.
He stood slightly.
“Warren!”
Hale looked toward him.
Marcus raised the recorder.
“You want it?”
Hale stepped from cover.
“Throw it.”
Marcus looked at Helena.
She whispered:
“Do it.”
He threw it.
Hale caught the device.
For the first time, satisfaction appeared on his face.
Then Helena said loudly:
“You just confessed on six livestreams.”
Hale froze.
Marcus smiled.
Nico stepped from behind a container holding a phone.
So did two others.
Renner’s prerecorded confession had been uploaded minutes earlier.
Helena’s conversation with Hale had been broadcasting from the moment he arrived.
Hale looked around.
“You stupid girl.”
Sirens screamed in the distance.
Not Providence Police.
Rhode Island State Police.
Federal agents.
News vans.
Hale raised his weapon.
Marcus moved.
Another shot cracked.
Helena saw Marcus stumble.
Then everything blurred.
She heard him shouting her name.
He lifted her.
“No.”
She tried to push him away.
“Marcus, leave me.”
“Absolutely not.”
“Cops are coming.”
“I know.”
“They’ll arrest you.”
“Probably.”
“Then go.”
Marcus picked her up.
Her head fell against his shoulder.
She could hear his heart pounding.
“Why are you doing this?”
His voice was low.
“Because twelve years ago your father carried me out of a warehouse when staying would have been easier.”
Helena’s vision darkened.
Marcus tightened his grip.
“He told me something that night.”
“What?”
“That debts aren’t repaid with money.”
She barely heard him.
“They’re repaid when it costs you something.”
May you like
Then darkness took her.
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