Chapter 4 - The Trap at Calder Dock
The plan came from the drive.
Arthur had recorded everything.
Including Voss’s private dock schedule.
Victor spread printed maps across the conference table.
Daniel stood opposite him.
I sat nearby with an ice pack pressed against my ribs.
Daniel pointed to a warehouse.
“Voss keeps Arthur here.”
“You’re sure?” I asked.
“No,” Daniel said. “That’s the problem.”
Victor studied the layout.
“He wants the drive.”
“He wants you too,” Daniel replied.
Victor looked at him.
“Good.”
I frowned.
“What does that mean?”
“It means I give him what he wants.”
“No.”
Victor turned to me.
“I’m not asking.”
“You spent all night telling me men shouldn’t make decisions for me.”
“That applies to your life.”
“This involves my brother.”
“And my war.”
I pushed myself upright.
“Your war landed on my face.”
Daniel looked away.
Victor took the hit without reacting.
“Yes.”
“So I’m involved.”
“Sadie—”
“If I stay here and Arthur dies, I live with it forever.”
Victor watched me.
I lowered my voice.
“I’m not asking you to hand me a gun. I’m asking you not to treat me like luggage.”
Daniel coughed lightly.
Victor glanced at him.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
Victor looked back at me.
“You stay in the vehicle.”
“Fine.”
“You do exactly what Daniel says.”
“Fine.”
“If anything changes, you leave.”
“Fine.”
“You’re agreeing suspiciously fast.”
“I’m injured, Victor. Not stupid.”
For the first time, I saw him smile.
Barely.
But it was there.
An hour later, three black SUVs entered Calder Dock.
Rain had begun.
Victor sat beside me in the back.
“You’re shaking.”
“I’m cold.”
“You’re terrified.”
“That too.”
He removed his coat.
I stared at it.
“I’m not wearing your coat.”
“Why?”
“Because then I’ll look like someone in a crime movie.”
He looked around the armored SUV.
“Sadie.”
“Fair point.”
I took it.
The convoy stopped.
Daniel’s voice came through the radio.
“Movement ahead.”
Victor checked his phone.
“Voss wants me alone.”
I grabbed his sleeve.
“Don’t.”
He looked at my hand.
This time, I didn’t let go.
“He wants you angry.”
“I’m rarely angry.”
“I saw Leon.”
“That wasn’t anger.”
“What was it?”
“Disappointment.”
I stared at him.
“That is somehow worse.”
Victor opened the door.
“Stay here.”
He stepped into the rain.
Across the dock, Dominic Voss emerged beneath a warehouse awning.
Tall.
Gray suit.
Umbrella held by another man.
Arthur stood beside him with his hands restrained.
Even from the SUV, I saw his bruised face.
My breath caught.
Victor walked alone into the open.
Voss called out.
“Where’s my drive?”
“Where’s my accountant?”
Arthur snapped, “I quit!”
Victor looked at him.
“Not now, Arthur.”
Voss laughed.
Then he lifted a pistol and pressed it against Arthur’s side.
I froze.
Victor didn’t.
“You shoot him,” Victor said, “you lose the drive.”
“You care whether he lives?”
“No.”
Arthur looked offended.
Victor continued.
“But Sadie does.”
Voss smiled.
“So there it is.”
His eyes moved toward our SUV.
My stomach dropped.
“He knows I’m here.”
Daniel cursed.
“How?”
Then the SUV’s front passenger door suddenly opened.
One of Victor’s guards turned.
A second man struck him from behind.
Daniel shouted into the radio.
“Inside betrayal!”
Victor spun toward us.
Everything happened at once.
The rear door beside me opened.
Leon Briggs stood outside.
My blood went cold.
“Miss me?”
I scrambled across the seat.
Leon grabbed my ankle.
I kicked him with my free leg.
He cursed.
“Still fighting.”
Daniel charged toward us.
Leon released me and ran between shipping containers.
Victor was already moving.
But Voss shouted.
“One more step!”
Victor stopped.
Arthur had the gun against his neck now.
Voss smiled.
“Bring Sadie.”
Victor looked toward me.
I could see the calculation in his face.
Then Arthur suddenly laughed.
Voss frowned.
“What?”
Arthur looked straight at Victor.
“You always said I was bad at numbers.”
Victor’s eyes narrowed.
Arthur drove his heel backward into Voss’s knee.
The gun swung away.
Daniel shouted.
Victor’s men moved.
The dock exploded into chaos.
I ducked inside the SUV.
Seconds later, someone ripped open the opposite door.
Arthur.
“Sadie!”
I stared at him.
“You idiot.”
“I know.”
He climbed inside.
“I’m sorry.”
“You should be.”
“Can we do this later?”
A gunshot cracked outside.
I flinched.
Victor appeared at the door.
“Everyone okay?”
Arthur nodded.
Victor looked at me.
I nodded too.
Then Daniel shouted from across the dock.
“Victor! Voss is running!”
Victor turned.
I caught his wrist.
“Let him go.”
His eyes met mine.
“He’ll come back.”
“Then beat him without becoming him.”
For several seconds, rain hammered the roof.
Victor looked toward the darkness where Voss had disappeared.
Then at Arthur.
Then at me.
He closed the SUV door.
“Daniel.”
“Yes?”
“Call the federal contact.”
Arthur stared at him.
“You’re turning everything over?”
Victor looked at the flash drive in Daniel’s hand.
“Every file.”
“Even yours?”
Victor nodded.
Arthur blinked.
“That could bury you.”
Victor’s gaze moved to me.
May you like
“Maybe some things deserve to be buried.”
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