Chapter 6 - THE FRIEND WHO CAME BACK
Z
They found Jessica at 10:06 p.m.
Not at the ferry yard.
Not with Lincoln.
She appeared outside Adrian's gates barefoot, bleeding from one knee and pounding both fists against the steel until security nearly shot her.
Nora ran outside before anyone could stop her.
Jessica collapsed against her.
For one terrible second, Nora forgot everything.
Five years of friendship took over.
She caught her.
“Jess.”
Jessica sobbed into Nora's shoulder.
“I'm sorry.”
Nora held her because some habits survived betrayal too.
Adrian's doctor treated Jessica inside the guest room.
A cut above her eyebrow.
Rope burns.
Bruised ribs.
No gunshot wound.
The blood in the car had been hers, but she was alive.
When the doctor left, Nora sat across from the bed.
Adrian remained near the door.
Jessica looked at him and went pale.
“You're Adrian Cross.”
“So I'm told.”
Nora almost smiled.
Jessica didn't.
“You should kill me.”
Nora stiffened.
Adrian said, “That's not currently on my schedule.”
Jessica blinked.
Nora leaned forward.
“Tell us everything.”
Jessica closed her eyes.
“Lincoln approached me eight months ago.”
“Approached?”
“He already knew I was in debt.”
Nora frowned.
“What debt?”
“My brother.”
Jessica wiped tears away.
“He went to rehab twice. I borrowed money. Then more money. Lincoln somehow found out.”
Nora's anger became more complicated, which was inconvenient.
“He blackmailed you?”
“At first.”
“At first?”
Jessica looked directly at Nora.
“I'm not going to lie about that part. I slept with him because I wanted to.”
Nora looked away.
“I hated myself immediately. Then I did it again.”
Adrian remained silent.
Jessica continued.
“He told me your relationship had been over for months emotionally. He said he was waiting for you to admit it.”
Nora laughed bitterly.
“Classic.”
“I wanted to believe him.”
“So you did.”
“Yes.”
The honesty hurt, but it also removed the last illusion.
Nora nodded slowly.
“Keep going.”
“Lincoln needed access to Bellweather project files. He knew Cross Meridian would eventually reopen the restoration bid.”
Adrian said, “How?”
Jessica looked at him.
“Daniel Rourke.”
The name landed heavily.
Adrian didn't move.
Jessica continued.
“Daniel has worked with Richard Pierce for years.”
Marcus swore from the hallway.
Nora looked at Adrian.
His face revealed nothing.
But his hand had closed into a fist.
“Daniel told Lincoln when Bellweather would reopen,” Jessica said. “Lincoln made sure Nora's name went onto the recommended list.”
Nora's stomach twisted.
“So even the project wasn't an accident.”
“No.”
“But the wrong number was.”
Jessica looked confused.
“What wrong number?”
“Nothing.”
Adrian's gaze briefly found Nora's.
One thing, at least, had been real.
Ridiculous.
Accidental.
Real.
Jessica swallowed.
“Richard Pierce isn't in Arizona.”
“Where is he?” Adrian asked.
“At Bellweather.”
Nora stood.
“What?”
“Not the hotel rooms. Underground. There's another sealed level beneath the service tunnel.”
Nora's mind raced through the original plans.
“The old boiler foundation.”
Jessica nodded.
“Lincoln said Richard has been using it for years.”
Adrian moved toward the door.
Nora stood.
“Wait.”
He stopped.
“The room on the schematic.”
“The hidden safe.”
“It isn't a safe.”
Adrian looked at her.
Nora remembered the dimensions.
The exterior wall.
The false north foundation.
The tunnel alignment.
“It's an access corridor.”
“To what?”
“The original freight lift.”
She grabbed a pad and drew quickly.
“Bellweather was built before modern street grading. The basement used to sit one level lower. When the waterfront streets were raised and the building renovated, they sealed part of it.”
Jessica whispered, “Lincoln said there's a room nobody can reach without an architect.”
Nora shook her head.
“Not an architect.”
Everyone looked at her.
“A restoration specialist.”
Adrian understood first.
“He needed you to identify the original construction sequence.”
“Yes.”
Five years.
Lincoln had not simply needed Nora's office access.
He had needed Nora.
Her knowledge.
Her eye.
Her ability to look at a wall and understand what existed before it.
Adrian's phone rang.
Marcus answered from the corridor instead.
Then entered.
“Daniel is gone.”
Adrian's expression sharpened.
“So are twelve men from the waterfront detail.”
Jessica started shaking.
“He knows I escaped.”
Adrian looked at her.
“How did you escape?”
Jessica hesitated.
That hesitation changed the room.
Nora saw it.
So did Adrian.
Jessica whispered, “They let me.”
Silence.
Nora felt cold.
Jessica's eyes filled with terror.
“I didn't understand until I got here.”
Adrian moved first.
“Everybody out.”
Nora stood.
“What?”
Marcus already had his gun out.
“Move.”
Jessica stared down at her coat.
“No.”
Her hands began shaking harder.
“Nora.”
“What?”
“They put something in my pocket.”
Adrian grabbed Nora and pulled her backward.
Marcus shouted for security.
Jessica reached slowly inside her coat.
“Nobody move!” Marcus yelled.
She froze.
Adrian stepped forward himself.
Nora caught his sleeve.
“Don't.”
He looked at her.
Then at Jessica.
He approached carefully.
Two fingers slipped into Jessica's coat pocket.
He withdrew a small black device.
A tracker.
No explosive.
Adrian's face hardened.
“They wanted you to lead them here.”
At that exact moment, an alarm began screaming.
Marcus checked his phone.
“North gate breach.”
Another alarm.
“East wall.”
Then the lights died.
Adrian looked toward Nora.
“Safe room.”
Nora shook her head.
“They know your house.”
“Nora—”
“You said somebody installed surveillance in advance. Daniel knows your security. Your safe room might be the first place he expects.”
Adrian stopped.
She pointed toward the service hallway.
“Where's the oldest part of this house?”
“What?”
“The oldest structure.”
“The wine cellar.”
“Stone foundation?”
“Yes.”
“Exterior access?”
“One.”
“Take us there.”
They moved through darkness.
Gunfire erupted outside.
Jessica limped beside Nora.
Adrian and Marcus led them downstairs.
The wine cellar was built into the hillside.
Thick stone.
Narrow windows.
One old service door.
Nora inspected the masonry.
“This wall.”
Adrian stared at her.
“What about it?”
“It's newer than the rest.”
Marcus understood.
“Another exit?”
Nora pushed against one section.
Nothing.
She examined the floor.
Old brass track.
“Sliding wall.”
Adrian shoved.
The stone panel moved.
Behind it was a narrow tunnel running into darkness.
Nora looked at him.
“You really need better records for your properties.”
“This house was built in 1924.”
“Excuses.”
Adrian almost smiled.
Then Marcus's radio crackled.
A voice came through.
Daniel Rourke.
“Adrian.”
Everyone froze.
“Come upstairs.”
Adrian took the radio.
“No.”
Daniel laughed.
“You always were stubborn.”
Adrian's face became stone.
“Where are you?”
“In your father's office.”
Adrian's eyes sharpened.
Daniel continued.
“And I have something you want.”
A scream sounded through the radio.
Nora recognized it.
Martin Ellison.
Her boss.
Daniel said, “Bring Nora Whitmore upstairs.”
Nora's blood went cold.
“Why Martin?”
Daniel answered as though he could hear her.
“Because, Ms. Whitmore, Lincoln didn't choose your firm five years ago.”
A pause.
“Richard Pierce did.”
Nora stared at the radio.
May you like
Daniel laughed softly.
“And your boss has known exactly why since the day Lincoln first walked into your life.”
