Chapter 4 - The Secret Under Chicago
Julian pushed Elara behind a brick support column.
“Stay down.”
Gunfire flashed in the darkness.
Marco returned fire.
Daniel pulled Elara toward a recessed doorway.
“You still trust him?” he asked.
“He came back for me.”
“That isn't an answer.”
“It is tonight.”
Julian moved through the tunnel with frightening precision.
Three minutes later, the shooting stopped.
Marco called out.
“Clear.”
Emergency lights flickered on.
Two attackers had fled through a maintenance exit.
One remained unconscious.
Julian crouched beside him.
“Caldwell?”
The man said nothing.
Julian did not threaten him.
He simply removed the man’s phone.
Marco searched it.
“Encrypted.”
“Keep it.”
They continued underground until the tunnel opened into an old parking structure.
A backup vehicle waited.
Elara stared at Julian.
“You plan for everything?”
“No.”
He opened the door for her.
“Only betrayal.”
Daniel watched that exchange carefully.
They drove to a safe house in Lincoln Park.
A doctor treated Daniel’s gunshot wound.
It was shallow.
Elara sat nearby.
“You really watched me?”
Daniel looked ashamed.
“From a distance.”
“Birthdays?”
“Yes.”
“Graduation?”
“Yes.”
“Mom’s funeral?”
His eyes filled.
“Yes.”
Elara stood.
“You were there?”
“Across the street.”
“You let me bury her alone.”
“If I approached you, Caldwell’s people would know.”
“I needed my father.”
“I know.”
“No, you don’t.”
She left the room.
Julian stood in the hallway.
He had heard enough.
“Don't.”
She wiped her eyes.
“I wasn’t going to say anything.”
“That’s why I said don't.”
He handed her coffee.
She took it.
“You're strange.”
“So I've been told.”
They sat on the stairs.
For several minutes, neither spoke.
Then Elara looked at his hands.
“They stopped trembling.”
Julian understood.
“The gift.”
“Yes.”
“My mother’s compass had the same star.”
“Was she kind?”
“The kindest person I knew.”
“What happened?”
“My father’s enemies killed her.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I became useful after that.”
“To your father?”
“Yes.”
“Is that how you became this?”
Julian looked at her.
“This?”
She gestured vaguely.
“Terrifying.”
He almost smiled.
“I worked at it.”
She laughed.
It surprised both of them.
For a moment, the night became something else.
Then Marco appeared.
“We cracked the phone.”
Julian stood.
“What did you find?”
“Tomorrow morning. Eleven o’clock. Caldwell’s people are hitting First National.”
Daniel emerged from the bedroom.
“They can't access the vault without the key.”
Marco looked at him.
“They have a duplicate.”
Daniel went still.
“That’s impossible.”
“Apparently not.”
Elara held up the brass key.
“Then why do they need me?”
Daniel’s face darkened.
“The vault requires two forms of authorization.”
“What’s the second?”
“Your fingerprint.”
Elara stared.
“My fingerprint?”
“Rebecca established the account in your name.”
Julian immediately understood.
“Cross never planned to kill her.”
“Not before opening the vault.”
Elara looked at them.
“So we let them think they can.”
Julian said, “No.”
She turned.
“No?”
“No.”
“It’s my fingerprint.”
“And Cross’s guns.”
“My father’s ledger.”
“Which is exactly why you’re emotionally compromised.”
Elara stepped closer.
“You put your ring on my finger and announced I was under your protection.”
“Yes.”
“Protection isn't imprisonment.”
Julian stared at her.
Daniel looked almost amused.
Marco wisely said nothing.
Elara continued.
“We need the ledger before Caldwell gets it.”
Julian finally said, “There may be another way.”
There was.
At 10:52 the next morning, First National appeared closed.
But Julian had arranged private access through a board member who owed him a favor.
Elara, Daniel, Julian, and Marco entered underground.
The vault manager led them downstairs.
Elara pressed her thumb to the scanner.
Daniel inserted the key.
A green light appeared.
The compartment opened.
Inside was a black ledger.
Nothing else.
Daniel exhaled.
“Twenty years.”
Julian opened it.
Pages of names.
Dates.
Payments.
Elara saw Caldwell repeatedly.
Then she saw another surname.
Vane.
Julian’s father.
And beneath it—
Julian Vane.
Her stomach tightened.
“Julian.”
He looked.
A payment of $2.4 million had been recorded beside his name.
Date: six months ago.
Elara stepped back.
“You said you weren't involved.”
“I wasn't.”
“Your name is here.”
“This ledger is twenty years old.”
Daniel grabbed it.
“That page isn't.”
Everyone stared.
The paper was newer.
Someone had added entries.
Marco looked toward the vault manager.
The man was gone.
Julian drew his weapon.
“Door.”
Too late.
The vault entrance slammed shut.
A speaker crackled overhead.
Adrian Cross’s voice filled the room.
“Thank you for saving us the trouble.”
Elara looked at Julian.
Cross continued.
“And Elara?”
She stared toward the ceiling.
“Before you decide who to trust, ask Julian where he was the night your mother died.”
Julian went completely still.
Elara turned toward him.
“Where were you?”
Julian did not answer.
Cross laughed through the speaker.
May you like
Then Daniel whispered something far worse.
“He was there.”
