Chapter 17 - Pier 9
“Don’t come here,” Nora said.
Marcus smiled behind Lily.
“Come here,” he corrected.
I was already moving.
Rachel grabbed her keys and shouted orders into the radio.
The pier was eleven minutes away.
It felt like eleven years.
On the video, Lily clutched Benny to her chest.
“Daddy?”
“I’m coming, baby.”
Marcus leaned closer to the phone.
“Bring the original ledger and the phone from my safe.”
Rachel muted the call for one second.
“We can stall him.”
“I’m bringing both.”
“They’re evidence.”
“She’s my daughter.”
Rachel stared at me.
Then she nodded once.
At Pier 9, we stopped two blocks away. Federal agents moved along the warehouse side while I walked forward alone carrying a messenger bag.
Cold wind came off the river.
Marcus stood near the end of the pier.
Nora was beside him, wrists tied.
So much for voluntary cooperation.
Lily saw me and started crying.
“Daddy!”
“I’m right here.”
Marcus held up a gun.
“Bag down.”
I set it on the wet boards.
“Send Lily to me.”
“You know this isn’t a negotiation.”
“You need what’s in the bag.”
“I need certainty.”
Behind him, Nora shook her head almost imperceptibly.
Something was wrong.
Marcus kicked the bag toward himself.
He opened it.
Inside was the ledger.
The prepaid phone.
And Benny.
His face twisted.
“What is this?”
Lily whispered, “Benny bites.”
Marcus frowned.
Then the bunny began to beep.
Not a bomb.
A locator beacon Rachel’s team had hidden inside the stuffing.
Agents moved from both sides.
Marcus grabbed Lily.
I ran.
A gunshot cracked.
Wood splintered beside my foot.
Nora threw herself into Marcus’s arm.
Lily dropped.
I caught her before she hit the boards.
Rachel tackled Marcus from the side.
The gun skidded toward the water.
For three violent seconds, everyone shouted.
Then it was over.
Marcus lay face-down in handcuffs.
Lily buried her face in my neck.
May you like
I thought we had won.
Then Nora whispered, “Ethan… I need to tell you why I went with him.”
