Chapter 16 - Red Lights on the Water

Mara hit the ground, her ears ringing. Sparks rained from the broken light. Evan pulled her behind a crate just as Victor crashed into another stack of boxes.

“Are you hit?” Evan demanded.

“No. You?”

He shook his head. For the first time in eleven months she touched his face, checking that he was real. His cheeks were hollow, but his eyes were the same eyes that had watched over her when their mother died.

“I'm sorry,” he whispered.

“Be sorry later.”

Red light washed across the warehouse doors. Investigators shouted orders from both ends of the pier. Lena's voice rang over a loudspeaker, identifying herself and ordering everyone to keep their hands in sight.

Rosie lay beside a stack of pallets. Price stood over her, pistol lowered. He looked at Mara and then at the approaching officers.

“Help her,” Mara called.

Price dropped the gun. He lifted both hands and backed away.

Victor, however, ran for a boat moored at the end of the pier. He vaulted the railing, caught his heel on a rope, and stumbled into the cabin. The engine coughed to life.

Daniel sprinted past Mara toward the dock, followed by two officers. “Victor! Turn it off!”

The boat lurched. A rope snapped taut, dragging a metal cleat across the deck. Daniel stopped short of the moving vessel and waved the others back. A harbor patrol boat swung into view, blocking the narrow exit without a collision.

Victor cut the engine at last. Under alternating red and blue lights, he stood in the cabin doorway, suddenly looking like an old man in an expensive suit.

Mara climbed to her feet. Evan held her steady.

A medic reached Rosie, who was shaken but alert. The officers secured Price and Victor without further violence.

Rebecca emerged from the command van with Lena, both soaked by the rain. Lena said, “We recorded the meeting. We have Victor admitting he controlled the program.”

Mara looked down at the torn strap of her satin dress beneath her borrowed coat. “Is that enough?”

Rebecca's expression darkened. “Enough for tonight. But the database shows one more account. Someone is still moving money while Victor is in custody.”

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Her phone lit up with an urgent notification.

The remaining account had just been emptied.