Chapter 18 - The Last Leverage
Susan was not at home.
Her car remained in the garage.
Her purse sat on the kitchen counter.
The back door was open.
No blood. No broken furniture. No sign of a struggle beyond one overturned chair.
On the dining table lay an old Vance & Hayes loan file.
Jonathan recognized it immediately.
“That’s the original Reed file.”
Inside were copies, not originals.
On top sat a burner phone.
It rang.
Jonathan answered.
Reed’s voice came through calm and almost friendly.
“Still hiding, Jon?”
Emily’s father went rigid.
“Where is Susan?”
“She’s fine. She’s also tired of being lied to by the men in her life.”
Emily stepped close enough to hear.
Reed continued, “Bring me the master key.”
Jonathan looked at Emily.
She mouthed, What key?
He ignored her.
“Proof she’s alive.”
A video arrived.
Susan sat in a chair in what looked like an empty office. She was frightened but unhurt.
She looked into the camera. “Emily, don’t give him anything.”
The video ended.
Reed gave an address: an abandoned title warehouse near the river.
One hour.
No police.
The call ended.
Emily rounded on Jonathan. “What is the master key?”
He sat heavily.
“A physical encryption token. It unlocks the archive that ties Reed to every shell company.”
“Where is it?”
He looked at her wedding hand.
Emily stared.
Jonathan pointed to her silver band.
“That ring belonged to your grandmother before it was remade. Charles embedded the chip in it after the first investigation failed.”
Emily pulled the ring off.
It looked ordinary.
Daniel had mocked it once for being too plain.
Paul called the FBI field team.
Emily shook her head. “Reed expects police.”
“He also expects you to be emotional,” Paul said.
“I am emotional.”
“Yes. But you’re not stupid.”
They built a plan.
At 6:42 p.m., Emily walked into the warehouse alone, wearing a wire and carrying the ring in a small velvet box.
Susan sat twenty yards away beside Reed.
Malcolm Reed was seventy now, silver-haired, elegant, and almost gentle-looking.
He smiled when he saw Emily.
“You look like Charles.”
“Everybody says that when they want something.”
Reed laughed.
“Give me the key.”
“Let my mother walk.”
“She walks when I leave.”
“No.”
His smile disappeared.
Then a side door opened.
Daniel stepped into the warehouse.
Emily stared.
He should have been in federal custody.
May you like
Reed smiled again.
“Your husband and I still have business.”
