Chapter 14 - The Deal at Cedar Point
The blood on the hoodie turned out to be Felix's, a small relief that didn't make the picture of Nico any less frightening. The lab matched it to drops found at the gas station. Felix was hurt. He was also desperate.
At four the next afternoon, Maya pulled into the abandoned Cedar Point complex in an old silver sedan. The place was a concrete skeleton overlooking the river: boarded windows, exposed rebar, broken stair rails. Yellow flood lines still stained the walls from the disaster.
The camera card sat inside a plastic case in her jacket pocket. It was a copy. Ortiz's team had the original, the source recording, and the chain-of-custody paperwork. What they didn't have was Nico.
“You'll stay in sight of the north window,” Ortiz had told her. “We have officers positioned outside. Don't try to handle this alone.”
Maya had answered, “Then don't make me.”
Ethan insisted on coming, but he stayed in a second car beyond the police perimeter. He had given Ortiz unrestricted access to his company accounts that morning, signing a statement admitting he'd approved the transfer without checking its purpose.
At the building entrance, Sloane waited beside a concrete column. She looked tired for the first time Maya had ever seen her. Her lipstick was smudged. Her expensive shoes were caked in gray dust.
“Where is he?” Maya demanded.
“Show me the card.”
Maya held it up. “My son first.”
Felix emerged from a doorway, pale and sweating. One arm was wrapped in a bloody towel. He pushed Nico ahead of him with his good hand.
“Mom!”
“Eyes on me, baby,” Maya said. “I'm right here.”
Sloane extended her hand. “The card.”
Maya stepped forward, then stopped. “Why Claire? Why not just take the folder?”
Sloane's face hardened. “Because she wouldn't stop. She was going to ruin everything.”
“That's a confession,” Maya said.
A man's laugh came from the dark stairwell. Victor Rusk stepped into view, holding a handgun.
May you like
“No,” he said. “That was a mistake.”
He raised the weapon toward Nico.
