Chapter 18 - The Last Night at the Docks

Victor had taken Nico to an unused port office overlooking the water. Through a window, police saw two people inside. One was my cousin. The other, a security guard who had tried to quit Victor's crew that afternoon.

Bell called me because Victor was demanding to speak with me, not because she wanted a civilian at the scene.

"You'll talk from here," she said, pointing to a phone inside the command vehicle. "You follow my instructions exactly."

Victor answered sounding almost cheerful.

"Rafe. Remember when your father brought you down here to watch the ships?"

"I remember Camille coming home with dirty sneakers."

His breath caught.

"Your father gave an order. I carried it out. That's how this world works."

"You had choices."

"So did he. So did your mother."

"And so do I. Let Nico go."

Victor laughed bitterly. "You think becoming a witness makes you clean?"

"No. That's why I'm giving them my records."

There was a long silence. Then a sound like a chair being thrown.

Bell lifted a hand. Stay quiet.

"I raised you after your father died," Victor said.

"You taught me to confuse fear with respect."

He spoke my name once, softly, almost like an old friend.

"I could have been the one they loved."

For the first time, I heard what had been underneath every order he gave: not loyalty to my father, but hunger to replace him.

Bell's team moved when they had a safe opportunity. I heard shouting through the open line and then the heavy silence of a disconnected call.

Minutes stretched. I kept thinking about two girls at a waterfront picnic and a man with a lunch pail.

Finally Bell stepped out into the rain.

"The hostages are safe," she said. "Nico has a minor injury. Victor is in custody."

I gripped the edge of the vehicle until my hands stopped shaking.

"You could have tried to go in there yourself," Bell added.

"And ruined it."

She didn't smile.

"That might be the first useful thing you've said all week."

When I reached my car, a new message waited from Abigail.

THE PROSECUTOR IS READY TO DISCUSS YOUR CHARGES. THERE WILL BE NO SPECIAL TREATMENT.

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For once, I replied with one word.

GOOD.