Chapter 9 - Pier Nine
Ethan ducked. The bar smashed a railing. He drove his shoulder into the guard and both men hit the catwalk mesh. Below them, a forklift reversed with a warning beep that seemed absurdly calm.
Mara came over the railing like a storm. One sharp kick disarmed the first guard; another sent his phone skidding into the warehouse. She cut Lily's ties while Ethan fought to keep the second man from reaching a pistol.
Olivia hit the emergency sprinkler switch. Cold water poured down. The guards slipped on metal grates, and Ethan finally got the pistol away.
"Everybody down!" he shouted.
Lily clung to Mara's neck. "They made me say the numbers. I didn't know what they meant."
"What numbers?" Olivia asked.
"Seven, two, nine, four. Over and over."
Mara opened the silver case. Inside lay a medical data reader and an empty compartment shaped like a vial rack. A label on the lid read PROJECT HARBOR.
"The syringe came from here," she said. "And the passcode may be 7294."
A security door slammed shut at the far end. Nadine Cross emerged in her dark green gown, now covered by a raincoat. She held a small black remote.
"Step away from the case," she said. "All of you."
"Your guards are down," Ethan told her.
"I don't need guards."
She pointed up. Explosive charges lined a support pillar, and the remote carried the same blinking red light they had seen at the boathouse.
"Charles paid for the research," Nadine said. "Vale made it. Evelyn protected it. I kept the money moving. You think one family argument ends all that?"
Olivia moved in front of Lily. "Let the child leave."
Nadine's eyes flickered. "Your father-in-law won't let me."
"Then don't work for him anymore," Ethan said.
Nadine laughed once, bitterly. "I tried. Ask what happened to my son."
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A sniper's laser dot appeared on Nadine's chest. She looked down, startled.
Then someone fired.
