Chapter 14 - HER MOTHER’S DAUGHTER
“Grace?”
Nothing.
Ethan stared at the dead monitor.
“Grace, respond.”
Static.
Marcus checked frequencies.
“Jammer.”
Ethan grabbed his weapon.
“We go.”
Claire blocked him.
“Wait.”
“My daughter is in there.”
“That’s why you wait ten seconds.”
“I don’t have ten seconds.”
“You rush in, Vale shoots her.”
Inside the warehouse, Grace stared at Vale’s gun.
Sloan searched her.
“No phone.”
Vale frowned.
“Where’s the file?”
Grace shrugged.
“Safe.”
“Where?”
“Not here.”
Vale stepped closer.
“You think this is a game?”
“No.”
“Your mother made the same mistake.”
Grace’s heart hammered.
But she remembered Ethan’s training.
Keep them talking.
People reveal themselves when they think they’ve already won.
“You ordered her killed.”
Vale smiled.
“I authorized pressure.”
“She died.”
“Unfortunate.”
Grace swallowed her anger.
“And Logan?”
“A useless child.”
“Raymond?”
“Useful until he wasn’t.”
Sloan shifted.
Grace noticed.
Vale continued.
“Your father could have been valuable. Instead, he chose morality.”
“You say that like it’s a disease.”
“For men like Ethan, it is.”
Grace looked at Sloan.
“And what happens to him after you kill me?”
Sloan looked at Vale.
Vale smiled.
Grace saw it.
There.
Fear.
Sloan finally understood.
“You said I get immunity.”
Vale turned slightly.
“You will.”
Grace said, “He’s going to kill you.”
“Shut up,” Sloan snapped.
“Think about it. You know everything.”
Sloan aimed his gun at Grace.
“I said shut up.”
Vale calmly raised his pistol.
And shot Sloan.
Sloan collapsed.
Grace ran.
Vale fired.
Bullet struck metal beside her.
She dove behind crates.
Outside, Ethan heard the gunshot.
“Now.”
Teams breached the warehouse.
Gunfire erupted.
Vale grabbed Grace before she reached the exit.
He wrapped an arm around her neck.
Gun against her head.
Ethan entered.
Stopped.
“Let her go.”
Vale laughed.
“Ethan Cole.”
“Adrian Vale.”
“You ruined a very elegant system.”
“You tried to kill my daughter.”
“Your daughter ruined it first.”
Grace whispered, “Dad.”
Ethan looked at her.
She was afraid.
But focused.
He saw her right hand.
Two fingers.
Then one.
A signal he taught her years ago.
Distract.
Ethan looked at Vale.
“You know what Raymond told me?”
Vale tightened his grip.
“What?”
“He said you were scared of Laura.”
Vale smiled.
“I wasn’t scared of her.”
“Then why kill her?”
“I didn’t.”
“Sure.”
Vale’s anger flashed.
“She was a bookkeeper who thought numbers made her powerful!”
Grace moved.
She stomped Vale’s foot and dropped her weight.
Vale’s gun shifted.
Ethan fired once.
The bullet struck Vale’s shoulder.
Marcus rushed forward.
Vale hit the floor.
Grace crawled away.
Ethan grabbed her.
“You okay?”
She wrapped her arms around him.
“I’m okay.”
Federal agents cuffed Vale.
He laughed even while bleeding.
“You think this ends with me?”
Ethan looked down at him.
“Yes.”
Vale smiled.
“Keystone is already everywhere.”
Claire stepped closer.
“Good thing your entire confession was recorded.”
Vale’s smile vanished.
Grace pulled a tiny recorder from inside the lining of her jacket.
Vale stared.
“The jammer blocked radio signals,” Grace said.
She smiled.
“It didn’t block local storage.”
Ethan looked at her.
“You brought another recorder?”
“You taught me to always have a backup.”
Marcus laughed.
“That is definitely your daughter.”
Vale was dragged away.
Grace leaned against Ethan.
“Can we go home now?”
Ethan kissed her forehead.
“Yes.”
Then Claire’s phone rang.
She answered.
Listened.
And turned pale.
“What?” Ethan asked.
Claire lowered the phone.
“Raymond Mercer is gone.”
“What do you mean gone?”
“He disappeared from federal custody twenty minutes ago.”
Grace stared.
“How?”
May you like
Claire looked at them.
“Someone walked him out.”
