Chapter 7 - Warehouse 17
The warehouse sat at the edge of an industrial district like a dead animal.
Broken windows.
Rusted doors.
REED LOGISTICS still faintly visible above the entrance.
Marcus stared through the windshield of an unmarked police SUV.
He hadn’t been inside since his father’s funeral.
Claire sat beside him.
Davis looked back from the front seat.
“You stay behind us.”
Claire nodded.
“I heard you the first four times.”
“I’ll say it ten more.”
Marcus checked the old brass key Claire had brought from her safe deposit box.
Small.
Number 17 engraved on one side.
The SWAT team moved in first.
“No movement,” a voice said over the radio.
They entered.
Dust covered the floor.
Old shelving stood in dark rows.
Marcus saw faded yellow safety lines his father had once painted himself.
Memories hit hard.
Samuel teaching him to drive a forklift.
Claire eating lunch on the loading dock.
Their mother bringing sandwiches on Fridays.
Then Davis called.
“Back here.”
They walked to an office corridor.
A line of employee lockers still stood against the wall.
Marcus searched the numbers.
“Fourteen... fifteen... sixteen...”
Claire stopped.
“Seventeen.”
She inserted the key.
It didn’t turn.
Marcus tried.
Nothing.
Davis leaned closer.
“Wrong key?”
Claire shook her head.
“Dad wrote seventeen on the envelope.”
Marcus examined the lock.
“It’s newer.”
Someone had replaced it.
Davis called for tools.
Before the officer arrived, a sound echoed through the warehouse.
Bang.
Everyone froze.
“Police!”
Another bang.
From upstairs.
Davis motioned to his officers.
Marcus grabbed Claire’s arm.
“Stay.”
She didn’t argue.
For once.
Gunshots cracked from the second floor.
Claire ducked.
Marcus pulled her behind a concrete pillar.
More shouting.
Then silence.
Davis’s voice came over the radio.
“One suspect detained.”
Marcus looked toward the stairs.
“Julian?”
A minute later officers dragged down a man in black clothing.
Not Julian.
Hale had shown Marcus this man before.
A private investigator named Trent Cole.
Davis pushed him against the wall.
“Where is Julian Mercer?”
Cole laughed.
“You’re late.”
Claire stepped forward.
“What does that mean?”
Davis turned.
“I told you to stay back.”
Cole saw Claire.
His smile widened.
“Well, there she is.”
Marcus moved toward him.
“Careful.”
Cole looked at Claire.
“He said you’d come.”
Claire’s face tightened.
“Who?”
“Your husband.”
“Where is he?”
“Gone.”
“What did he take?”
Cole glanced at locker seventeen.
Marcus saw it.
“He came for the locker.”
Cole smiled.
“But he couldn’t open it.”
Davis looked at the lock.
“Then why replace the lock?”
“To buy time.”
“For what?”
Cole said nothing.
Marcus grabbed him.
Davis pulled him off.
“Marcus!”
Claire stepped close to Cole.
“Where’s Julian?”
Cole leaned toward her.
“He said to tell you something.”
“What?”
“Your father left two keys.”
Claire stared.
“What?”
“One opens the locker.”
Cole looked at Marcus.
“The other opens the truth.”
Marcus’s phone buzzed.
A text.
Unknown number.
He opened it.
A photograph filled the screen.
Lily.
Sitting in a car.
Crying.
A hand was gripping her shoulder.
Claire saw the screen.
“No.”
Marcus’s blood turned to ice.
At the hospital, Lily had been under police protection.
Davis immediately called Officer Grant.
No answer.
Claire whispered, “Julian has her.”
Another text arrived.
Bring the key.
Warehouse roof.
May you like
Ten minutes.
Come alone or Lily dies.
