Chapter 13 - THE TOWER
Emily, Daniel, Claire, and Bennett reached Westbridge before the police established a perimeter.
Wind pushed dark clouds over the city.
The storm had arrived early.
The security guard was found unconscious beside the service elevator.
He was alive, but his access card was gone.
Claire studied the building plans.
“The main cable anchors are on the thirty-eighth floor.”
Daniel looked up the dark tower.
“The elevators are disabled.”
They entered the emergency staircase.
At the twentieth floor, Emily’s legs burned.
At the thirtieth, the building groaned under a violent gust.
Claire stopped.
“That movement isn’t normal.”
They continued upward.
On the thirty-eighth floor, the mechanical door had been forced open.
Several cable-monitoring sensors had been smashed.
Peter stood near the central anchor assembly with a cutting torch.
“Step away,” Bennett ordered.
Peter turned.
His clothes were wet with sweat.
“You should have let the company die quietly.”
“You tried to bring down a building,” Emily said.
“Not the whole building. Enough to destroy the evidence and make the construction fraud look like incompetence.”
“People would die.”
Peter’s mouth twisted.
“People were always going to pay. That’s how business works.”
Daniel moved toward him.
Peter raised the torch beside a damaged cable.
“One more step and I cut it.”
The wind slammed against the tower.
Metal screamed overhead.
Claire whispered to Emily, “He already cut two.”
“How long do we have?”
“I don’t know.”
Bennett tried to keep Peter talking.
Emily noticed a manual fire-suppression valve behind him.
If activated, the high-pressure system could knock him away from the cable.
But the control wheel stood ten feet to Emily’s right.
Daniel followed her gaze.
He understood.
“You blamed Michael for everything,” Daniel said loudly.
Peter laughed.
“Michael was useful. Angry men are easy to control.”
“And my father?”
“Your brother handled that.”
Peter’s attention remained on Daniel.
Emily moved one step sideways.
Then another.
Peter saw her.
He swung the torch toward the final cable.
Daniel charged.
Emily turned the valve.
A blast of water struck Peter in the chest.
The torch flew from his hand.
Daniel tackled him.
All three men crashed against the railing.
Peter slipped over the edge of the maintenance platform.
Daniel caught his wrist.
For one second, Peter dangled above the open shaft.
“Don’t let me fall!” he screamed.
Daniel’s injured shoulder trembled.
This was the man who helped destroy his company and cover up his father’s murder.
Still, Daniel held on.
Bennett pulled Peter to safety and handcuffed him.
Claire examined the cables.
“We have to stabilize the anchors before the next wind surge.”
Emergency engineers raced upstairs.
For three hours, they installed temporary supports.
At dawn, the tower remained standing.
Peter was taken into federal custody.
Outside, reporters surrounded Emily.
“Is Carter Development going bankrupt?”
“Will you resign?”
“Is your husband being charged?”
Emily faced the cameras.
“The company may not survive this. But the people inside its buildings will.”
Then Bennett approached with new information.
“Michael has agreed to confess.”
“What does he want?”
“A deal.”
“For the fraud?”
“For your attempted murder.”
Emily stared at him.
“What attempted murder?”
May you like
Bennett handed her a photograph of her car.
Someone had cut the brake line two weeks earlier.
