Chapter 12 - THE MAN WHO FELL
Grant lay motionless.
For one second, the entire world disappeared.
Lily ran toward him.
Renata grabbed for her.
I reached Lily first.
I pulled her behind a concrete pillar as another shot struck the wall.
Nadia tackled Malcolm.
They crashed against the vehicle.
Mara fired toward the ceiling.
“Drop the weapon!”
Malcolm swung the gun toward her.
Mara fired again.
The weapon flew from his hand.
Renata climbed into the armored vehicle.
She locked the doors.
The engine roared.
“Grant!” Lily cried.
I crawled toward him.
The bullet had struck his upper chest.
Blood soaked his shirt.
His eyes opened.
“Lily?”
“She’s here.”
I pressed both hands against the wound.
“Stay awake.”
He tried to lift his head.
“Renata?”
“She’s escaping.”
The armored vehicle accelerated toward the tunnel exit.
Nadia ran to the control panel.
She pressed the emergency lock.
A steel barrier began descending.
Renata drove faster.
The vehicle reached the gate seconds before it closed.
The roof struck the steel barrier.
Sparks exploded.
The vehicle spun sideways and crashed into a concrete support.
Air bags deployed.
Renata remained inside.
Police entered through the opposite tunnel.
Malcolm was handcuffed.
Paramedics rushed toward Grant.
Lily refused to release his hand.
“You can’t die.”
Grant forced a weak smile.
“I’m not going anywhere.”
“You promised Mommy.”
His face changed.
“What did I promise?”
“That you would always find me.”
Grant’s eyes filled with tears.
“I found you.”
The paramedics lifted him onto a stretcher.
Lily walked beside him.
As they passed the wrecked vehicle, the driver’s door opened.
Renata crawled out.
Her face was cut.
Her red scarf hung loose around her neck.
An officer ordered her to stop.
Renata reached beneath her coat.
I saw the gun before anyone else did.
“Lily, down!”
I threw myself over Lily.
A shot rang out.
Then another.
Renata fell against the vehicle.
The gun slid across the floor.
She was alive.
She laughed while officers surrounded her.
“You still haven’t won.”
Nadia searched her coat.
She found a flash drive.
Renata smiled.
“That contains every payment Malcolm made.”
“Every judge.”
“Every officer.”
“Every executive.”
Mara sealed it inside an evidence bag.
Renata’s smile widened.
“It also contains a remote command.”
Nadia’s face changed.
“What command?”
Renata looked toward the factory ceiling.
“Callahan Tower will erase itself in twelve minutes.”
Grant’s company headquarters held all the corporate records.
Claire’s original investigation.
Employee medical reports.
Evidence of the chemical dumping.
Thousands of files would disappear.
Nadia grabbed her phone.
The signal had returned.
She called the tower.
No one answered.
Renata laughed harder.
“The building is empty.”
“The gala moved everyone to the estate.”
Grant was placed inside the ambulance.
He grabbed my wrist.
“The music box.”
“What?”
“The card proves murder.”
“But the tower proves everything else.”
Nadia looked at the countdown on Renata’s flash drive.
Eleven minutes remained.
Grant’s eyes began closing.
May you like
“Go.”
“Save Claire’s work.”
