Chapter 10 - THE EXCHANGE
Victor demanded they come alone.
No police.
No tracking devices.
Location: an abandoned railway yard outside the city.
Grant insisted on going.
Caleb insisted harder.
“This is about me too.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
Grant grabbed his shoulder.
“I will not let another Miller die because of my family.”
Caleb stared at him.
“Then don’t make me watch your daughter die either.”
They went.
Reed followed from a distance despite Victor’s warning.
The railway yard was empty.
Fog hung between rusted freight cars.
Grant called out.
“Emma!”
A voice answered.
“Dad!”
Grant ran.
Caleb grabbed him.
“Wait.”
Emma was tied to a chair inside an open freight car.
Victor stood behind her.
Gun in hand.
Scar visible beneath one eye.
“Caleb Miller.”
Caleb stepped forward.
“You knew my father.”
Victor smiled sadly.
“Better than Grant’s father did.”
“You watched him die.”
“I did.”
“Did you touch him?”
Victor’s face changed.
“No.”
“Did you help?”
“I drove the men there.”
“That’s helping.”
Victor accepted it.
“Yes.”
Grant shouted, “Let my daughter go.”
Victor pointed the gun toward Emma.
Grant stopped.
Victor looked at Caleb.
“Your father begged Charles to stop poisoning the groundwater.”
Caleb’s jaw tightened.
“He refused.”
“Yes.”
“And you stayed quiet.”
“I was nineteen.”
Caleb laughed without humor.
“So was Grant.”
Victor’s eyes narrowed.
Caleb continued.
“You blame him for his father’s crimes.”
“I blame the name.”
“That’s convenient.”
Victor raised the gun slightly.
Caleb stepped closer.
“You had twenty years to tell the truth.”
Victor’s breathing changed.
“You could’ve exposed Charles.”
“Too late.”
“You could’ve exposed the company.”
“Too late.”
“You could’ve helped my mother.”
Victor looked away.
Caleb saw it.
Guilt.
“So instead you waited.”
Victor shouted, “Stop.”
“You waited until Charles was dead.”
“Stop!”
“Then you decided murdering innocent people would make you brave.”
Victor fired.
The bullet struck metal beside Caleb’s head.
Grant lunged.
Victor swung the gun.
Emma kicked backward.
Her chair struck Victor’s knee.
Caleb rushed him.
They crashed onto the floor.
Victor punched Caleb’s injured ribs.
Caleb nearly blacked out.
Grant freed Emma.
Victor grabbed a knife.
He slashed Caleb’s arm.
Caleb tackled him through the open freight-car door.
They landed hard on the gravel.
Sirens sounded in the distance.
Victor laughed.
“You brought police.”
Caleb spat blood.
“Of course we did.”
May you like
Victor pulled a second gun from his ankle.
And aimed directly at Grant’s daughter.
