Chapter 12 - WHY CLAIRE MATTERED
Claire laughed nervously.
“Me?”
No one else laughed.
Price looked at her.
“Kane knows you got Lily talking.”
“So?”
“He thinks she told you everything.”
“I barely know anything.”
“He doesn’t know that.”
Gabriel stepped closer to Claire.
“You’re staying here.”
“No.”
“That wasn’t a discussion.”
Claire crossed her arms.
“You don’t own me.”
“Right now, someone wants to kidnap you because you walked into my house.”
“So we use that.”
Gabriel stared.
“Absolutely not.”
Vincent slowly said, “She’s right.”
Gabriel turned.
“Don’t.”
“Kane expects us to protect her.”
“I said don’t.”
“So we make him believe we’re moving her.”
Claire nodded.
“Decoy.”
Gabriel’s jaw worked.
Lily grabbed Claire’s hand.
“Don’t go.”
That almost ended the plan.
Claire knelt.
“I’m not leaving you.”
“Promise?”
Claire looked at Gabriel.
He watched her carefully.
“I promise I’ll come back.”
This time, she meant it.
The plan formed quickly.
A convoy would leave through the south garage carrying a woman dressed like Claire.
Meanwhile Claire would remain inside.
Kane would move to intercept.
Gabriel’s men would follow.
It worked.
For six minutes.
Then the fake convoy exploded.
Claire heard the blast twenty floors above.
Windows shook.
Alarms screamed.
Gabriel grabbed his radio.
“Report!”
Static.
Then Tomas answered.
“Ambush. Two vehicles hit.”
Gabriel’s face hardened.
“Casualties?”
“Unknown.”
Claire looked at him.
“Kane knew.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
Gabriel slowly turned toward the room.
Price was restrained.
Sofia was guarded.
Vincent was beside him.
Only a handful of people knew the plan.
Then Claire noticed something.
Lily’s stuffed rabbit.
A tiny red light blinked beneath one plastic eye.
Claire grabbed it.
“What is this?”
Tomas took the toy apart.
Inside was a transmitter.
Gabriel stared.
“Bug.”
Claire felt cold.
“How long has she had this?”
Lily whispered, “Miss Anna gave it to me.”
The room went silent.
Not after the shooting.
Before.
Anna had been listening inside the Varrick home for months.
Then a voice came through the toy.
Crackling.
Female.
“Hello, Gabriel.”
His face became stone.
Anna Mercer was alive.
May you like
And she had been listening to every word.
“Send Claire to Pier 19,” Anna said. “Or the next explosion happens inside your daughter’s bedroom.”
