Chapter 9 - THE DEBT COLLECTOR
Victor returned fire.
Mick disappeared behind the pillar while three gunmen rushed from the shadows.
Gabriel pushed his family into the van and grabbed a rifle.
The parking garage erupted.
Sadie crouched behind an engine block as bullets sparked against metal. Victor moved between cars, forcing Mick’s men back.
One gunman came around Sadie’s side.
She swung a fire extinguisher into his face.
He fell.
Sadie kicked his weapon away.
Mick’s voice echoed through the garage.
“You always were stubborn, darling.”
She looked up.
He stood ten feet away, pointing a handgun at her.
In person, Mick looked ordinary. Gray suit. Neat hair. Expensive watch.
That made him worse.
“You took everything I had,” Sadie said.
Mick smiled. “No. Your brother took everything you had. I simply gave you more time with him.”
“You planned the loan with Bell.”
“I provide a service.”
“You threaten children.”
“I encourage payment.”
Victor appeared behind him.
“And now you’re late on yours.”
Mick turned and fired.
Victor’s shoulder jerked. He fell behind a car.
Sadie screamed.
Mick grabbed her and pressed the gun beneath her jaw.
“Tell Costello to drop his weapon.”
Victor rose slowly, blood running down his arm.
“Let her go.”
“You know what your problem is, Victor? Your father built an empire, and you spent years pretending you were too good to use it.”
Mick dragged Sadie toward an SUV.
“Your father understood that love is the easiest chain to pull.”
Sadie drove her heel into Mick’s foot and threw her head backward into his nose.
The gun fired.
Victor tackled him.
They crashed onto the concrete.
Mick reached for a knife. Sadie kicked it away.
Victor pinned him against the floor.
“Where is the boy?”
Mick laughed through the blood on his teeth.
“You’re already too late.”
Victor pressed the gun against his forehead.
Sadie grabbed Victor’s wrist.
“Don’t kill him.”
Mick smiled. “Still a good girl.”
Sadie leaned closer.
“No. I want him alive when every family he destroyed watches him go to prison.”
For the first time, Mick looked afraid.
Gabriel tied his hands and threw him into the van.
Victor swayed.
Sadie caught him.
“You’ve been shot.”
“Through the shoulder.”
“You’re bleeding badly.”
“So are you.”
A bullet had grazed her arm. She hadn’t felt it.
Sadie tore fabric from Mick’s shirt and pressed it to Victor’s wound.
“You don’t die before we get Sam back.”
Victor gave her a tired half smile.
“Is that an order?”
“Yes.”
Gabriel found a folded map in Mick’s jacket.
It showed Hopewell’s underground wing and a private escape road.
Across the bottom, Mick had written three words:
TRANSFER ASSET 16.
Sadie stared at the number.
Sam was sixteen years old.
“He isn’t a patient to them,” she whispered. “He’s inventory.”
Victor took the map.
“Then we remind them he has a name.”
An alarm sounded on Mick’s phone.
A message appeared:
HARVEST PROCEDURE STARTED.
May you like
Sadie looked at the time.
They had twenty-six minutes to save her brother.
