Chapter 7 - THE BOX IN STORAGE
Ava stared at the message.
Her hands began shaking.
Daniel stepped in front of the wall.
“Don’t look at it.”
Ava shoved him aside.
“That’s my son they’re threatening.”
Marcus searched the apartment.
“Clear.”
Victor picked up one of the photographs.
Elena holding Ava at age three.
He stared at it.
“She looks happy.”
Ava took the picture from him.
“She was.”
Her voice cracked.
“Sometimes.”
Daniel looked away.
Ava noticed.
“You loved her?”
“Yes.”
“Then why did she die alone?”
Daniel had no answer that could fix it.
Marcus returned.
“They found the storage key.”
Ava cursed.
Victor looked toward him.
“Storage location?”
Ava pointed to an old folder.
“The lease might be in there.”
They found it.
South Harbor Storage.
Unit 317.
Marcus checked the time.
“We move now.”
Victor called two trusted men.
“No uniforms. No restaurant security.”
Ava looked at him.
“How do you know who to trust?”
Victor’s face hardened.
“I don’t anymore.”
They arrived twenty minutes later.
The facility was nearly empty.
Marcus spotted tire marks near the rear entrance.
“Someone beat us here.”
They moved quickly.
Unit 317 stood open.
Ava ran forward.
Empty shelves.
Broken boxes.
Old clothing scattered across the floor.
“No.”
She searched frantically.
“Mom’s papers were here.”
Daniel scanned the unit.
“Maybe she hid them.”
Ava remembered something.
Her mother hated banks.
Hated locks.
Hated anything “too obvious.”
She looked at the metal shelf.
“Help me move this.”
Daniel and Marcus pushed it aside.
Behind it was a vent.
Ava removed the screws.
Inside sat a rusted cookie tin.
Daniel stopped breathing.
Ava pulled it out.
The lid was taped shut.
Inside were letters.
Photographs.
A flash drive.
And a small leather ledger.
Victor stared.
Daniel whispered, “That’s it.”
“What?”
“The original.”
Marcus grabbed the ledger.
“Then we leave.”
A shot rang out.
Metal sparked beside his head.
“Down!”
Everyone dropped.
Two armed men entered the corridor.
Victor dragged Ava behind a concrete pillar.
Marcus returned fire.
Daniel crawled toward Noah’s carrier.
Ava grabbed him first.
“Don’t!”
“I’m getting the baby.”
“You’ll get killed!”
Another shot.
Daniel lunged anyway.
He reached Noah.
A bullet struck Daniel’s side.
He collapsed.
“DAD!”
Ava screamed.
Daniel curled around the carrier, using his own body as a shield.
Marcus fired twice.
One attacker fled.
The second dropped his weapon.
Victor rushed forward.
Ava crawled to Daniel.
Blood spread across his shirt.
Daniel smiled weakly.
“Guess I finally did one thing right.”
Ava pressed her hands to the wound.
“Don’t talk.”
“Ava—”
“No.”
She looked at Victor.
“Call an ambulance!”
Victor did.
Daniel grabbed Ava’s wrist.
“The flash drive.”
“What about it?”
“Elena made copies.”
“Where?”
Daniel coughed.
Then smiled faintly.
“She told me if anything happened to her, the truth would be sitting somewhere nobody powerful ever looks.”
Ava stared.
“Where?”
May you like
Daniel whispered two words.
“Public library.”
