Chapter 7 - Midnight at Blackwood SteelThe Blackwood steel mill had been abandoned for eleven years.
Rusted beams rose against the night like the skeleton of some giant animal.
Wind moved through broken windows.
Lake Michigan thundered beyond the loading docks.
Ronan arrived at 11:57 p.m.
He was not alone.
He simply looked alone.
Federal tactical teams waited beyond the perimeter.
Daniel monitored from a van.
Maria remained in another vehicle wearing an earpiece despite everyone telling her to stay at the hospital with Elena.
“I’ve had enough men telling me where to sit,” she informed Sullivan.
The detective gave up arguing.
Ronan carried a decoy drive.
He entered through the old furnace building.
Maria listened.
Footsteps.
Wind.
Metal groaning.
Then a man’s voice.
“You got old.”
Ronan stopped.
For eight years he had imagined his brother beneath an ocean.
Now Adrian Blackwood stepped into the light.
Same height.
Similar shoulders.
Older eyes.
The scar beneath his ear.
Ronan’s voice broke just slightly.
“You’re alive.”
Adrian smiled sadly.
“Disappointed?”
Ronan punched him.
Maria heard the impact through the microphone.
Adrian crashed against a railing.
“Okay,” he coughed. “I deserved that.”
“You let me bury you.”
“You would’ve put me in prison.”
“I mourned you.”
That silenced Adrian.
Ronan stepped closer.
“Mom died believing you were dead.”
Adrian looked away.
“I know.”
“No. You don’t.”
“Ronan—”
“You don’t get to say my name like we’re brothers.”
Adrian wiped blood from his lip.
“We don’t have time.”
“Where’s Peter?”
“Gone.”
“Dead?”
“No.”
“Grace?”
“She moved him.”
“Why?”
“Because Peter has buyers.”
“For what?”
Adrian looked toward the darkness.
“For Blackwood.”
Ronan laughed bitterly.
“You expect me to believe this was about stealing my company?”
“It was about taking back my half.”
“You sold your half.”
“You forced me.”
“I kept you out of prison.”
“You kept yourself clean.”
Ronan stepped forward.
“You smuggled controlled drugs through our company.”
“I made mistakes.”
“You built cages beneath my home.”
Adrian’s face changed.
“I didn’t know about Elena.”
“Convenient.”
“I swear to you.”
“You disappeared for eight years while Lang used your name.”
“I worked with him.”
“Then you own what he did.”
Adrian absorbed that.
“You’re right.”
Maria blinked.
She had expected denial.
So had Ronan.
Adrian continued.
“I wanted revenge. I wanted my shares. I wanted to watch you lose the thing you chose over me.”
“I chose the company because you were destroying it.”
“Maybe.”
“But Sophie?”
“Never Sophie.”
Ronan’s eyes went cold.
“You brought Vivienne into my life.”
“Yes.”
“You trained her to manipulate me.”
“Yes.”
“You placed her near my niece.”
“Yes.”
“Then you don’t get to say never.”
Adrian had no answer.
Suddenly a gunshot cracked through the building.
Ronan dropped behind machinery.
Maria grabbed the dashboard.
“Sullivan!”
“We heard it.”
Tactical officers moved.
Another shot.
Adrian shouted, “Peter!”
A speaker somewhere overhead came alive.
Peter Lang’s voice echoed across the mill.
“Touching reunion.”
Adrian swore.
“You were supposed to be tied up.”
Peter laughed.
“Grace was always sentimental.”
The lights died.
Maria’s vehicle monitors went black.
“Signal jammed,” Daniel said.
Sullivan ordered entry.
Inside, Ronan moved through darkness.
Adrian followed.
“You led him here?”
“No.”
“He tracked you.”
“Probably.”
A child’s voice suddenly came through the speaker.
“Uncle Ronan?”
Ronan stopped breathing.
Maria felt her entire body turn cold.
Sophie.
“No,” Ronan whispered.
Maria looked at Sullivan.
“Sophie was guarded.”
Sullivan was already shouting into her radio.
Then Daniel received confirmation.
The hospital security detail had been attacked.
Two guards injured.
Sophie missing.
Peter had taken her.
“Uncle?”
Sophie’s frightened voice echoed again.
Ronan shouted into the darkness.
“I’m here!”
Peter answered.
“Drop the drive in the center of the floor.”
Ronan did.
“Now your gun.”
Ronan removed it.
Adrian stared.
“You brought a gun?”
“Of course.”
He placed it down.
Peter laughed.
“Brothers reunited. Almost touching.”
“Let Sophie go,” Ronan said.
“That child represents three hundred million dollars and voting control over the company. I’m afraid she’s become extremely important.”
“You hurt her, you get nothing.”
“I don’t need to hurt her.”
Maria stared at the building schematics.
Then she noticed something.
The audio delay.
Sophie’s voice arrived half a second after Peter’s.
Different sources.
She grabbed her radio.
“They’re not together.”
Sullivan turned.
“What?”
“Listen. Different echo. Sophie’s in a smaller room.”
Daniel studied the plans.
“Control booth.”
Maria pointed.
“Old foreman’s office?”
“Concrete walls.”
Sullivan sent a team toward the east side.
Inside, Adrian whispered, “He’s bluffing.”
Ronan said nothing.
Peter ordered him farther into the furnace hall.
Then Grace appeared from behind a column.
Blood covered one sleeve.
She held a pistol.
Adrian looked stunned.
“Grace.”
“Peter escaped.”
“We noticed.”
Grace looked at Ronan.
“You look like your father.”
“Not a compliment.”
“No.”
She handed Adrian a second weapon.
“Peter has explosives.”
Ronan’s face tightened.
“Where?”
“Main supports.”
Maria heard everything.
Police teams began evacuating.
Then a terrified shout came over tactical radio.
“Child located!”
Maria closed her eyes.
They had Sophie.
But Peter still controlled the building.
Sullivan spoke into Ronan’s earpiece.
“Sophie is secure. Get out.”
Peter must have heard movement.
His voice erupted through the speakers.
“No!”
Gunfire exploded.
Maria could no longer tell who fired.
Grace went down.
Adrian dragged her behind cover.
Ronan ran toward the exit.
Then Peter appeared on an overhead catwalk.
Gun aimed.
At Ronan.
Adrian saw him first.
“Ronan!”
The shot fired.
Adrian shoved his brother sideways.
The bullet struck Adrian high in the shoulder.
Ronan hit the floor.
Peter ran.
Federal officers chased him toward the loading dock.
He reached a black sedan.
Started it.
Drove directly toward the eastern gate.
Maria saw headlights coming.
“He’s heading at us!”
Daniel grabbed Maria and pulled her down.
The sedan smashed through a barrier.
Police vehicles boxed it in.
Peter reversed.
Hit another SUV.
Airbags exploded.
Officers surrounded him.
“Hands!”
Peter stumbled out holding a pistol.
For one terrible second Maria thought he would fire.
Then he looked around.
Twenty rifles aimed at his chest.
His shoulders sagged.
The weapon dropped.
Peter Lang went to his knees.
Inside the mill, Adrian was bleeding badly.
Ronan pressed both hands against his brother’s wound.
“You idiot.”
Adrian laughed weakly.
“Good to see you too.”
“You’re not dying.”
“Bossy as ever.”
“Shut up.”
Grace lay nearby, conscious but pale.
She looked at Maria when paramedics arrived.
“You’re Elena’s sister.”
“Yes.”
“I’m sorry.”
Maria stared at her.
“For which part?”
Grace closed her eyes.
“All of it.”
The bomb squad discovered Peter’s explosives were incomplete.
A bluff designed to stall police.
By two in the morning, Sophie was reunited with Ronan.
She ran into his arms so hard that he nearly fell.
He held her for a long time.
Maria watched from a distance.
Then Sophie reached toward her.
Maria joined them.
Three people clinging together beneath flashing police lights outside a ruined factory.
For one moment, nothing else mattered.
Then Sullivan approached.
“We found something in Peter’s car.”
“What?” Ronan asked.
“A passport.”
She handed him an evidence photograph.
Maria stared at the name.
The face belonged to Vivienne.
Different hair.
Different birth date.
Different surname.
Issued six years earlier.
Two years before Vivienne supposedly met Adrian.
Ronan looked toward Sullivan.
“What does that mean?”
“It means her story about when she joined this operation is false.”
Maria felt dread return.
Vivienne had not been recruited to seduce Ronan.
She had already been part of the conspiracy.
Maybe longer than Adrian.
Maybe longer than anyone realized.
May you like
And while everyone had been focused on rescuing Sophie, Vivienne Hale had been transferred from police holding to county detention.
The vehicle carrying her never arrived.
