Chapter 6 - THE MIDNIGHT EXCHANGEGideon had absolutely no intention of going alone.
He also had absolutely no intention of telling the police.
Naturally, this resulted in Detective Hale shouting at him in the hotel penthouse at eleven fifteen.
“You cannot conduct your own hostage rescue!”
“I can.”
“That wasn’t permission.”
“I didn’t ask.”
Hale looked at me.
“Can you talk sense into him?”
“No.”
Gideon almost smiled.
“I tried earlier. Apparently billionaires with criminal reputations don’t respond well to reason.”
“Former criminal reputation.”
Hale stared.
“That is not the reassuring correction you think it is.”
Rachel had been taken from her apartment less than an hour after leaving police protection.
Someone impersonated a building employee.
The surveillance system had been disabled.
Professional.
Julian wanted the encryption key, and Rachel was leverage.
Tyler called from jail demanding protection.
He knew Julian would eventually decide he knew too much.
Hale agreed to transfer him.
That was when everything got worse.
The transport vehicle was attacked.
Two officers injured.
Tyler taken.
Julian now had both siblings.
“What if Tyler helps him?” I asked.
Gideon adjusted a concealed vest under his jacket.
“Tyler knows he’s disposable.”
“That has never stopped stupid men from making stupid decisions.”
“True.”
The meeting location was an abandoned riverfront terminal once owned by Gideon’s father.
Midnight.
Of course.
Villains apparently loved dramatic scheduling.
Hale positioned tactical officers nearby.
Gideon wore a transmitter.
I was supposed to remain at the hotel.
I didn’t.
Before anyone could stop me, I climbed into Hale’s vehicle.
He stared.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“You have a broken leg.”
“And information Julian needs.”
“You’re not coming.”
“Then explain why Account Four was connected to my fake company.”
Hale paused.
Exactly.
Julian had used my identity for more than laundering.
My fake company appeared repeatedly in attempted login records.
For some reason, my identity was part of his access plan.
Maybe Tyler had done something Julian didn’t understand.
Maybe I knew something without realizing it.
Either way, I wasn’t sitting twelve miles away.
Hale cursed.
“You stay in the vehicle.”
“Fine.”
I lied.
At 12:03, Gideon entered the terminal.
Cameras fed images back to Hale’s command van.
Julian stood in the center of the old loading floor.
Rachel sat tied to a chair.
Tyler stood nearby, bruised and terrified.
Four armed men surrounded them.
Julian looked almost exactly like Gideon from a distance.
Up close, the differences showed.
Gideon’s stillness came from control.
Julian’s came from performance.
“Brother,” Julian said.
“Let her go.”
“Key first.”
“Rachel first.”
Julian smiled.
“You still think negotiations are about fairness.”
“No. I think they’re about leverage.”
Gideon opened his jacket.
“No key on me.”
Julian’s smile vanished.
“If I don’t walk out, you never get it.”
“You think I won’t kill Rachel?”
“I think you will.”
Rachel went pale.
“So does everyone watching.”
Julian’s eyes narrowed.
He scanned the darkness.
Then laughed.
“Police?”
Gideon said nothing.
Julian stepped behind Rachel.
“This was supposed to be private.”
“So was my father’s money.”
That hit.
Julian’s control cracked.
“He stole my life.”
“He stole both of ours.”
“He chose you!”
“No. He used me.”
Julian shouted, “You got everything!”
Gideon’s voice remained calm.
“I got responsibilities you ran from.”
“I was twenty-seven!”
“So was I!”
Silence.
Years of resentment seemed to fill the warehouse.
Then Tyler spoke.
“Julian.”
Bad idea.
Julian turned.
Tyler swallowed.
“You said if Gideon brought the key, we were done.”
“We?”
Tyler’s face changed.
Julian smiled.
“You thought you were leaving?”
That was the exact moment Tyler realized he had never been a partner.
Only equipment.
He moved.
Fast.
He tackled one guard.
Rachel screamed.
Gunfire erupted.
Hale shouted orders.
Tactical officers stormed entrances.
I watched monitors shake with movement.
Then Gideon disappeared from camera.
“Hale!”
“I see it.”
We heard shots through Gideon’s transmitter.
Then static.
I forgot every promise I made.
I opened the van door.
Hale grabbed my arm.
“Lena!”
“I’m not staying here.”
“You can barely walk!”
“I’m improving.”
“That is not a tactical qualification!”
Another explosion shook the terminal.
Smoke filled the loading area.
Hale had no time to argue.
He ran.
I followed as fast as crutches allowed.
Inside, chaos.
Rachel was free, crawling behind machinery.
Tyler lay bleeding from his shoulder.
Officers exchanged fire with Julian’s men.
I saw Gideon near the far staircase.
Julian had a gun pointed at him.
I screamed his name.
Both brothers turned.
Julian stared at me.
Then smiled.
“Of course.”
He grabbed Gideon and backed toward an upper office.
I followed despite every intelligent instinct.
By the time officers reached the stairs, a steel security gate slammed down between us.
I was trapped on the upper level.
With both Locke brothers.
Excellent.
Julian pointed his weapon at me.
“You really are inconvenient.”
“I’ve been told.”
Gideon positioned himself slightly between us.
“Let her go.”
“No.”
Julian looked at me.
“You were supposed to be invisible, Lena. Clean identity. Good credit. No connections.”
“You picked the wrong woman.”
“Tyler picked you.”
“Then apparently he had one good decision in him.”
Julian laughed.
Below us, police attacked the gate.
He pulled out a laptop.
“Account Four.”
“Not happening,” Gideon said.
Julian pointed his gun toward me.
“It is.”
Gideon removed the pendant.
My heart sank.
He entered his half of the encryption key.
Julian entered his.
The bank portal opened.
$94,721,408.
Even Julian looked stunned.
“Finally.”
He initiated transfer.
The system requested identity authorization.
LENA HARPER CONSULTING.
I stared.
“That’s why you needed me.”
Julian smiled.
“Your company became the intermediary.”
“But I never created it.”
“Tyler had everything necessary.”
A verification code was sent.
To my phone.
Julian held out his hand.
“Phone.”
“No.”
He cocked the gun.
Gideon said my name softly.
I gave him the phone.
Code arrived.
Julian entered it.
TRANSFER PENDING.
SECOND AUTHORIZATION REQUIRED.
He frowned.
“What?”
Another prompt appeared.
VOICE AUTHORIZATION — REGISTERED ACCOUNT HOLDER.
My voice.
Tyler must have used recordings of me to build verification.
But the bank required a fresh phrase.
The screen displayed:
I AUTHORIZE TRANSFER OF ALL FUNDS.
Julian pointed the phone toward me.
“Say it.”
I looked at Gideon.
Then at Julian.
“I authorize transfer of all funds.”
The system processed.
Julian smiled.
Then the screen flashed:
VOICE MISMATCH.
My heart leaped.
Julian’s face twisted.
“Again.”
I repeated it.
Mismatch.
He grabbed my jaw.
“What are you doing?”
I smiled despite fear.
“You built your voice profile from Tyler’s recordings, didn’t you?”
His eyes narrowed.
Tyler had mostly recorded me during arguments.
When I was angry.
Fast speech.
Raised pitch.
I had deliberately spoken slowly.
Low.
Calm.
It was enough.
Below us, the gate cracked.
Julian panicked.
He turned toward Gideon.
That was his mistake.
I swung my crutch.
Hard.
It hit his wrist.
The gun skidded away.
Gideon attacked.
The brothers crashed into a desk.
Police breached the gate.
Julian scrambled toward the gun.
Gideon reached it first.
For one terrible second, Gideon aimed at his brother.
Julian smiled.
“Do it.”
Gideon’s hands trembled.
“You think you’re different from Dad?”
Gideon slowly lowered the weapon.
“Yes.”
Police tackled Julian.
As they dragged him away, he screamed at Gideon.
“You’ll regret this!”
Gideon looked at him.
“No.”
Then he turned to me.
“What part of stay in the vehicle was confusing?”
I dropped my crutch.
“Most of it.”
He laughed.
Then he pulled me into his arms.
And for the first time since my wrong text, I felt something other than fear.
I felt safe.
But Julian’s arrest wasn’t the end.
Because the bank account had revealed something none of us expected.
The ninety-four million dollars did not belong entirely to Dominic Locke.
A portion had been stolen from dozens of people.
Businesses.
Families.
Pension funds.
May you like
And one name on the victim list made Gideon go silent.
My father.
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