Chapter 4 - Secrets Buried In Plain Sight
The rain outside turned into a relentless downpour, drumming heavily against the warehouse roof.
Gabriel leaned forward slightly, resting his elbows on his knees.
“Where did he put it, Emma?”
Emma touched the tiny gold locket around her neck, her fingers pale against the chain.
“Cole’s father died eight years ago in the old mill fire,” she began quietly.
“He’s buried at Saint Michael’s Cemetery on the north ridge.”
“The family plot has an old marble angel with a broken wing.”
“Cole had the stonemason hollow out a small cavity behind the base when they restored it two years ago.”
“He said that if the world ever fell apart, the truth would be safe with his father.”
Vincent stepped through the doorway, holding a secure encrypted tablet.
He caught Gabriel’s eye and gave a small, grim nod.
“Boss. We have a development.”
Gabriel stood up smoothly, adjusting his cuffs.
“Rest, Emma. You have around-the-clock medical care here.”
“Wait,” Emma called out, trying to raise herself up before the pain forced her back.
“You’re going to find Cole, aren’t you?”
Gabriel looked back at her from the doorway.
“I am going to bring your fiancé back to this room alive.”
“And I am going to make sure Nolan Pike never holds a weapon again.”
He stepped out into the corridor, Vincent following closely behind.
“What do we have?” Gabriel demanded as they walked toward the command office.
“Pike put a street bounty on Mercer,” Vincent reported, tapping the screen.
“Two hundred and fifty grand.”
“Every dirty bounty hunter and off-duty corrupt cop in North Carolina is searching the woods.”
“Do they have a lead?”
“A hunter spotted a silver pickup truck matching Mercer’s brother’s old Ford near the swamp cabins off Route 9.”
“That’s less than five miles from Blackridge’s private hunting preserve.”
“They’re closing a perimeter around the swamp right now.”
Gabriel stopped in the center of the hallway.
“How many men does Pike have in the field?”
“At least a dozen. Armed with automatic rifles.”
“And Cole Mercer is an accountant with a high school track record.”
“He won’t last another three hours out there in this weather,” Vincent warned.
Gabriel’s face turned into a mask of pure, concentrated fury.
“Call Marco and the boys from the shipping terminal.”
“How many?”
“All of them.”
“We take four black Suburbans.”
“Heavy vests. Suppressed tactical gear.”
Vincent’s eyes lit with a dangerous spark he hadn’t shown in seven years.
“Are we declaring war on Blackridge, Gabriel?”
Gabriel reached into his inside coat pocket and pulled out his gloves.
“Blackridge declared war when their dog shot a mother under my nose.”
“We are simply finishing it.”
Meanwhile, five miles north, the swamp was suffocatingly dark and cold.
Cole Mercer was knee-deep in freezing mud, shivering so hard his bones ached.
His blue denim jacket was torn by briars, and his face was smeared with black muck.
He clutched an old bolt-action hunting rifle that belonged to his grandfather.
There were only three rounds in the magazine.
Through the dripping cypress trees, he could see the bouncing beams of high-powered tactical flashlights.
He could hear the distant barking of tracking dogs.
“Spread out!” a voice echoed through the trees.
It was Nolan Pike’s voice.
Cole pressed his back against the wide trunk of a moss-covered oak, holding his breath.
He had been on the run for forty-eight hours without food.
His only thought, the only thing keeping his heart beating, was Emma.
He had told her to stay at her sister’s house in Charlotte.
He had begged her over a payphone not to go back to their house.
He didn’t know she had run out of gas trying to get out of Bellhaven.
He didn’t know she was lying in a private trauma suite with a bullet wound in her shoulder.
“Mercer!” Pike’s voice boomed through an electric megaphone, bouncing off the dark water.
“Give it up, kid!”
“You’re soaking wet and you’ve got nowhere to run!”
“Hand over the drive and we’ll let you walk to the state line!”
Cole bit his lip until blood filled his mouth to stop himself from shouting back.
He knew what Blackridge did to loose ends.
Three years ago, an environmental inspector had supposedly committed suicide in this very swamp.
They found him floating face down with no water in his lungs.
Cole knew if he stepped out from behind this tree, he would take a bullet to the back of the head.
Suddenly, a heavy German Shepherd broke through the reeds fifty yards to his left, baying furiously.
The dog handler shouted, “Over here! Dog’s got a hot scent!”
Four tactical flashlights swiveled instantly toward Cole’s tree.
Cole raised the heavy rifle, his hands shaking so hard the barrel danced.
“Don’t shoot the dog, kid,” a calm voice whispered right behind his right ear.
Cole spun around, his heart leaping into his throat, finger tightening on the trigger.
A gloved hand moved with terrifying speed, clamping over the rifle’s receiver and forcing the barrel down into the mud.
Cole looked up in sheer horror.
Standing in the pitch-black shadows behind him was a tall man in a dark tactical jacket.
Two more silent figures materialized from the mist like phantoms, their suppressed carbines raised.
“Who... who are you?” Cole wheezed, terrified.
Gabriel Moretti looked down at the shivering young man.
“I am the man who is keeping your fiancé alive.”
Cole’s breath caught in his chest.
“Emma? What did you do to Emma?!”
“Keep your voice down if you want to see your son born,” Gabriel ordered coldly.
“Emma was shot at the county gas station two hours ago.”
The color drained completely from Cole’s face.
He dropped to his knees in the swamp water, clutching Gabriel’s tactical jacket with both hands.
“No... no, God please no!” Cole sobbed, his voice breaking into pieces.
“She is alive,” Gabriel said, grabbing Cole by the collar and hoisting him to his feet.
“She survived the surgery.”
“My doctor stopped her early labor.”
“She is safe in my clinic.”
“Now, you have two choices, Mercer.”
Gabriel gestured toward the approaching flashlights of Pike’s execution squad.
“You can stay here and let Nolan Pike put a bullet in your head.”
“Or you can walk with me, hand me the key to that cemetery vault, and watch me rip Blackridge to pieces.”
Cole looked into Gabriel’s eyes.
There was no deceit there.
Only the absolute, terrifying promise of a man who ruled the dark.
May you like
Cole wiped the mud from his face with his sleeve and racked the bolt of his rifle.
“Take me to my wife,” Cole whispered.
