Chapter 13 - THE PIER
Nobody intended to bring Lucas to the pier.
Lucas intended otherwise.
At 11:40 the next night, police positioned tactical teams around Cross Memorial Pier, a private waterfront property built in honor of Evelyn’s father.
A decoy car arrived carrying Detective Ortiz in the back seat under a hooded jacket meant to resemble Lucas.
Evelyn waited in a command van two blocks away.
Then the rear door opened.
Lucas climbed inside.
Evelyn stared at him. “How did you get here?”
“Bus.”
“You took a bus into a police operation?”
“Two buses.”
She almost lost her temper.
Then she saw his face.
“I need to hear him say it,” Lucas said. “I need to know why.”
Evelyn crouched in front of him.
“You may never get an answer that makes sense.”
“I still want mine.”
Before she could respond, a shot rang across the water.
Radio traffic exploded.
Preston had spotted the decoy.
He ran from beneath the pier toward an old maintenance building.
Lucas slipped from the van during the confusion.
“Lucas!” Evelyn screamed.
He sprinted toward the pier.
Preston saw him.
For one strange second, both froze.
Father and son stared at each other beneath cold white security lights.
Preston raised his empty hands.
“Lucas.”
“Don’t say my name.”
“I never meant for you to be involved.”
“You hit me.”
Preston’s jaw flexed. “I didn’t know it was you when you walked into me.”
“But you knew after.”
“Yes.”
“And you still tried to kill me?”
Preston’s eyes flicked toward the police closing in.
“I was trying to protect what belongs to me.”
Lucas’s voice cracked. “I belong to you?”
“No. The money.”
The answer was so ugly it became clarifying.
Lucas stopped crying.
Behind Preston, Evelyn saw his right hand move toward the waistband of his pants.
“Lucas, DOWN!”
Preston pulled a gun.
May you like
Evelyn ran.
A shot tore through the night.
