Chapter 14 - THE EVIDENCE
The gunshot hit the altar.
Stone exploded above Vanessa's head.
She screamed.
Nathan pulled me behind a pew.
A second shot came from the rear doors.
Cross.
He wasn't shooting at us.
He was shooting at Graham.
"What the hell?" Nathan whispered.
Graham dove behind the organ.
Cross shouted, "You said my name never went in the files!"
Graham answered from the dark. "Then stop making yourself memorable."
So that was it.
Cross had realized he was the disposable piece.
Men like Graham always ran out of loyalty before they ran out of money.
Price kicked his chair sideways. I crawled to him, cut the rope against the broken edge of a candle stand, and pulled him behind the pew.
"Cross's car," I whispered.
Price nodded.
"Black Range Rover. Garage three. Charger is taped under the driver's seat."
Nathan heard enough.
"Go," he said.
"We go together."
Another shot cracked.
Graham cursed.
Vanessa ran toward the side door.
Nathan grabbed my hand. We followed her into the rain, not because we wanted Vanessa-because the detached garage was in the same direction.
She saw us and fired once over her shoulder.
The bullet struck the chapel bell rope.
The bell boomed above us.
Sophia couldn't hear it from the mansion.
But I imagined she could feel the vibration through the ground.
We reached garage three.
Locked.
Nathan used a stone planter to smash the side window.
Inside sat Cross's Range Rover.
I crawled under the driver's seat and found the hearing aid charger wrapped in black tape.
A tiny flash drive was hidden inside the casing.
Nathan stared at it.
"This can stop the merger."
"It can stop more than that."
Headlights flooded the garage.
Vanessa stood in the doorway, gun raised.
"Give it to me."
Nathan stepped in front of me.
Vanessa laughed bitterly.
"Still protecting people, Nathan? That's why you were so easy to control."
She aimed at his chest.
May you like
Then a yellow blur launched from behind a workbench.
Sophia.
