Chapter 8 - Brother for Witness
Hannah ignored the “alone” part.
Federal teams surrounded the warehouse before Victor’s SUV arrived.
Hannah rode in the back seat.
“You threw me into the ocean,” she said.
Victor looked out the window.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Marsh warned me opening Deck Four would trigger Black Tide.”
“So you attacked me.”
“I made a coward’s choice.”
“That isn’t an apology.”
“No. It’s a confession.”
Thomas Kane stepped into the warehouse light.
Older than Victor.
Same eyes.
No shame.
“Little brother.”
Victor got out.
“Where are the witnesses?”
Thomas smiled.
“You still think witnesses matter.”
Hannah stepped from behind the SUV.
“They matter to me.”
Thomas’s smile disappeared.
Men appeared on the catwalks.
Thomas looked at Victor.
“Our father taught us institutions survive by deciding which truths are affordable.”
Victor said, “He taught you cowardice.”
Gunfire cracked.
Hannah dropped behind concrete.
Federal teams stormed the side entrance.
Marisol was found in a small office.
Two other witnesses were in a loading bay.
Thomas ran.
Nathan, who had ignored orders and followed the operation, slammed a steel door across his path.
Thomas hit it and went down.
Agents cuffed him.
Victor collapsed nearby.
A bullet had hit his side.
He grabbed Hannah’s hand.
“Don’t make me the story.”
“Who should be?”
“Michael.”
Paramedics pulled her back.
Thomas laughed from the floor.
“You think arresting me reaches Rusk?”
Hannah knelt.
“No.”
She held up his phone.
“But this might.”
His expression changed.
Inside the phone was a draft message to Malcolm Rusk:
THE MERCER DAUGHTER HAS NO IDEA HER FATHER SIGNED THE ORIGINAL CHARTER WILLINGLY.
Hannah read it twice.
Her anger changed direction.
“What original charter?”
Nathan went silent.
Hannah looked at him.
“You knew.”
May you like
And suddenly her father was no longer only the man who had tried to expose Harbor Meridian.
He had helped build it.
