Chapter 7 - THE TRAITOR
I stared through the rain-streaked windshield in absolute, paralyzing disbelief.
Leo, the man who had just killed a sniper to protect the SUV, the man who had driven us to safety, walked calmly to Matteo’s side and turned his assault rifle directly on Victor.
Victor stood frozen in the headlights, his face a mask of profound, shattering betrayal. He lowered his weapon slightly.
“Leo?” Victor’s voice cracked, raw and disbelieving. “Why?”
Leo didn't look angry. He looked broken. He held up the shattered silver pocket watch.
“Dominic killed my sister, Victor,” Leo said, his voice echoing in the massive warehouse. “Ten years ago. A drunk driving accident he covered up with your family’s money. I spent a decade infiltrating your security, waiting for the day I could take everything from you. Just like you took everything from me.”
Answer One, Open Two. Leo was the inside man. He was the one who had unlocked the gates for Matteo’s men tonight. He was the one who had kidnapped Elian. But why did he save the SUV outside? Because he needed me alive to unlock the digital ledgers.
“You handed a six-year-old boy to a monster to settle a score?” Victor snarled, his grief instantly transforming into lethal rage.
Matteo laughed, stepping forward. “It’s poetry, Victor. Now, tell the girl in the car to unlock the doors and hand over the tablet. If she does, I’ll let you die quickly.”
In the backseat, Camilla grabbed my shoulder, her fingernails digging into my skin. “Drive, Clara. Run him over!”
“I can't,” I panicked, staring at the laser sights dancing across Victor’s chest. “They’ll shoot Victor.”
I looked at Elian. The little boy was curled into a ball, sobbing. I thought of my father. I thought of Victor bleeding in the rain for us.
I couldn't fight them with a gun. But I was the daughter of a construction foreman. I knew how heavy machinery worked.
I looked at the massive, industrial control panel on the wall of the loading dock, just five feet from the front bumper of the SUV. The panel controlled the overhead gantry crane that held tons of shipping containers suspended near the ceiling.
I grabbed the tablet. I didn't unlock the doors.
I hacked into the warehouse’s internal Wi-Fi network.
“Clara, what are you doing?” Camilla whispered.
“I’m bringing the house down,” I said.
I bypassed the security firewall in seconds. I found the IP address for the gantry crane’s magnetic lock system.
Outside, Matteo was losing patience. “Shoot out the tires!” he barked at Leo.
Leo raised his rifle.
I hit EXECUTE.
High above Matteo and his men, the massive electromagnets on the ceiling crane disengaged with a sound like a thunderclap.
Two massive, forty-ton steel shipping containers plummeted from the ceiling.
They crashed into the center of the warehouse floor with an earth-shattering roar. The concrete ground buckled. A shockwave of dust, water, and debris exploded outward, knocking Matteo and his men off their feet in a chaotic panic.
“Victor, get in!” I screamed, throwing the passenger door open.
Victor didn't hesitate. He dove into the SUV as the dust cloud swallowed the loading dock.
I slammed the vehicle into reverse, tearing backward out of the warehouse, spinning the wheel to whip us around in the muddy yard.
“Drive for the main gate!” Victor shouted, coughing dust, clutching his bleeding shoulder.
I floored it. But as we careened toward the exit, a pair of black SUVs blocked the chain-link gates.
We were trapped.
Matteo emerged from the dust of the warehouse, his face bloody, holding a red folder in his hand. He walked slowly toward the trapped SUV, completely ignoring the rain.
He held the red folder up to the headlights.
“Do you know what this is, Clara?” Matteo yelled, his voice carrying over the storm. “It’s your father’s real medical file!”
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I slammed on the brakes, the SUV skidding to a halt. My breath caught in my throat.
“He doesn't have cancer, sweetheart!” Matteo smiled wickedly. “He’s been slowly poisoned for three months! And I am the only man in Chicago who has the antidote!”
