Chapter 5 - THE PRICE OF A LIFE
By sunrise, the estate had become a fortress inside a fortress.
Nobody moved without two guards.
Nobody entered without retinal verification.
Every vehicle was searched.
Every employee was re-vetted.
Prescott wanted Mara’s stem-cell collection performed inside the mansion.
Franklin refused.
“We don’t have the equipment.”
“Bring it.”
“It isn’t a coffee machine.”
“Then bring the hospital.”
Franklin rubbed his face.
“Lawson, she needs apheresis equipment, blood banking support, specialized laboratory processing, emergency backup systems—”
“Then we move her with an army.”
Mara interrupted.
“No.”
I looked at her.
She stood near the window, pale from the medication.
“You don’t decide security.”
“And you don’t decide whether Chicago becomes a war zone because I need to drive six miles.”
“That is exactly the type of thing I decide.”
“Your children need you.”
“They need you more.”
The room went quiet.
Mara softened.
“Which is why you should stay here.”
“No.”
“Lawson—”
“No.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“You’re exhausting.”
“I’ve heard that.”
“Recently?”
“Constantly.”
At 9:00 a.m., we compromised.
Mara would travel in an armored medical transport with Franklin.
Prescott would lead security.
I would remain with Jonah and Blythe until collection was complete.
I hated every part of it.
But Blythe’s fever had returned.
Jonah’s platelets were falling.
I could not leave them.
Before Mara departed, Jonah called her over.
“Aunt Mara?”
She froze slightly at the title.
“Yes?”
He held out a plastic dinosaur.
His favorite.
A green tyrannosaurus with one missing arm.
“Take Rex.”
Mara smiled.
“Why?”
“He bites bad guys.”
She took it.
“I feel safer already.”
Blythe lifted one weak finger.
“Come back.”
Mara’s smile disappeared.
“I will.”
“You promise?”
Mara looked at me.
Then back at her.
“I promise.”
The convoy left at 9:17.
It never reached the hospital.
At 9:31, Prescott called.
His first sentence made the world disappear.
“They took her.”
I stood so quickly the chair fell behind me.
“What happened?”
“Construction truck blocked Lower Wacker. Fake police vehicle boxed the rear. They used smoke and electronic jamming.”
“Franklin?”
“Alive. Concussion.”
“Mara?”
“Gone.”
My vision went red.
“How?”
“They knew the route.”
Only eight people knew the route.
The war was still inside my house.
“Find her.”
“We are.”
“Prescott.”
“I know.”
“No. You don’t.”
My voice became very quiet.
“You bring her back breathing.”
The call ended.
Jonah was watching me.
He always noticed everything.
“Where’s Aunt Mara?”
I lied.
“She had to make another stop.”
He frowned.
“You’re using your work voice.”
“What?”
“Mom said you had a scary work voice.”
I turned away.
“She said that?”
“She said when you use it, somebody did something stupid.”
Even now, Genevieve was haunting me with accuracy.
By ten, Crosby called.
I answered without speaking.
“South Harbor Terminal,” he said.
That was all.
I knew exactly what he meant.
Twenty-two acres of waterfront.
A distribution hub worth hundreds of millions.
More importantly, strategic control over three shipping routes my family had held for decades.
“You want the terminal.”
“I want ownership transferred by midnight.”
“And Mara?”
“Returned.”
“Unharmed?”
“As much as possible.”
I closed my eyes.
“If you touch her—”
“Careful, Lawson. Your children have approximately nine days left now, don’t they?”
My hand tightened around the phone.
He knew.
Kessler had told him everything.
“What does a terminal buy you?” I asked.
“Freedom from living in your shadow.”
“That’s never bothered you before.”
“No.”
His tone changed.
“But Genevieve did.”
The name hit like a blade.
“What did she find?”
Crosby laughed softly.
“You should have listened to your wife more.”
“You killed her.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You didn’t have to.”
Silence.
Then:
“Midnight.”
The call ended.
I immediately called my attorney.
“Prepare the transfer.”
He stared at me through video.
“Lawson, that property controls nearly a quarter of Mercer logistics.”
“I’m aware.”
“You cannot seriously—”
“Prepare it.”
He obeyed.
Prescott returned at noon.
He had blood on his collar.
Not his.
“We found the fake police vehicle.”
“Mara?”
“No.”
“Anything?”
He placed Jonah’s plastic dinosaur on the table.
One tooth was broken.
My stomach turned.
“She dropped it deliberately,” Prescott said.
“There’s paint on the bottom.”
“From where?”
“Industrial floor coating. Orange epoxy.”
He opened a map.
“Only six facilities in the metro area use that manufacturer. Three are inactive. One belongs to a Vane shell company.”
“Where?”
“Old printing plant near Cicero.”
I reached for my coat.
“No.”
I looked at him.
“You’re staying here.”
“No.”
“Lawson.”
“I said no.”
“And if this is exactly what Crosby wants?”
“Then he gets me.”
“Your children need their father.”
“My children need their donor.”
He stepped in front of me.
“Genevieve would tell you—”
“Do not use my wife against me.”
His expression hardened.
“I’m trying to keep her children from becoming orphans.”
That stopped me.
The office fell silent.
I looked toward the medical wing.
Nine days.
Maybe fewer.
Finally I said, “We do it my way.”
At 3:20 p.m., I signed the preliminary terminal transfer.
At 3:30, the document was deliberately allowed to leak.
At 4:05, Crosby’s financial attorney accessed the transfer portal from an IP address near Cicero.
We had him.
Prescott sent two teams.
I went with the third.
No sirens.
No spectacle.
Just four black SUVs slipping through afternoon traffic.
The printing plant looked abandoned.
Broken windows.
Faded brick.
Rusting loading doors.
But there were fresh tire tracks.
Inside, we found three armed men.
Prescott’s team handled them quickly.
Then I heard a voice.
“Lawson!”
Mara.
I ran.
She was tied to a chair in an upstairs office.
A bruise darkened her cheek.
Her wrists were raw.
But she was alive.
I cut the restraints.
“Can you walk?”
“Yes.”
“Did they inject you?”
“No.”
“Anything to eat or drink?”
“Water. I didn’t touch it.”
Good.
Smart.
I helped her stand.
She swayed.
My arm went around her automatically.
“I promised Blythe,” she whispered.
“What?”
“That I’d come back.”
“You will.”
A slow clap echoed from the doorway.
Crosby Vane.
Gray suit.
No tie.
Gun in his hand.
Two men behind him.
“You really do become predictable when you love someone,” he said.
Prescott raised his weapon.
So did everyone else.
Crosby pointed his gun toward Mara.
“Drop them.”
Nobody moved.
He smiled.
“Lawson.”
I put my gun on the floor.
Prescott swore.
“Do it.”
One by one, weapons lowered.
Crosby looked pleased.
“You gave up South Harbor for a woman you met yesterday.”
“No.”
His smile faded.
“I gave you a document that becomes void the moment my attorney reports coercion.”
For the first time, his face changed.
I continued.
“And while your lawyer was opening it, federal financial crimes investigators received every transaction connecting Halloway Biomedical to your shell companies.”
Crosby’s jaw tightened.
“You always were arrogant.”
“And you always underestimated Genevieve.”
Something flickered in his eyes.
Mara saw it too.
“She recorded you,” Mara said.
Crosby looked at her.
I did not know whether it was true.
Neither did she.
But his reaction told us everything.
“You stupid little nurse.”
There.
Fear.
Prescott smiled slowly.
“Thank you.”
Crosby realized the mistake.
Too late.
One of his own men moved.
The room exploded into motion.
Prescott knocked the gun aside.
I pulled Mara behind a steel desk.
Two shots hit the wall.
Then silence.
Crosby disappeared through a rear stairwell.
Prescott started after him.
I caught his arm.
“Mara first.”
He looked at me.
That choice cost us Crosby.
I knew it.
But I would make it again.
We left the building seven minutes later.
Mara sat beside me in the armored vehicle.
She was trembling now that it was over.
I put my coat around her.
“You chose me instead of chasing him,” she said.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
I looked out the window.
“Because revenge can wait.”
Then I looked at her.
“My children can’t.”
At 6:11 p.m., Mara reached the hospital.
At 6:29, collection began.
At 9:47, Franklin called me from the procedure room.
“We have enough cells.”
For the first time in days, I could breathe.
Then he added:
May you like
“Lawson, Jonah just crashed.”
I ran for the twins’ room.
