Chapter 6 - THE MAN BEHIND THE BADGE
Raina Ortiz knew something was wrong the moment the mansion went quiet.
Not peaceful.
Quiet.
There was a difference.
She had spent seventeen years in law enforcement learning that difference.
The guard outside the library was gone.
The radio on the console table emitted static.
The grandfather clock ticked too loudly.
Raina drew her weapon.
“Marta?”
No answer.
“Dominic?”
Nothing.
She moved down the corridor.
The library door stood open.
Marta sat in a chair.
Alive.
A strip of tape covered her mouth.
Dominic lay on the carpet beside her, unconscious.
Raina rushed in.
Then heard the click behind her.
“Put the weapon down, sweetheart.”
She froze.
That voice.
Impossible.
She slowly turned.
Samuel Ortiz stood in the doorway.
Seventy-one.
Silver hair.
Navy overcoat.
The face Raina had seen at birthdays, graduations, police academy ceremonies, and Sunday dinners.
Her father.
He held a pistol.
“Dad?”
“Gun.”
Raina stared.
“Put it down.”
She obeyed.
“What are you doing?”
Samuel entered.
His expression contained something worse than anger.
Disappointment.
“I spent your entire childhood teaching you to recognize compromised scenes.”
Raina’s mouth went dry.
“You’re Shepherd.”
Samuel smiled faintly.
“You always were clever.”
The room tilted.
Raina looked toward Dominic.
“You did this?”
“He’ll survive.”
“Marta?”
“Also alive.”
“Why?”
“Because unnecessary death creates noise.”
Raina almost laughed.
“You’re talking about unnecessary death while running a trafficking network?”
Samuel’s face hardened.
“Careful.”
“What else would you call it?”
“Logistics.”
She stared at him.
“Human beings are not logistics.”
“The world is not a courtroom, Raina.”
“No. It’s apparently your warehouse.”
His mouth tightened.
Outside, tires crunched on gravel.
Samuel checked his watch.
“They’re early.”
“Who?”
He did not answer.
Raina understood.
“Luca.”
Samuel looked at her with something almost like pride.
“Good.”
“You’re waiting for him.”
“For Hope.”
Raina’s pulse jumped.
“Why?”
“She has something I need.”
“She already removed it.”
Samuel’s face changed.
Raina saw it.
Only for a second.
Fear.
“You didn’t know.”
He stepped toward her.
“Removed what?”
Raina smiled despite the gun.
“So Elias beat you.”
Samuel struck her.
Hard.
Raina hit the desk.
Marta screamed behind the tape.
Samuel grabbed his daughter’s coat.
“Where is it?”
Raina tasted blood.
“Go to hell.”
The lights went out.
Samuel turned.
A gunshot cracked from the hallway.
Then Teddy’s voice boomed.
“Nobody move!”
Chaos.
Raina dropped.
Marta kicked the lamp off the table.
Samuel fired toward the doorway.
Teddy returned fire.
Glass shattered.
Dominic stirred.
Then Luca entered from the side passage.
He moved like something that had spent years learning how to kill and three years learning how not to.
Samuel saw him.
“Luca.”
Luca’s pistol remained steady.
“Samuel.”
Hope appeared behind him.
Samuel smiled.
“There she is.”
Luca shifted in front of her.
“Don’t.”
Samuel laughed.
“You think this is romantic?”
Hope rolled her eyes.
“God, villains really do love speeches.”
Samuel’s smile vanished.
“Give me the capsule.”
Hope held up a small evidence bag.
Samuel’s eyes locked onto it.
“You want this?”
“Yes.”
“Let Raina and Marta go.”
Samuel glanced at his daughter.
“She betrayed me.”
Raina laughed bitterly.
“I investigated a home invasion, Dad.”
“You chose strangers.”
“I chose not selling children.”
Something cracked inside Samuel’s expression.
Not guilt.
Offense.
As though his daughter had embarrassed him.
“You’ve always been naive.”
Raina stared at the man she had admired all her life.
“No. I’ve always been your excuse.”
“What?”
“You donated to trafficking charities. You prosecuted low-level smugglers. You built a reputation as the man fighting the crimes you were profiting from.”
Samuel said nothing.
Raina’s voice broke.
“You used me too, didn’t you? Detective daughter. Perfect cover.”
For the first time, Samuel looked away.
That was answer enough.
Hope slipped the evidence bag into her pocket.
Samuel raised the gun toward her.
Luca fired first.
His bullet struck Samuel’s weapon.
It spun away.
Raina lunged.
Samuel grabbed her.
A knife appeared against her throat.
“Back!”
Luca stopped.
Hope did too.
Samuel dragged Raina toward the French doors.
Outside waited a black sedan.
“You won’t make the gate,” Luca said.
“I don’t need to.”
Samuel smiled.
“Vittorio does.”
Luca’s face changed.
A second vehicle crashed through the rear security barrier.
Gunfire erupted outside.
Vittorio.
Hope looked at Luca.
“They planned this.”
Samuel pulled Raina backward.
“Toss me the capsule.”
Hope reached into her pocket.
Luca whispered, “Don’t.”
Samuel pressed the knife harder.
Blood appeared on Raina’s neck.
Hope threw the bag.
Samuel caught it.
He smiled.
Then frowned.
The bag contained a tiny screw.
Hope shrugged.
“You thought I brought the real one?”
Samuel’s rage exploded.
He shoved Raina away and raised the knife.
Luca crossed the room.
The first punch broke Samuel’s nose.
The second folded him over the desk.
The third never landed.
Hope caught Luca’s arm.
“Enough.”
Luca looked at her.
Then down at Samuel.
He wanted to kill him.
Everyone knew it.
Hope’s voice softened.
“Elias asked you not to burn the world.”
Luca breathed hard.
Slowly, he lowered his fist.
Raina cuffed her father herself.
Samuel laughed through the blood.
“You think this ends anything?”
Raina tightened the cuffs.
“For you, it does.”
An explosion shook the eastern wing.
Teddy ran in.
“Vittorio took Dominic.”
Luca spun.
“What?”
“He came through the service tunnel. Two guards down, alive. Dominic’s gone.”
Hope’s face tightened.
Samuel smiled.
Luca grabbed him.
“Where are they going?”
Samuel said nothing.
Luca slammed him against the wall.
“WHERE?”
Hope looked at the old camera files.
Warehouse coordinates.
Ferretti Maritime.
Safe-deposit box.
Two keys.
Then she remembered something Elias had once told her in Syria.
If I ever disappear, check the place my brother hates most.
Hope looked at Luca.
“What place do you hate most?”
He stared.
“What?”
“Elias. Did he ever say that?”
Luca thought.
Then his face darkened.
“The Breakwater House.”
“What is it?”
“My father’s old summer property.”
“Why do you hate it?”
Luca’s expression became stone.
“Because that’s where he used to take us when he wanted to teach us how weak we were.”
Nobody asked for details.
Hope said, “Where?”
“Fort Adams.”
Samuel stopped smiling.
Hope saw it.
“So that’s it.”
Luca turned to Teddy.
“Get the cars.”
Raina stepped forward.
“I’m coming.”
Luca looked at her father.
“You’re compromised.”
Her eyes flashed.
“My father is a criminal, not a contagious disease.”
Hope almost smiled.
Luca nodded.
Samuel called after them.
“Raina.”
She stopped.
For one foolish second, hope appeared in her face.
Samuel said, “If you go with them, you are no daughter of mine.”
Raina stared at him.
Then she removed a small gold pendant from her neck.
A birthday gift from him.
She placed it on the table.
“You made that decision years ago.”
She walked out.
Samuel was left alone with two uniformed officers.
Twenty minutes later, four vehicles raced toward Fort Adams.
Hope sat beside Luca.
He was silent.
“You okay?” she asked.
“No.”
“Good answer.”
He looked at her.
“My father used to lock Elias and me in a basement room at Breakwater House.”
Hope’s chest tightened.
“He called it resilience training.”
“How old were you?”
“Ten. Elias was seven.”
Hope stared ahead.
Luca continued.
“The lights were off. No food. Sometimes twelve hours. Sometimes longer.”
“Luca…”
“I learned not to be afraid.”
Hope shook her head.
“No.”
He looked at her.
“You learned not to show it.”
The words struck somewhere deep.
Luca looked away.
“What did you learn?”
She understood his question.
From Syria.
From hospitals.
From years sleeping in cars.
Hope considered.
“That being alone felt safer.”
“And now?”
She glanced at him.
“Now I’m in a car with a mafia boss, a detective whose father runs a trafficking network, and a man named Teddy who carries six phone chargers.”
From the front seat, Teddy said, “Seven.”
Hope laughed.
Luca did too.
The sound lasted only seconds.
But it mattered.
Then the Breakwater House appeared above the black water.
Every window was dark except one.
The basement.
Luca’s smile disappeared.
Hope touched his hand.
Not by accident.
“You’re not ten anymore.”
Luca looked at their joined hands.
“No.”
“And you’re not going in alone.”
He squeezed her fingers.
The vehicles stopped.
Then a gunshot exploded from inside the house.
May you like
Luca ran.
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