Chapter 7 - MIDNIGHT AT PIER 46
Adrian had no intention of going alone.
He simply intended for Colton to believe he had.
“You’re not coming,” he told me.
We were back at Romano House.
“No argument.”
“I wasn’t asking.”
“Good.”
He frowned.
“Good?”
“Because I’m not stupid enough to show up at a pier full of armed criminals.”
He looked relieved.
“I’m coming in the surveillance van.”
The relief disappeared.
“No.”
“You need someone who recognizes Vincent.”
“Every guard recognizes Vincent.”
“You need someone Colton doesn’t consider dangerous.”
“That is exactly why you are staying here.”
I stepped closer.
“My daughter became part of this the moment Vincent had us followed.”
“That’s why I’m keeping you safe.”
“I don’t need to hold a gun, Adrian. I need to help identify anyone who approached me at work, anyone I saw near the cash office, anyone who might be connected.”
He stared at me.
I crossed my arms.
“You can waste ten minutes arguing, or you can accept that I’m going to annoy you until you surrender.”
Matteo said from the doorway, “Take her.”
Adrian glared at him.
“You are useless.”
“I’m efficient.”
At eleven forty-eight, Sophia remained at Romano House with Elena and Mrs. Greco under guard.
Before I left, she hugged me tightly.
“Come back.”
“I will.”
“Promise?”
My throat tightened.
“Yes.”
She looked at Adrian.
“You too.”
He crouched.
“I promise.”
“Don’t lie.”
His face changed.
“I won’t.”
The pier was nearly abandoned.
February wind came off the Hudson like knives.
Adrian drove alone in a black sedan carrying the ledger.
A duplicate.
The original remained secured with Matteo.
Inside the surveillance van, I watched six camera feeds while teams waited beyond sight.
“No police?” I asked.
Matteo shook his head.
“Colton has people inside departments. We don’t know who.”
“You sound remarkably comfortable saying that.”
“I stopped being surprised by institutional corruption in 1998.”
At 11:59, headlights appeared.
One van.
Then another.
Adrian got out.
Colton emerged from the shadows.
He looked nothing like I expected.
Gray coat.
Gloves.
Silver hair.
He could have been somebody’s grandfather arriving for the opera.
Vincent stepped out behind him.
Anthony was dragged from the van.
His hands bound.
Blood on his face.
Adrian stopped.
“Let him go.”
“Ledger first,” Colton called.
“You get it after he walks.”
“You still don’t understand leverage.”
“Oh, I understand it.”
Adrian held up the book.
“I also understand you came personally because you need what’s inside.”
Colton smiled.
“Your father taught you something after all.”
“No. My father taught me what not to become.”
The smile faded.
Vincent moved closer to Anthony.
I studied the screens.
Something bothered me.
“Zoom camera three.”
The technician enlarged the image.
Vincent was holding Anthony’s arm.
His other hand stayed inside his coat.
“Gun,” Matteo said.
“No.”
I leaned closer.
“What?”
“That’s not where he keeps his gun.”
“You know?”
“I watched him six months.”
Vincent always carried his pistol high under the left side of his jacket.
Tonight, his left side bulged normally.
The hand inside his coat was on the right.
“What is he holding?”
The technician enhanced the image.
A wire.
My stomach dropped.
“Bomb.”
Matteo turned.
“What?”
“There’s something under Anthony’s coat.”
Onscreen, Anthony shifted.
His shirt pulled tight.
A dark rectangular shape was strapped to his torso.
Matteo grabbed the radio.
“Adrian, stand down. Possible explosive on Anthony.”
Adrian’s earpiece was nearly invisible.
He did not react.
Colton said something.
Adrian answered.
Then Vincent suddenly looked toward the river.
One of our security men had moved too early.
“Damn it,” Matteo whispered.
Colton saw him.
Everything exploded into motion.
Vincent grabbed Anthony.
Adrian dove behind the sedan.
Shots cracked across the pier.
I hit the van floor instinctively.
The security team moved.
Colton disappeared behind a shipping container.
Vincent dragged Anthony toward the water.
“Stay here,” Matteo ordered.
He opened the van door.
Then I saw someone on camera four.
Red hat.
The man from Sophia’s daycare.
He was approaching Adrian from behind.
“Adrian!”
He could not hear me.
I grabbed the radio.
“Behind you! Red hat!”
Adrian turned just as the man raised a weapon.
One shot.
The man fell.
Adrian stared toward the surveillance van.
Then Vincent shouted.
“Back off!”
The pier went still.
He held a detonator.
Anthony stood beside him, shaking.
The device beneath his coat was visible now.
“Everybody drops weapons!”
Adrian stepped forward.
“Vincent.”
“Don’t.”
“You know Colton is leaving you.”
Vincent laughed.
“No.”
“Yes.”
Across the pier, Colton was already retreating toward the second van.
Vincent glanced back.
That was enough.
Anthony drove his head backward into Vincent’s face.
Vincent stumbled.
The detonator fell.
Adrian ran.
Security tackled Vincent.
A bomb technician rushed Anthony.
“Don’t move!”
Anthony began sobbing.
“I’m sorry.”
Adrian grabbed his face.
“Save it.”
“I killed her.”
“No.”
“I gave him the schedule.”
“You were nineteen.”
“He paid me. I thought he was stealing the car. I didn’t know—”
“Anthony.”
Adrian’s voice broke.
“I didn’t know, Adrian. I swear to God.”
The technician cut one wire.
Then another.
We watched from fifty feet away.
Nobody breathed.
Finally:
“Device safe!”
Adrian’s knees nearly gave.
He pulled Anthony against him.
For twelve years, Anthony had carried guilt.
For twelve years, Adrian had carried rage.
Neither man looked powerful then.
They looked like two boys who had lost the same girl.
A vehicle engine roared.
Colton.
He was escaping.
Security cars pursued.
I watched taillights disappear.
Matteo swore.
“Vincent we have. Colton we lost.”
Vincent laughed from the pavement.
“You think this ends because you found a book?”
Adrian walked toward him.
Vincent grinned through blood.
“You don’t even know what Maria saw.”
I froze.
Adrian did too.
“What does that mean?”
Vincent laughed again.
“The cash wasn’t the point.”
“Then what was?”
“The withdrawals funded Colton’s last move.”
“What move?”
Vincent turned his head.
His eyes found me.
“Ask your maid what she cleaned three weeks ago.”
My mind raced.
Three weeks.
Offices.
Restaurants.
Basement storage.
Then I remembered.
A locked room in the Brooklyn warehouse.
Vincent had told me to clean it after midnight.
Empty except for crates and paper dust.
Except it had not been empty.
There had been maps on the table.
Delivery schedules.
Photographs.
One photograph I had barely noticed.
Romano House.
I looked at Adrian.
“Your house.”
His face changed.
I grabbed the radio.
“Call Mrs. Greco.”
Matteo was already dialing.
No answer.
He tried Elena.
No answer.
Adrian reached for his phone.
The screen lit first.
Incoming video call.
Unknown number.
He answered.
Richard Colton appeared.
Behind him was the foyer of Romano House.
My entire body went cold.
Colton smiled into the camera.
“You should have stayed home, Adrian.”
Then he turned the phone.
Sophia stood at the top of the staircase.
May you like
And a man I had never seen before was walking toward her.
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