Chapter 5
The plan was simple.
Stupidly simple.
And almost guaranteed to get us all killed.
“I go in alone at midnight,” I said. “I take the papers—well, copies of the papers. I pretend I brought Lily. When Vanessa shows her hand, Leo moves in with the cavalry.”
“Cavalry?” Leo asked. “What cavalry?”
“You said you used to be in the Army. Call your old buddies. The ones who don’t ask questions. The ones who still owe you favors.”
Leo grinned. It was the first real smile I had seen from him all day.
“Now you’re speaking my language. I know three guys who’d fly in from Vegas just for the chance to take down a guy like Voss. They’ll be here by ten.”
Jake raised his hand like he was in class.
“I’m coming too.”
“Absolutely not,” I said immediately. “This is way too dangerous.”
“Then you’ll fail,” he said flatly. “Because you don’t know the layout. You don’t know the cameras. You don’t know where they keep the real files. And you definitely don’t know how Voss thinks. I do. I’ve watched him. I’ve listened to him. If you go in without me, you’ll walk right into a trap and never come out.”
He was right. I hated it, but he was right. This kid had spent a year studying Vanessa and her operation. He knew more about how they worked than the FBI probably did.
“Fine,” I said. “But you stay behind Leo the entire time. You don’t speak unless spoken to. You don’t go anywhere alone. And the second things go wrong, you run. Understand?”
He nodded.
“Understood.”
Lily, who had been coloring quietly at the other end of the table, looked up.
“What about me? Where do I go?”
My heart ached. I couldn’t bring her. But I couldn’t leave her here either, not with Vanessa on the loose.
“You’re going to stay with Leo’s sister,” I said. “She lives in Malibu. She’s got a pool. And three dogs. You’ll love it.”
Lily’s face fell.
“I don’t want to go. I want to stay with you and Jake.”
I knelt in front of her.
“Baby, I know. But this is something Daddy has to do to keep you safe forever. Just for one night. Then I’ll come get you, and we’ll never have to be scared again. I promise.”
She thought about it. Then she threw her arms around my neck.
“Okay, Daddy. But you have to promise you’ll come. Pinky promise.”
I hooked my pinky through hers.
“Pinky promise. On my life.”
The rest of the day was a blur. Leo’s friends showed up—three huge guys with shaved heads and tattoos who called themselves “Bear,” “Tiny,” and “Hawk.” None of them looked like the kind of men you wanted to meet in a dark alley. They shook my hand, clapped Jake on the back, and started going over the warehouse blueprints Leo had pulled.
Jake drew them a map from memory. Every room. Every camera. Every blind spot. The guys listened intently, asking questions, nodding. By the time he was done, even they looked impressed.
“Kid’s got a photographic memory,” Bear said. “He should be working for the CIA.”
At seven o’clock, Leo’s sister showed up to get Lily. She was a nice woman named Sarah—funny, warm, good with kids. Lily hugged me and Jake both, then climbed into the car with the dogs. I watched them drive away until the taillights disappeared over the hill.
Then it was time.
We left the house in three separate cars. I took my Tesla—vanilla, expected. Leo and Jake took an unmarked SUV. The three guys took a beat-up van that looked like it belonged to a plumber. We all had earpieces. We all had weapons. Well, except Jake. I made him leave the baseball bat at home.
The drive to the docks took forty minutes. LA was beautiful at night—the city lights stretching to the horizon, the ocean glinting under the moon. I tried to remember that I was still in the same city where I had built my life, where I had gotten married, where my daughter was born. It felt like a different world.
Pier 19 was dark. Abandoned. The warehouse was a giant brick building with broken windows and a rusted roll-up door. It looked like it had been empty for twenty years. Looks were deceiving.
I parked out front, just like Vanessa had told me. I had a duffel bag with the copied papers and a doll wrapped in a blanket to look like Lily. I checked my gun one more time—a nine-millimeter Leo had insisted I carry. I had never shot anyone in my life. I hoped tonight wouldn’t be the first.
“Everyone in position?” Leo said through the earpiece.
“Bear and Tiny at the back,” Bear rumbled.
“Hawk on the roof,” Hawk said.
“Jake and I at the side door,” Leo said. “Whenever you’re ready, Mike.”
I took a deep breath. Got out of the car. Walked toward the warehouse.
The roll-up door was open just enough for one person to slip through. I squeezed inside.
It was dark.
Cold.
Smelled like salt water and old oil.
And there, standing under a single bare lightbulb in the middle of the room, was Vanessa.
She was alone.
She looked different. No more expensive dresses. No more perfect hair. She was wearing black jeans and a leather jacket, her hair pulled back in a tight ponytail. She looked hard. Dangerous. This was the real Vanessa. The one she had hidden from me for nine years.
“Michael,” she said. “You came alone. Good.”
“Where’s Voss?” I asked. “I know he’s here.”
She smiled.
“Marcus is… busy. He sends his regards. Did you bring what I asked for?”
I dropped the duffel on the floor between us.
“The papers are in there. And Lily’s in the car. She’s sleeping. I want to see her safe before I give you anything else.”
Vanessa laughed.
“Always the negotiator. Even now. But Michael… did you really think I’d let you bring her here alive? After what you did to me yesterday? After you humiliated me in front of all those people?”
My blood ran cold.
“What are you talking about?”
She reached into her jacket and pulled out a gun. Bigger than mine. Silencer on the end.
“The papers I want aren’t the ones in your bag, Michael. The ones I want are the ones in Jake’s head. He knows too much. And Lily… well, Lily’s become a liability. She talks. And children who talk… they get people like me put in prison.”
She raised the gun.
“So here’s what’s actually going to happen. I’m going to kill you. Then I’m going to find the children. And then I’m going to disappear. And in six months, you’ll all be just another unsolved missing persons case. Open the bag, Michael. Let me see the papers.”
I didn’t move.
“Shoot me now, and Leo’s guys tear this place apart in thirty seconds. They’re already here.”
Vanessa didn’t even flinch.
“Leo’s three friends? Please. Marcus took care of them before you even left Brentwood. You’re all alone, Michael. Just like you always were.”
She fired.
The bullet hit the floor inches from my foot.
“LAST CHANCE. OPEN THE BAG.”
I knelt down. My hands were shaking. I unzipped the bag.
And then all hell broke loose.
The lights went out.
Gunfire erupted from the back of the warehouse.
Vanessa screamed and fired wildly into the dark.
I dove behind a stack of old pallets.
“GO GO GO!” Leo’s voice yelled in my ear.
Jake had done it. He had snuck in through the side entrance and hit the main breaker.
Flashes lit up the room. Muzzle flashes. Men yelling. Glass breaking. I couldn’t tell who was who. I stayed behind the pallets, gun raised, trying to see through the dark.
A hand grabbed my arm.
I almost shot.
“IT’S ME!” Jake yelled. “COME ON! THIS WAY!”
He pulled me through the dark. He knew exactly where he was going—around stacks of crates, through a narrow corridor, up a set of metal stairs. We stopped outside a door marked “OFFICE.”
“Files are in there,” Jake whispered. “Everything. All the proof we need.”
I tried the handle. Locked.
“Stand back.”
I shot the lock out. Kicked the door open.
The office was exactly as Jake had described. Walls lined with file cabinets. A big desk in the middle. Computer monitors showing security camera feeds from all over the warehouse.
And on the desk, sitting out in the open, was a thick ledger.
I grabbed it. Flipped it open.
Names.
Dates.
Dollar amounts.
Every child. Every family. Every insurance payout. Every payment to corrupt cops and judges and doctors.
It was all there.
“Got it,” I said. “Let’s go.”
We turned to leave.
May you like
And Vanessa was standing in the doorway.
Gun raised.
