Chapter 8
The flashlight beam blinded me for a second.
Liam fired.
The bullet hit the wall right next to Elias’s head. Elias didn’t even flinch. He just laughed. A warm, friendly laugh that made my skin crawl.
“Put the gun down, Liam,” he said, stepping further into the cabin. “You always were a terrible shot. Just like your father. And we both know you don’t have the guts to kill your own uncle.”
He waved the gun casually at us.
“Your security detail is dead, by the way,” he said. “Two men. Never even saw me coming. I told Arthur years ago that the FBI was full of incompetent fools. He never listened. Look where it got him.”
Liam’s hand was shaking. I could feel the tension rolling off him in waves.
“Why?” Liam said, his voice raw. “Why did you kill Lila? She was just a kid. She was your niece.”
Elias sighed. A long, sad sound.
“Your sister was a liability,” he said, like he was explaining something obvious. “She found out about the bridge. She was going to go to the press. I couldn’t let that happen. The project was worth two hundred million dollars. I wasn’t going to throw all that money away just because a nineteen-year-old girl had a conscience.”
He shook his head.
“I liked Lila, you know,” he said. “She was a smart kid. Had potential. But she was too much like your father. Too honest. Too stubborn. People like that don’t last long in this world.”
He turned his attention to me.
“And you, Emma,” he said, nodding approvingly. “You’re something else. I’ve been watching you for a long time. Ten years, actually. Ever since your father died. I knew you’d come for the Whitakers eventually. I even helped you a little bit. Made sure Graham noticed you at that charity gala. Made sure the security at the penthouse was just loose enough for you to hack. I was curious to see if you had what it took to take Arthur down. I have to admit? You exceeded my expectations.”
I frowned. “You helped me? Why?”
“Because Arthur was getting sloppy,” Elias said. “Greedy. Careless. He was drawing too much attention to the business. I needed him gone. And you were the perfect weapon. Pretty. Smart. Angry. You did all the hard work for me. Took out Arthur. Took out Graham. Gave the FBI enough evidence to lock up all the loose ends who might have talked about me. And now? All I have to do is kill you two. And the whole Whitaker empire is mine. Clean. Simple. No loose ends.”
He raised the pistol. Aimed it directly at Liam’s chest.
“I’m going to make this quick,” he said. “I actually am sorry about this, Liam. You were the son I never had. But business is business.”
I didn’t hesitate.
I grabbed the heavy ceramic lamp off the end table next to the couch and threw it as hard as I could. It hit Elias square in the forehead. He staggered back, dropping his gun. The flashlight clattered to the floor.
Liam lunged.
They crashed to the ground in a heap of fists and grunts. Elias was older, but he was still strong—stronger than he looked. He punched Liam in the throat. Liam gasped, his hands flying to his neck. Elias rolled on top of him, wrapping his hands around Liam’s throat, squeezing as hard as he could.
Liam’s face turned red. Then purple. His hands scrabbled uselessly at Elias’s arms.
I looked around the dark floor. My hand hit something hard and cold.
Elias’s gun.
I picked it up.
“Get off him!” I shouted.
Elias didn’t even look up. He just squeezed harder. Liam’s eyes were rolling back in his head. His struggles were getting weaker.
I fired.
The bullet hit Elias in the shoulder. Exactly where Liam had shot Arthur two weeks earlier.
Elias roared in pain. His grip on Liam’s throat loosened. Liam kicked him hard in the chest, sending him flying backward. Elias hit the wall with a loud thud and slid to the floor, clutching his bleeding shoulder.
Liam sat up, gasping for air, rubbing his bruised throat. He crawled over to me, grabbing his own gun off the floor where he’d dropped it.
We both stood up. Our guns aimed at Elias.
Elias laughed through the pain. Blood trickled down his face from the cut on his forehead.
“You two really are something,” he said, coughing up a little blood. “You have more guts than anyone I’ve ever met. I’ll give you that.”
“The FBI is on their way,” I lied. “We pressed the panic button five minutes ago. They’ll be here any second. It’s over, Elias.”
Elias smiled. It was a cruel, knowing smile.
“Is it?” he said. He reached into his jacket pocket with his good hand and pulled out a small, black remote. “Do you know what this is?”
My stomach dropped.
“It’s a detonator,” he said. “I planted three pounds of C-4 in the basement of this cabin ten minutes before I walked through the door. Enough to turn this whole place into a crater. And if I press this button? We all die. Together. You, me, Liam. No loose ends. No survivors. My men will find the bodies tomorrow. They’ll tell everyone the FBI messed up, that the safe house was compromised. And the empire goes on. Without me. But without you two, too.”
He pressed his thumb down on the button. Just a little.
“Drop the guns,” he said. “Now. Or we all blow.”
Liam and I looked at each other.
We had no choice.
We dropped our guns. They clattered to the floor.
“Good,” Elias said. “Now kick them over here.”
We did.
Elias picked up both guns and tucked them into his waistband. He still held the detonator in his other hand. His thumb never left the button.
“Now,” he said, standing up slowly, wincing at the pain in his shoulder. “Here’s what’s going to happen. I’m going to leave this cabin. I’m going to get in my car and drive away. And ten minutes after I’m gone? I’m going to press this button. You two will die. And no one will ever know the truth. It’s perfect, really. Poetic, even.”
He started backing toward the door.
“Goodbye, Liam,” he said. “Goodbye, Emma. It was fun while it lasted.”
He turned to leave.
And then we heard it.
The sound of a helicopter. Getting louder. Fast.
Bright lights flooded through the cabin windows. Blue and red flashing lights. Sirens. Dozens of them.
Elias froze.
The front door burst open.
A dozen FBI agents in tactical gear poured in, their guns raised.
“DROP THE DETONATOR!” the lead agent shouted. “DROP IT NOW OR WE SHOOT!”
Elias looked at the agents. At the door. At the window. He was trapped.
His face twisted with rage.
“If I’m going down,” he snarled. “I’m taking you all with me!”
He pressed the button all the way down.
Nothing happened.
Elias frowned. He pressed it again. Harder.
Still nothing.
The lead agent smiled.
“We found the explosives in the basement ten minutes ago,” he said. “Disarmed them five minutes after that. Your little remote is just a plastic box now, Elias. It’s over.”
Elias stared at the remote in his hand. He looked up at the agents. At Liam. At me.
All the fight went out of him. His shoulders slumped. He dropped the remote on the floor.
Two agents rushed forward. They slammed him against the wall, twisted his arms behind his back, and cuffed him. They dragged him out of the cabin, his feet dragging on the floor. He didn’t say a word. He didn’t even look back.
The lead agent walked over to us. He was breathing hard.
“Sorry we were late,” he said. “We tracked Elias’s car to the area about twenty minutes ago. We had to move in quietly. Didn’t want him to know we were here until we had the place surrounded.”
Liam nodded, still rubbing his throat. “You got here just in time.”
The agent nodded at the door. “We have paramedics outside. They’ll check you both out. And we’ll need statements again. I know it’s a pain. But it’s important.”
“Of course,” I said.
The agent left.
Liam and I stood alone in the dark cabin for a second. The only light came from the flashing sirens outside, painting the walls red and blue.
Liam turned to me. He reached up and gently touched the bruise on my cheek from Arthur’s punch. His hand was shaking.
“I thought he was going to kill you,” he said, his voice barely a whisper. “I thought I was going to lose you.”
I put my hand over his.
“I’m not going anywhere,” I said. “Not now. Not ever.”
He pulled me into a hug. Held me tight. Like he was scared I’d disappear if he let go.
I rested my head on his chest. I could hear his heart beating fast and hard against my ear.
Outside, the paramedics were calling our names.
May you like
But for a second, we didn’t move. We just stood there, holding each other, in the middle of the destroyed cabin, surrounded by the wreckage of everything we’d fought for.
And for the first time in both our lives? We knew it was really over.
