Chapter 8
Harlow Tower rose above downtown Nashville like a monument to Marcus Vale’s reputation.
Glass.
Steel.
Money.
Thirty-two floors built from donations, contracts, and, apparently, blood.
Police blocked the surrounding streets.
Federal agents were already arriving.
The FBI operation Michael mentioned was no longer secret.
Too many things had exploded at once.
Rachel spoke with a federal agent named Brooks.
He looked furious that civilians were anywhere near the scene.
“No.”
He said it before Emily even finished explaining.
Marcus wanted her.
She had the drive.
Ava was inside.
Brooks still said no.
“We don’t exchange evidence for hostages.”
Emily answered, “Then give me a blank drive.”
“No.”
“He wants me, not the files.”
“No.”
Lauren stepped forward.
“That is my niece up there.”
“And my job is to get her out.”
“Then do it.”
“We are.”
“By standing in the street?”
Brooks stared at her.
Rachel intervened.
“We have a tactical team moving through an adjacent service structure.”
Emily shook her head.
“He’ll know.”
Brooks looked at her.
“How?”
“Marcus designed security redundancies himself.”
“He’s not Batman.”
“No. He’s worse. He’s paranoid.”
Michael, still cuffed near a patrol car, shouted, “She’s right.”
Brooks glared at him.
“Why is he here?”
Rachel said, “Long story.”
“Make it shorter.”
“He may know the building systems.”
Brooks stared at Michael.
“You do?”
“Yes.”
“Uncuff him.”
Rachel raised an eyebrow.
“Interesting federal philosophy.”
Brooks ignored her.
Michael was taken to a command vehicle.
He pulled up old schematics.
I stood outside with Emily.
Neither of us knew what to say.
Finally she whispered, “I saw Sophie six months ago.”
I turned slowly.
“What?”
“In Denver?”
“No. Here.”
My chest tightened.
“When?”
“Her school field day.”
I felt something break.
“You were here?”
“I watched from across the street.”
“You watched?”
“I needed to see her.”
“She needed to see you.”
“I couldn’t risk it.”
I walked away.
Emily followed.
“Daniel.”
“No.”
“I know you hate me.”
“I don’t know what I feel.”
“I understand.”
“No, you don’t.”
I faced her.
“I spent three years trying to learn how to live without you.”
She started crying.
“I know.”
“Stop saying that.”
“I read the obituary you wrote.”
That shut me up.
Emily wiped her face.
“I saw pictures from the memorial run. I saw Sophie’s first-grade photo. I watched from far away because every day I wanted to come home.”
“But you didn’t.”
“No.”
“You always had a reason.”
“Yes.”
“And now I have consequences.”
She looked at Lauren.
I followed her gaze.
Lauren was arguing with an agent.
Emily asked quietly, “Do you love her?”
I almost laughed.
“That’s what you want to ask me?”
“I need to know.”
“No. You don’t.”
She looked away.
“I suppose I don’t.”
I softened despite myself.
“I loved who I thought she was.”
Emily nodded.
“And you?”
“What about me?”
“Do you still love me?”
She closed her eyes.
“I never stopped.”
Before I could answer, Michael ran from the command vehicle.
“Found something.”
We gathered around the screen.
A hidden maintenance elevator ran from the parking garage directly to floor thirty-one.
Marcus probably knew about it.
But there was another route.
An old dumbwaiter shaft used when the building had a private executive kitchen.
It connected floors twenty-nine through thirty-two.
Too narrow for an adult.
Everyone had the same thought at once.
A child could fit.
Lauren snapped, “Absolutely not.”
Brooks said, “Nobody suggested sending a child.”
Michael zoomed in.
“The shaft contains a utility ladder beside it.”
Rachel looked at him.
“Adult accessible?”
“Barely.”
Brooks called tactical officers.
Then Emily pointed.
“Wait.”
Another passage.
A ventilation maintenance corridor ran beside the private server room.
Brooks nodded.
“That works.”
The plan formed quickly.
Tactical officers would enter from below.
Emily would appear at the main elevator to keep Marcus focused.
The drive would be fake.
I hated the plan.
Mostly because Emily volunteered too easily.
“You don’t have to keep sacrificing yourself.”
She looked at me.
“Maybe I do.”
“No.”
I grabbed her arm.
“That is what got us here.”
She stared.
“You decided everyone was safer if you carried everything alone.”
“I was trying to protect you.”
“You were controlling us.”
Her face changed.
I continued.
“You decided what I could know. What Sophie could know. Whether we could grieve. Whether we could move on. You made every choice for us.”
Tears filled her eyes.
“You’re right.”
I had expected an argument.
Her agreement hurt more.
“I’m sorry.”
Brooks called her.
Time.
Emily walked toward the building.
Lauren stood beside me.
“I hate her.”
“No, you don’t.”
Lauren laughed bitterly.
“I hate what she did.”
“That’s different.”
She looked at me.
“You’re still defending her.”
“I’m not.”
“You always will.”
I looked at Lauren.
“What did you expect?”
She had no answer.
Emily entered the lobby.
Cameras showed her entering the elevator.
Floor thirty-two.
Marcus’s voice came through the building’s internal phone.
“Come alone.”
Emily held up the fake drive toward a camera.
“I am.”
The elevator rose.
Meanwhile, six tactical officers entered the maintenance route.
Rachel listened through an earpiece.
Brooks watched monitors.
The elevator stopped.
Thirty-two.
Doors opened.
Emily stepped out.
Marcus stood at the end of a conference room.
Ava sat beside him.
He held a gun.
Lauren grabbed my arm.
“There she is.”
Ava was crying silently.
Marcus smiled at Emily.
“You look good for a dead woman.”
Emily raised the drive.
“Let her go.”
“Slide it.”
“Send Ava first.”
Marcus laughed.
“We both know you don’t have leverage.”
Emily looked toward Ava.
“Ava, sweetheart, close your eyes.”
Marcus’s smile faded.
“Don’t.”
Emily dropped the drive.
Then kicked it.
It slid across the polished floor.
Marcus moved his gun slightly.
Just enough.
The ventilation panel behind him exploded inward.
An officer shouted.
Marcus fired.
Emily dove.
Ava screamed.
Gunshots erupted.
The video feed went black.
Lauren screamed.
I ran.
Brooks grabbed me.
“Stay here!”
“Let me go!”
“You will make this worse.”
The radio erupted.
Officer hit.
Suspect moving east.
Hostage secured.
Hostage secured.
Lauren collapsed in relief.
“Ava.”
I asked, “Emily?”
No answer.
“Emily?”
Static.
Then:
Civilian female down.
My heart stopped.
I shoved Brooks.
He let me go this time.
I ran into Harlow Tower.
Up thirty-two floors by elevator.
The doors opened to chaos.
Broken glass.
Blood.
Agents.
Smoke from gunfire.
Ava was being carried away.
Lauren reached her behind me.
I searched the floor.
“Emily!”
Then I saw her.
She was beside the conference table.
Blood covered her shirt.
I dropped beside her.
“No.”
Her eyes opened.
“I’m okay.”
“You’re bleeding.”
“Not mine.”
An injured tactical officer lay beside her.
Emily had been pressing her jacket against his shoulder.
Relief nearly made me fall over.
“Marcus?”
She pointed toward the stairwell.
“He ran.”
Rachel’s voice came over the radio.
“Suspect descending north stairs.”
I looked toward the door.
Then at Emily.
She said, “Go.”
“No.”
“Daniel.”
“No more disappearing.”
Her eyes filled.
“I’m not going anywhere.”
Police chased Marcus down six floors.
Then lost him.
The building’s fire alarm activated.
Sprinklers came on.
Elevators shut down.
Security doors locked.
Marcus knew every inch of the tower.
Brooks ordered a full floor-by-floor sweep.
Then Michael looked at the monitor.
“He isn’t going down.”
“What?”
“He’s going up.”
We all turned.
The roof access alarm flashed.
Marcus had doubled back.
Rachel ran for the stairs.
I followed.
She shouted at me to stop.
I didn’t.
By the time we reached the roof, Marcus stood at the edge.
Wind pulled at his jacket.
Police surrounded him.
His gun was pressed beneath his own chin.
Rachel aimed at him.
“Put it down.”
Marcus laughed.
“You think prison scares me?”
I moved forward.
Rachel snapped, “Daniel!”
Marcus saw me.
His smile returned.
“There he is.”
“Let it end.”
He looked over the city.
“You think this ends with me?”
“Yes.”
“That’s adorable.”
He lowered the gun slightly.
“Emily never told you the worst part.”
My stomach tightened.
“What?”
Rachel said, “Don’t engage.”
Marcus ignored her.
“Ask who ordered the hit on Rebecca’s car.”
“You did.”
He smiled.
“No.”
Emily appeared in the doorway behind us.
Her face went white.
Marcus looked at her.
“You never told him.”
I turned toward Emily.
She whispered, “Daniel.”
“What didn’t you tell me?”
Marcus laughed.
“The order came from inside your family.”
Silence.
Then he raised the gun.
A shot cracked across the roof.
Marcus fell backward.
Over the edge.
Gone.
Everyone froze.
Rachel spun toward the shooter.
May you like
Michael stood in the doorway.
A gun in his hands.
