Chapter 8 - The Road to Shelter Island
The black, unbadged SUV moved smoothly through the heavy rain, heading east on the Long Island Expressway.
Thomas, a taciturn, middle-aged veteran with graying temples and a broken nose, drove in complete silence, his eyes constantly scanning the side mirrors for any sign of a tail.
Claire sat in the rear seat, staring out the tinted glass at the passing blur of rain-slicked highway lights and dark suburban trees. The silver frequency pen sat in her pocket, heavy against her thigh.
Her phone vibrated.
It wasn't her personal phone, which she had left in the trash bin at corporate headquarters per Julian's instructions. It was the secure satellite handset Julian had given her.
She answered immediately. "Julian?"
"Miss Bennett."
The voice on the other end was not Julian’s. It was smooth, low, and terrifyingly familiar.
Gabriel Knox.
Claire’s blood went cold as ice. She sat up straight in her seat, her hand tightening around the phone. "Where is Julian?"
"Mr. Vescari is currently indisposed," Gabriel said calmly over the crackling satellite line. "He was remarkably clever today in the boardroom. Staging that theatrical recovery, sacrificing Marcus and Cross... it was quite a performance."
"He knows what you did, Gabriel," Claire spat, her voice trembling with fury. "He knows you leaked the schematics!"
"Of course he knows," Gabriel replied with a soft, amused sigh. "Julian was always the smartest man in the room. Just like his father. But intelligence without ruthlessness is simply an academic exercise, Miss Bennett."
"Where is he?" she demanded again.
"He is currently returning to the summer estate under the belief that his 'loyalists' are securing the perimeter," Gabriel revealed smoothly. "What Julian failed to realize is that those men haven't been loyal to the Vescari family for a very long time. They answer to the people who pay their pensions. And those pensions are funded by my European holding company."
Claire’s heart slammed against her ribs like a trapped bird. "You lied to him."
"I provided him with the illusion of control," Gabriel corrected. "It is what I have done for this family for twenty years. But Julian has become unpredictable. His sudden 'miracle recovery' would cause endless legal complications with federal regulators. A tragic suicide brought on by the lingering psychological trauma of his accident... that is much cleaner."
"He won't let you kill him," Claire said, tears of desperate anger burning her eyes.
"He is one man with a cane in a stone house surrounded by twelve armed professionals, Miss Bennett," Gabriel said flatly. "The outcome is mathematically inevitable."
There was a brief pause on the line. Claire heard the sound of wind and rain blowing through the receiver on Gabriel's end.
"I am calling you, Miss Bennett," Gabriel continued, his tone turning cold and professional, "because you are a smart girl who made a bad choice. Turn the vehicle around. Bring the frequency pen and Julian's private ledger to the estate within the hour, and I will ensure you receive the fifty thousand dollars Victoria promised you, plus safe passage out of the state."
"And if I don't?"
"Then Thomas will execute you in the back of that SUV," Gabriel said simply.
May you like
Claire’s breath hitched in her throat. Slowly, terrifyingly, she looked up at the rearview mirror.
In the dim light of the dashboard, she saw Thomas watching her. His right hand was no longer on the steering wheel. It was reaching down toward his shoulder holster beneath his dark coat.
