Chapter 15 - Pier Nine
Pier Nine smelled like diesel and rain.
Elias arrived standing.
Barely.
A cane in one hand.
A drive containing a fake decryption key in his pocket.
Mara hated the plan.
Elena hated it more.
But the FBI needed proof that Celeste controlled the kidnapping.
So Elias wore a wire.
A warehouse door opened.
Celeste waited inside.
Samuel stood beside her.
Ashamed.
Tomas was tied to a chair.
Russell was not there.
Elias looked at Samuel.
"Why?"
Samuel's eyes filled.
"My daughter was sick."
Elias almost laughed at the repetition.
Frank's wife.
Samuel's daughter.
"What did they give her?"
Samuel whispered, "Nothing."
"Then why keep helping?"
"Because once you're guilty, they own the guilt too."
That answer Elias understood.
Celeste held out her hand.
"The key."
"Let Tomas go."
"After."
"No."
She smiled.
"You finally learned boundaries."
Elias took out the drive.
"Tell me what Grace is worth."
Celeste glanced at the wire hidden beneath his collar.
Then smiled wider.
"Take that off."
Elias's stomach dropped.
She knew.
A guard tore the wire away.
The FBI listening team lost audio.
Celeste stepped close.
"You think publication protects you?"
"It protects the truth."
"The public forgets."
"Parents don't."
Her face hardened.
"Grace's biology could reverse spinal damage, heart scarring, perhaps neurodegeneration."
"Or kill people."
"Everything kills people at first."
Tomas stared at her.
"You're insane."
Celeste smiled at him.
"No. I'm early."
Elias looked at Samuel.
"You can still choose."
Samuel shook.
Celeste snapped, "Don't."
Elias kept going.
"Your daughter is dead?"
Samuel's face broke.
"Two years."
"And you're still doing this for her?"
Silence.
Elias whispered, "Then stop making more parents."
Samuel moved.
Fast.
He cut Tomas's restraints.
A guard shouted.
Tomas dove.
Elias swung the cane into the guard's knee.
Chaos exploded.
Federal agents stormed the warehouse.
Celeste ran toward the dock.
Elias chased as far as his legs allowed.
Every step burned.
She reached a speedboat.
Then stopped.
Russell stood aboard.
He pointed a gun at her.
"Give me the archive key."
Celeste stared.
"You idiot."
"You were going to cut me out."
"Of course."
Elias stopped ten yards away.
Two monsters turning on each other.
Russell looked at him.
"Stay back."
Then Grace's cry sounded from the warehouse.
Russell's attention snapped toward it.
That second was enough.
Celeste grabbed the gun.
It fired.
She fell.
May you like
Russell ran.
And Elias saw the silver archive drive disappear into the black water.
