Chapter 6 - I Was Never Going Alone
“I’m going.”
“No.”
Lucas and Detective Ruiz said it simultaneously.
I stared at both of them.
“They have Howard.”
“That is exactly why you’re not going,” Ruiz said.
“They said alone.”
“Kidnappers say many things.”
Lucas took my phone.
“They want you because you’re connected to the evidence.”
“Then going may keep him alive.”
“Or give them two hostages.”
I grabbed my phone back.
“They hurt him because he helped me.”
“They hurt him because he saw something.”
“And if I don’t go?”
Ruiz stepped closer.
“We use the address.”
“They’ll see police.”
“We don’t send uniforms through the front door.”
I looked at Lucas.
He was pale again.
Too pale.
“You need to sit down.”
“Do not change the subject.”
“You’re barely out of the hospital.”
“And you’re considering walking into a kidnapping.”
“He’s my friend.”
Lucas’s voice softened.
“I know.”
“No, you don’t.”
His face changed.
“I know exactly what it’s like to lose someone while believing there was something you could have done differently.”
Emily.
The anger left me.
Lucas handed the phone to Ruiz.
“Do it properly.”
That was how, two hours later, I found myself wearing a wire underneath a borrowed sweater while six Chicago police officers waited inside unmarked vehicles three blocks away.
Ruiz had argued against using me.
Lucas argued harder.
For once, the billionaire lost.
The address led to an abandoned print shop on the South Side.
I stood outside its rusted door at 10:18 p.m.
My entire body shook.
“Howard?” I called.
No answer.
The earpiece hidden beneath my hair crackled.
Ruiz’s voice.
“We hear you.”
I opened the door.
Darkness.
Old machinery.
Dust.
Then a single light flickered on near the back.
Howard sat beneath it.
His hands were tied.
“Bailey!”
I ran toward him.
“Howard!”
“Stop!”
Too late.
A man stepped from behind a machine.
Baseball cap.
Dark coat.
The man from the video.
He held no visible weapon, but his right hand remained inside his pocket.
The ring.
Silver square.
My heart hammered.
“Where’s the card?”
I forced myself to look confused.
“What card?”
“Don’t.”
He pulled his hand out.
A pistol.
I stopped.
The police in my ear went silent.
Howard looked terrified.
“Bailey, get out.”
The man pressed the gun toward him.
“Card.”
“I don’t have it.”
“You took something from his apartment.”
“I didn’t.”
“You’re lying.”
“I didn’t even know Howard had a camera until today.”
His expression changed.
Tiny.
But enough.
He hadn’t known what we knew.
Good.
Ruiz had been right.
Keep him talking.
“Who are you?” I asked.
“No one.”
“You work for Malcolm Reeves?”
His eyes flashed.
I pushed.
“Or Daniel Kessler?”
That reaction was stronger.
Howard noticed too.
“Bailey,” he whispered.
The gun swung toward me.
“You ask too many questions.”
“I’m a cleaner. Nobody tells us anything.”
For some reason, saying it made me braver.
“We just see what everyone else leaves behind.”
He stepped closer.
“Where is the memory card?”
I looked at Howard.
Then back at him.
“I destroyed it.”
His mouth tightened.
“Prove it.”
“I can’t.”
“Wrong answer.”
The gun rose.
Then Howard kicked the metal chair.
It crashed sideways.
The man turned instinctively.
Police erupted from three directions.
“Gun!”
“Drop it!”
Everything happened at once.
I threw myself behind a printing press.
A shot exploded.
Then another.
Someone screamed.
The gun clattered across concrete.
When I looked up, three officers had the man facedown on the floor.
I crawled toward Howard.
“Are you okay?”
“Been better.”
I cut at the tape around his wrists with the small rescue blade Ruiz had given me.
His hands were shaking.
“Who is he?”
Howard stared at the man.
“I don’t know.”
“Yes, you do.”
“No.”
His eyes shifted away.
“You’ve seen him before.”
Howard swallowed.
“At Meridian.”
My stomach tightened.
“Where?”
He looked at me.
“Kessler’s office.”
Police hauled the man upright.
His baseball cap fell away.
He was younger than I expected.
Forties.
A scar near his ear.
Then Howard said something that changed everything.
“He’s not security.”
“What is he?”
Howard lowered his voice.
“He used to handle problems.”
“What does that mean?”
“For Kessler.”
Lucas had arrived despite being explicitly told not to.
Of course he had.
He came through the doorway with Rebecca and two private security officers.
The moment the captured man saw Lucas, he smiled.
Not fear.
Not surprise.
A smile.
Lucas stopped.
“You know him?” Ruiz asked.
Lucas stared.
“Yes.”
The room went still.
“His name is Aaron Pike.”
The man laughed.
“Haven’t heard that name in years.”
Howard whispered, “Who is he?”
Lucas’s voice became flat.
“He worked for Meridian seventeen years ago.”
“What did he do?”
Lucas stared at Pike.
“Corporate investigations.”
Pike smiled wider.
“That’s what they called it.”
Lucas looked sick.
Something old was happening between them.
Something none of us understood.
Ruiz stepped forward.
“Why would he kidnap a security guard?”
Pike shrugged.
“You’ll have to ask my lawyer.”
Lucas walked closer.
“Who sent you?”
Pike smiled.
“You know.”
“Malcolm?”
Silence.
“Kessler?”
Pike laughed.
“You still think this is about sixty million dollars.”
Lucas froze.
Rebecca did too.
Ruiz narrowed her eyes.
“What is it about?”
Pike looked directly at me.
For reasons I couldn’t understand, the smile disappeared.
“Ask the cleaner.”
My blood turned cold.
“What?”
Lucas moved between us.
“She doesn’t know anything.”
Pike stared over his shoulder.
“Oh, she knows more than she thinks.”
“What are you talking about?” I demanded.
Pike said nothing.
Then he looked at Lucas.
“You really don’t know who she is?”
Lucas’s face hardened.
“Her name is Bailey Carter.”
Pike laughed once.
“No.”
Every nerve in my body screamed.
“My name is Bailey Carter.”
“Your mother’s name was Susan Carter.”
My breath stopped.
Nobody moved.
“How do you know my mother?”
Pike’s eyes locked onto mine.
“She worked for Meridian too.”
I shook my head.
“No.”
“She never worked here.”
“Yes, she did.”
“She was a medical billing clerk.”
“At St. Matthew’s.”
“Exactly.”
Pike smiled again.
“Who do you think owned St. Matthew’s billing contractor?”
I looked at Lucas.
He looked just as confused as I felt.
Pike leaned back against the officer holding him.
“Your mother found something twenty-three years ago.”
My mouth was dry.
“What?”
“Something Daniel Kessler has spent two decades making sure nobody remembered.”
Lucas stepped closer.
“Tell us.”
Pike’s smile faded.
“You want the truth?”
He looked from Lucas to me.
“Ask why Lucas Bennett’s father really died.”
Lucas went completely still.
The abandoned warehouse suddenly felt airless.
Lucas whispered, “My father had cancer.”
Pike shook his head.
“No.”
May you like
Then he looked at me.
“And neither did your mother.”
