Chapter 8 - The Dead Uncle
Roman stared at the screen as if the dead had reached through it and touched him.
“Silas died.”
Naomi looked at him.
“Apparently not.”
Claire watched the video.
Eli fought the man holding him.
Lena lay on the floor.
Moving.
Alive.
Silas spoke directly to the camera.
“Pier Nine. Noon.”
Roman checked the time.
10:16.
“Bring the recorder,” Silas said. “Bring the original ledger. No federal agents.”
Naomi sighed.
“They always say that.”
Silas smiled as if he had heard her.
“One helicopter. One drone. One surveillance vehicle within half a mile and Eli boards a ship you’ll never find.”
The feed ended.
Roman immediately turned toward Malcolm.
The security chief sat handcuffed against the wall.
“You knew.”
Malcolm smiled.
Roman crossed the room.
Naomi stopped him.
“Don’t.”
“He knew.”
“Probably.”
Roman looked ready to kill him.
Claire stepped between them.
“Roman.”
His eyes met hers.
“Eli.”
Again.
One word.
Again it brought him back.
Mrs. Delaney whispered, “Silas.”
Roman looked at her.
“You knew?”
“I suspected.”
“What?”
“After the boating accident, your father received letters.”
“What letters?”
“I never opened them.”
“When?”
“For nearly a year.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Charles ordered me not to.”
Roman laughed bitterly.
“Another family secret.”
Delaney’s eyes filled.
“I’m sorry.”
Roman looked exhausted.
Claire realized that every hour was rewriting his childhood.
His father.
His brother.
His uncle.
His security chief.
The empire Roman thought he had inherited had actually been a stage built over rot.
Malcolm finally spoke.
“Silas built the network.”
Roman turned.
“Charles worked for him?”
“At first.”
Malcolm smiled.
“Then Charles got ambitious.”
Naomi crouched beside him.
“Keep talking.”
“Silas handled international routes. Charles handled Charleston. When Amelia started digging, Charles ordered the crash without permission.”
Roman’s jaw clenched.
“Why?”
“Because Silas would have told him not to.”
Claire frowned.
“Why would Silas care about Amelia?”
“He didn’t.”
Malcolm looked at Roman.
“He cared about exposure.”
Amelia’s murder created questions.
Investigations.
Insurance audits.
Corporate restructuring.
Charles’s fear had almost exposed everything.
“So Silas disappeared,” Naomi said.
“Exactly.”
“Fake boating death.”
Malcolm nodded.
“Then controlled operations offshore.”
Roman stared at him.
“And tonight?”
“Silas wanted the evidence.”
“Why take Eli?”
“Leverage.”
Roman’s voice lowered.
“My son is eight.”
Malcolm shrugged.
Claire saw Roman move.
Naomi grabbed him again.
“You hit him, my paperwork becomes unbearable.”
Roman looked at her.
“That’s your argument?”
“It’s the one I have.”
Claire almost laughed despite everything.
Naomi released him.
“We don’t follow Silas’s rules.”
Roman shook his head.
“He’ll kill Eli.”
“He needs you.”
“He needs the recorder and ledger.”
“Which means Eli stays alive until he has them.”
Claire looked at the old shipping maps.
“Pier Nine.”
Roman followed her gaze.
“What?”
“Where does it go?”
“Deepwater berth.”
“What kind of ships?”
“Container. Occasionally private cargo.”
“Could he leave internationally?”
“Yes.”
“How fast?”
Roman looked at Naomi.
“There’s an Archer freighter scheduled to leave at one.”
Naomi cursed.
“Name?”
“Carolina Meridian.”
Claire stared.
“Pier Nine?”
Roman nodded.
The plan became simple.
Too simple.
Silas wanted Roman aboard the ship.
Federal agents would surround the harbor from outside Silas’s detection radius.
Claire would enter differently.
Again.
Roman stared at her.
“No.”
Claire folded her arms.
“You need new vocabulary.”
“You are not going into the harbor again.”
“I wasn’t planning to swim.”
“That does not reassure me.”
She pointed at the map.
“There’s a maintenance canal beneath Pier Nine.”
Roman looked closer.
She was right.
The old dock connected to a drainage channel used by tug crews.
Small enough for a skiff.
Hidden from most cameras.
Roman shook his head.
“Still no.”
Claire stared at him.
“Roman.”
“What?”
“You cannot protect everyone by standing in front of every bullet.”
His expression changed.
“That sounds exactly like something Amelia used to say.”
Claire softened.
“I’m not Amelia.”
“I know.”
Silence.
The words carried more than either expected.
Roman continued.
“That’s not why I’m scared.”
Claire’s breath caught.
He looked away first.
“We get Eli.”
“Yes.”
“Then we argue about this.”
“Deal.”
At 11:48, Roman walked onto Pier Nine carrying a steel case.
Silas waited beside the Carolina Meridian.
White hair moved in the wind.
Two armed men held Eli.
Roman stopped twenty yards away.
“Let him go.”
Silas smiled.
“You sound like Charles.”
“Don’t insult me.”
“Still self-righteous.”
“Still alive, apparently.”
Silas laughed.
Eli shouted, “Dad!”
Roman’s eyes never left him.
“You okay?”
“Yes!”
One guard struck the boy’s shoulder.
Roman’s face went cold.
“Touch him again.”
Silas raised an eyebrow.
“And?”
“Find out.”
Silas smiled.
“There he is.”
Roman put down the case.
“Recorder.”
“Inside.”
“Ledger?”
“Inside.”
Silas motioned.
One man inspected it.
Claire meanwhile moved beneath the pier in a small skiff with Naomi.
They reached the maintenance ladder.
Naomi whispered, “You sure?”
“No.”
“Good.”
“What?”
“Only idiots are sure in situations like this.”
Claire climbed.
She emerged behind stacked containers.
From there she could see Eli.
Roman.
Silas.
The ship.
Silas picked up the recorder.
“Amelia caused more trouble dead than alive.”
Roman’s voice sharpened.
“Say her name again and I’ll forget Eli is watching.”
Silas laughed.
“You loved her.”
“Yes.”
“Charles said she weakened you.”
“My father confused cruelty with strength.”
Silas’s smile faded.
“That weakness will cost you everything.”
“Take it.”
Silas blinked.
Roman spread his hands.
“The company. Hotels. Terminals. Real estate. Every share I own. Take it.”
Even Claire froze.
Roman continued.
“You want Archer Holdings? It’s yours.”
Silas stared.
“For Eli.”
“You’d give away thirty billion dollars?”
Roman looked at his son.
“Without blinking.”
Eli started crying.
Silas shook his head.
“Pathetic.”
“No.”
Roman’s voice softened.
“Free.”
Silas frowned.
Roman smiled faintly.
“You people spent your entire lives becoming prisoners of things I can surrender in one sentence.”
For the first time, Silas looked angry.
Claire understood.
Roman had just exposed him.
The empire wasn’t Roman’s weakness.
Eli was his love.
There was a difference.
Silas aimed a gun at Roman.
“Get on the ship.”
Roman obeyed.
Eli was dragged after him.
Claire moved.
She reached the guard closest to Eli.
Struck him from behind.
Eli ran.
“Claire!”
Silas turned.
Roman lunged.
Gunfire erupted.
Naomi’s team moved in.
Federal boats appeared from both sides.
Silas fired wildly.
Claire pulled Eli behind a container.
Roman fought his uncle on the loading ramp.
Silas was older but vicious.
He struck Roman with the gun.
Roman fell.
Silas raised the weapon.
Eli screamed.
Claire saw a loose mooring line.
She grabbed it.
Pulled.
A heavy hook swung across the loading area.
It struck Silas’s arm.
The gun fell into the water.
Roman tackled him.
Federal agents swarmed the pier.
Silas was dragged away shouting.
“This empire existed before you!”
Roman stood, bleeding from his mouth.
He looked at the man.
“And it ends with me.”
Silas screamed.
Roman walked away.
Eli ran into his arms.
Roman lifted him.
Claire stopped several feet away.
Roman looked at her over Eli’s shoulder.
For a moment the entire harbor disappeared.
No agents.
No sirens.
No billion-dollar company.
Only three people who had somehow survived the longest night of their lives.
Then Eli reached toward Claire.
“You too.”
Claire laughed through sudden tears.
Roman extended one arm.
She stepped into it.
Eli wrapped his arms around both of them.
And for several seconds Roman Archer held his son and the woman who had jumped into black water without knowing either of their names.
Then Naomi approached.
“I hate to interrupt whatever emotionally significant thing this is.”
Claire stepped back.
Roman cleared his throat.
Naomi held up a phone.
“We have a problem.”
Roman almost laughed.
“Of course we do.”
“Julian disappeared from the hospital.”
Roman’s smile vanished.
“What?”
“Someone helped him escape.”
Claire looked toward the ship.
Julian.
Wounded.
Betrayed by Malcolm.
Abandoned by Silas.
And desperate.
Naomi continued.
“We found the nurse he attacked.”
Roman’s eyes became hard.
“Where would he go?”
Claire already knew.
“Somewhere connected to Amelia.”
Roman looked at her.
May you like
The same thought hit both.
The blue room.
