Chương 5 - THE DEAD MAN’S VOICE
Lena could not speak.
Every memory she had of Gabriel Marquez ended in a hospital room.
A sheet pulled to his chest.
Her mother gripping Lena’s shoulders.
A doctor explaining that sometimes the heart simply stopped.
But the voice coming through the phone belonged to him.
Older.
Weaker.
Still him.
“Dad?”
A ragged breath answered.
“Lena, don't—”
The connection cut.
She grabbed the phone.
“Dad!”
Viktor returned.
“Noon. Pier Nine. Bring the ledger.”
The call ended.
Lena turned toward Nikolai.
“He's alive.”
“We don't know that.”
“You heard him.”
“I heard a voice.”
“You think I don't know my own father?”
“I think Viktor wants you emotional.”
“Well, congratulations. It worked.”
She paced away, fighting tears.
Seventeen years.
Birthdays.
Graduation.
Her mother's loneliness.
Every Christmas with an empty chair nobody discussed.
If Gabriel was alive, where had he been?
Why had he never returned?
Nikolai moved toward her.
She backed away.
“Don't.”
He stopped.
“I need to think.”
“Then think.”
Lena looked at the ledger.
“We trade it.”
“No.”
She stared at him.
“That wasn't a suggestion.”
“And my answer wasn't a request.”
“He's my father.”
“And that ledger may be the only reason your father is still alive.”
Lena hated him for making sense.
She hated herself more for knowing it.
Nikolai ordered Anton to examine the recording.
Within an hour, they confirmed something important: the background contained a repeating foghorn and a mechanical bell associated with the old Eastport dry docks.
Pier Nine was probably a distraction.
“We find him before noon,” Nikolai said.
Lena insisted on going.
Nikolai refused.
They argued until Evelyn finally interrupted.
“She goes.”
Nikolai looked at her.
Evelyn shrugged. “You aren't going to stop her.”
Lena almost smiled.
The dry docks stretched across six abandoned warehouses.
They entered Warehouse Four shortly before dawn.
Lena smelled seawater, rust, and oil.
Then she heard coughing.
“Dad?”
Nikolai caught her arm.
“Wait.”
A figure emerged from behind a shipping container.
Thin.
Gray-haired.
Bearded.
Lena stared.
The man stared back.
“Lena.”
She ran.
This time Nikolai did not stop her.
Gabriel caught his daughter in his arms.
For several seconds neither could speak.
Lena buried her face against his shoulder and became ten years old again.
Then anger arrived.
She pushed him away.
“You were alive.”
Gabriel lowered his eyes.
“You were alive!”
“I know.”
“You let us bury you!”
“I know.”
“Mom thought you were dead!”
His face broke.
“That was the only way to keep you safe.”
“Safe?”
Lena gestured around the warehouse.
“Does this look safe?”
Nikolai approached.
Gabriel stared at him.
“You got old.”
“So did you.”
“Not gracefully.”
For the first time, Nikolai smiled fully.
Then the two men embraced.
Lena watched, stunned.
“You knew?”
Nikolai shook his head.
“I believed he was dead.”
Gabriel explained.
The poison intended to kill him seventeen years ago had failed because a physician secretly working with federal investigators recognized the symptoms. Gabriel survived, but Viktor's people controlled parts of the hospital.
So authorities staged his death.
The plan was supposed to last months.
Then witnesses disappeared.
Investigators were compromised.
Months became years.
Gabriel entered protective custody under another identity.
“Why didn't you contact us?”
“Because every time I tried, Viktor found someone connected to me.”
Lena's anger softened but did not disappear.
“My whole life happened without you.”
“I know.”
“You don't get those years back.”
“No.”
Gabriel's eyes filled.
“And neither do you.”
That answer hurt because it contained no excuse.
Only regret.
Nikolai asked the question they could not avoid.
“Who betrayed us?”
Gabriel looked toward Anton.
Then toward the entrance.
“We need to leave first.”
“Why?”
“Because Viktor didn't bring me here.”
Everyone froze.
“What?”
“I escaped yesterday.”
Nikolai turned toward Anton.
“How did Viktor know he was here?”
Gabriel answered.
“Because somebody followed you.”
Gunfire erupted outside.
Nikolai shoved Lena behind a steel column.
Men entered from both sides.
Anton returned fire while Gabriel pulled Lena toward a maintenance tunnel.
Nikolai followed.
They escaped through a drainage corridor leading beneath the docks.
When they finally emerged near the waterfront, Lena was shaking.
Gabriel leaned against a wall, exhausted.
Nikolai looked at him.
“Tell me.”
Gabriel hesitated.
“The traitor was your father's closest adviser.”
Nikolai frowned.
“Dominic Vale?”
“Yes.”
Nikolai went still.
Lena knew the name.
Dominic Vale was practically family to Nikolai.
He had attended charity events beside him.
He had represented his companies.
He had been photographed at Aleksandr’s funeral.
“He's been with me thirty years,” Nikolai said.
“Exactly,” Gabriel replied.
“He raised Anton.”
Lena looked toward Anton.
Anton stared back.
“What?”
Gabriel's expression changed.
“Anton is Dominic's son?”
Nikolai nodded.
Anton looked devastated.
“My father is the traitor?”
Gabriel shook his head slowly.
“No.”
Everyone stared at him.
“Dominic Vale never had a son.”
Silence.
Anton stepped backward.
Nikolai looked at him.
“Anton?”
Anton reached inside his jacket.
Nikolai moved faster.
He knocked Anton’s hand aside.
A pistol clattered onto the pavement.
Lena screamed.
Anton struck Nikolai and ran.
Nikolai started after him.
Gabriel shouted.
“Let him go!”
Nikolai stopped.
Anton disappeared between two buildings.
Gabriel looked pale.
“Anton isn't Dominic's son.”
“Then who is he?”
Gabriel stared into the alley where Anton had vanished.
“His real name is Anton Soren.”
Lena understood first.
“No.”
Gabriel nodded.
May you like
“Viktor's son.”
And suddenly every safe house, every secret route, every decision Nikolai had made that night belonged to the enemy.
