Chapter 6 - Sophie Learned Why Invisible People Make the Best SpiesSophie woke inside a moving vehicle.
Her wrists were tied.
A black hood covered her head.
She could hear three men.
One driving.
Two behind her.
Gabriel sat somewhere nearby.
“You’re awake.”
Sophie remained silent.
“Smart.”
His voice came from her left.
“Lorenzo talks too little. You apparently talk too much.”
“You kidnapped the wrong woman if you wanted quiet.”
Gabriel laughed.
“You really aren’t afraid of me.”
“I’m terrified.”
That silenced him.
Sophie continued.
“Bravery isn’t the absence of fear.”
She remembered her grandmother teaching her that.
“It’s deciding something matters more.”
“And what matters more?”
“My brother.”
Gabriel leaned closer.
“And Lorenzo?”
Sophie did not answer.
Gabriel laughed softly.
“That answer told me everything.”
The vehicle traveled for approximately forty minutes.
Sophie counted turns.
Left.
Right.
Long straight road.
Railroad crossing.
Another right.
She smelled water.
Industrial chemicals.
Diesel.
When the vehicle stopped, she heard trains in the distance.
The hood came off.
They were inside an abandoned meatpacking warehouse.
Toby sat across the room.
“Soph!”
She ran toward him.
A guard caught her.
“Let me see him.”
Gabriel nodded.
They released her.
Sophie crossed the room and dropped beside Toby.
His lip was split, but otherwise he appeared unharmed.
“You okay?”
“I’m sorry.”
“No.”
She touched his face.
“None of this is your fault.”
Gabriel watched.
Something unreadable crossed his face.
Perhaps disgust.
Perhaps envy.
Sophie realized Gabriel truly did see affection as weakness.
That made him predictable.
People who dismissed love rarely understood what people would do for it.
The ledgers were carried into an office overlooking the warehouse.
Gabriel followed.
Before entering, he looked at Sophie.
“You studied nursing?”
She froze.
He knew everything.
“Yes.”
“Good.”
He pointed toward one of his men.
“Dimitri has a bullet in his shoulder. Remove it.”
Sophie stared.
“I’m not a surgeon.”
“You know more than he does.”
The injured man sat at a metal table.
Blood soaked his shirt.
Sophie examined the wound.
The bullet appeared superficial.
She could help.
But she could also use the opportunity.
“I need supplies.”
Gabriel gestured toward a cabinet.
Sophie found antiseptic, gauze, forceps, sutures.
As she worked, she studied the warehouse.
Six guards.
Two exits.
Security cameras.
A loading bay.
One office.
Toby approximately twenty feet away.
Then she noticed someone pushing a mop.
An older woman.
Cleaning staff.
Gabriel’s men ignored her completely.
Invisible.
Just as Sophie had once been.
Their eyes met.
The woman looked away.
Sophie deliberately dropped a roll of gauze.
It rolled toward the cleaner.
The woman picked it up.
Sophie whispered as she took it.
“Moretti.”
The cleaner’s eyes changed.
Recognition.
Sophie continued working.
Several minutes later, she asked to use the bathroom.
A guard escorted her.
The cleaner was inside.
She pretended to empty a trash can.
Sophie washed blood from her hands.
The guard waited outside.
Without looking at Sophie, the woman whispered in Spanish.
“I know who you are.”
Sophie answered quietly.
“Can you call someone?”
“They take our phones.”
“Where are we?”
“South Deering. Old packing plant near Calumet River.”
Sophie’s pulse jumped.
“Can you leave?”
“Shift ends in one hour.”
Sophie removed her wedding ring.
The enormous diamond would be immediately noticed.
Not that.
Instead she removed a tiny gold pendant Isabella had given her.
She pressed it into the woman’s hand.
“Take this to any police station.”
The cleaner looked terrified.
“No police.”
Sophie understood.
Corruption.
“Then Palmer House Hilton. Ask for Jenny Alvarez.”
Jenny.
Another invisible woman.
Another person the powerful overlooked.
“Tell her Sophie says the angel is awake.”
The cleaner nodded.
The bathroom door opened.
“What are you whispering about?”
the guard demanded.
Sophie turned.
“She was asking if I needed a sanitary pad.”
The guard recoiled immediately.
“Jesus. Fine.”
Sophie almost smiled.
Men carrying assault rifles could apparently be defeated by menstruation.
Back at the estate, Lorenzo was becoming something Sophie had never seen.
Uncontrolled.
Silas had survived.
The bullet had passed through his side without hitting a major organ.
A doctor treated him while Lorenzo coordinated the search.
Every camera between Lake Forest and Chicago was being reviewed.
Every Moretti contact was activated.
Then Jenny entered the command center.
A security guard tried to stop her.
“She says it’s important.”
Jenny held out Sophie’s pendant.
Lorenzo recognized it.
“Where did you get that?”
“A cleaning woman brought it to the hotel.”
Jenny repeated the message.
“The angel is awake.”
Lorenzo understood immediately.
Isabella had been the angel.
The phrase meant Sophie was alive.
“Where?”
“South Deering. Old packing plant near the Calumet River.”
Lorenzo closed his eyes.
Sophie had done it.
Captured.
Unarmed.
Surrounded.
And somehow she had found a way to send him their location.
Silas laughed weakly from the doorway.
Lorenzo turned.
“You’re supposed to be in bed.”
“Your wife found the warehouse before your intelligence division.”
Silas pressed a hand against his bandage.
“I’m not missing this.”
Lorenzo looked at Jenny.
“How did she get the message out?”
“A cleaning lady.”
Something shifted in Lorenzo’s expression.
Sophie’s words from the gala returned to him.
I have the people no one else sees.
Lorenzo finally understood.
Sophie had not been joking.
Her army was real.
It simply wore uniforms nobody important bothered to notice.
Back at the warehouse, Gabriel opened the first ledger.
He photographed pages.
Then his expression changed.
“No.”
Anthony looked over his shoulder.
“What?”
Gabriel flipped faster.
“No.”
He grabbed another ledger.
Then another.
His face darkened.
“What is it?”
Anthony asked.
Gabriel threw the book across the room.
“These aren’t complete.”
Sophie watched through the office window.
Gabriel came downstairs.
He approached her.
“Where are the missing pages?”
“I don’t know.”
“Mateo removed them.”
“Then ask Mateo.”
Gabriel struck her.
Sophie fell.
Toby screamed.
“You son of a—”
A guard hit him.
Sophie immediately rose.
“Don’t touch him!”
Gabriel grabbed her chin.
“The final ledger contained account access codes.”
“I don’t know anything about them.”
“Isabella does.”
Sophie’s blood chilled.
Gabriel smiled.
“You’re going to call Lorenzo.”
“No.”
“You’re going to tell him to bring Isabella.”
“Never.”
Gabriel looked toward Toby.
Then drew his gun.
Sophie moved instantly.
“Wait.”
Gabriel smiled.
There it was.
The weakness he expected.
Love.
“Call him.”
A phone was placed in her hand.
Lorenzo answered on the first ring.
“Sophie.”
Hearing his voice almost broke her.
Instead she forced herself to remain calm.
“Lorenzo.”
“Are you hurt?”
“I’m okay.”
“Is Toby alive?”
“Yes.”
Gabriel gestured.
Sophie continued.
“He wants Isabella.”
Lorenzo understood.
“No.”
Gabriel took the phone.
“Midnight, nephew. Bring your mother to the old St. Augustine church.”
He smiled.
“Come alone.”
“If Sophie or Toby—”
“They’re alive.”
“For now.”
Gabriel ended the call.
Sophie looked at the clock.
8:14 p.m.
Less than four hours.
Gabriel walked away.
Toby whispered.
“What do we do?”
Sophie looked toward the cleaning cart.
The older woman had disappeared.
Good.
She looked toward the warehouse doors.
Then at the cameras.
Then at the fire suppression system overhead.
“We survive.”
“How?”
Sophie looked at her brother.
May you like
Then smiled.
“We make them underestimate the maid one more time.”
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