Chapter 12 - THE TRAP AT HALSTED
At 11:58 P.M., Isa walked into the Halsted freight terminal alone.
At least Gideon believed she was alone.
A microphone was hidden beneath her sweater.
Rhett’s people surrounded the building.
Federal investigators—personally vetted from outside Illinois—waited three blocks away.
Isa carried Evelyn’s memory card in her pocket.
A copy.
The original was already somewhere Gideon could never reach.
“Keep walking,” Rhett whispered through her earpiece.
Isa stepped into the enormous warehouse.
Gideon stood beneath a hanging light.
Mason stood beside him.
Andrew Mercer sat nearby.
Not restrained.
Isa stopped.
“So Andrew was never a hostage.”
Gideon smiled.
“Very good.”
Andrew rose.
Cole’s own brother had betrayed him.
Mason stared at Isa.
“You look better.”
“Disappointed?”
“A little.”
Gideon held out his hand.
“The card.”
Isa didn’t move.
“Why did you send me into Rhett’s house?”
Gideon smiled.
“Because you were perfect.”
“For what?”
“Rhett trusts people who don’t want anything from him.”
Isa felt sick.
“You thought I’d get close.”
“I knew you would.”
“You arranged the job.”
“Yes.”
“Did Mason know?”
“Eventually.”
Mason’s jaw tightened.
Gideon continued.
“We needed Rhett’s private ledger. You had access to every room, every key, every schedule.”
“But I never stole anything.”
“That was disappointing.”
Isa looked at Mason.
“And that’s why you came back.”
“He was supposed to frighten you into cooperating.”
Mason smiled.
“I got carried away.”
Rhett’s voice in her ear went dangerously quiet.
Isa stayed focused.
“You killed my father?”
Gideon’s smile faded.
“No.”
“Mason?”
“No.”
She stared.
“Then who?”
Andrew Mercer laughed.
“Your father survived the crash.”
Isa’s heart stopped.
“What?”
Gideon sighed.
“Mason forced him off the road, yes. But Samuel crawled out.”
Isa could barely breathe.
“What happened?”
Gideon looked almost bored.
“Andrew was waiting.”
From her earpiece came Cole’s broken whisper.
“No.”
Andrew smiled.
“I was nineteen. Gideon paid me enough to change my life.”
Isa’s hands shook.
Andrew Mercer had murdered Samuel after the crash.
Cole’s own brother.
The truth shattered the last uncertainty.
Rhett whispered, “We have enough.”
But Isa wasn’t done.
“Why did my mother protect Gideon?”
“She didn’t,” Gideon said.
“She protected you.”
Then he smiled.
“Because she knew what Samuel hid in you.”
Isa frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Gideon pulled a photograph from his pocket.
Samuel standing beside a wall covered with account numbers.
“Your father didn’t leave the master password on paper.”
He looked directly at Isa.
“He taught it to you when you were a child.”
Isa remembered bedtime games.
Numbers.
Songs.
Patterns.
Her father laughing when she repeated them.
Gideon stepped closer.
“You are the key to every account.”
Then Mason reached for Isa.
May you like
Rhett’s voice exploded through her earpiece.
“NOW.”
