Chapter 8 - FRANKIE HAD CHANGED THE CARS
Frankie admitted it immediately.
“I switched the vehicles.”
Desmond stared.
“Why?”
“Your Bentley had a sidewall cut.”
“Cut?”
“Yes.”
“Not flat?”
“No.”
That had never been in the official report.
Desmond slowly wheeled closer.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because after the explosion, everything became chaos.”
“Not good enough.”
Frankie’s face tightened.
“I thought the tire was vandalism unrelated to the bomb.”
“Still not good enough.”
“No.”
At least he knew.
The armored sedan originally assigned to Patrick contained the explosive device.
That changed the motive.
Unless the bomber knew Desmond would switch.
Did anyone?
Garage camera footage from that morning had been lost in the explosion investigation.
But Frankie kept manual logs.
One mechanic signed the switch.
Luis Vega.
Missing since the bombing.
Not declared dead.
Just vanished.
They found his last payroll deposit.
Then nothing.
Sadi asked:
“Family?”
“Wife in Arizona,” Frankie said.
“Contact her.”
They did.
Luis had arrived in Phoenix two days after the explosion.
Terrified.
Told his wife someone would kill him if he returned.
Then disappeared again.
She had not heard from him in four months.
But she saved one voicemail.
Luis’s voice shook.
“I didn’t know which brother would take the car.”
Desmond closed his eyes.
Which brother.
The bomber may not have cared.
Or had been targeting whichever Gallagher used it.
Then:
“Tell Mr. Callaway’s girl I’m sorry.”
Sadi nearly dropped the phone.
“My father?”
Frankie stared.
Luis had worked with Michael Callaway in 2011.
Of course.
The same maintenance unit.
The same AEGIS technology.
Sadi played the voicemail again.
Tell Mr. Callaway’s girl I’m sorry.
Luis knew Sadi.
Or knew of her.
Why apologize?
They searched her father’s old files more carefully.
One mechanic survived the 2011 maintenance explosion with Michael.
Luis Vega.
The dead mechanic?
Paul Serrano.
Paul’s widow sued Gallagher Freight.
Case settled confidentially.
Her attorney:
Patrick Gallagher’s current personal counsel.
Sadi felt the web tighten.
Then Marco—brought in now as an external security consultant because Frankie’s position was compromised—found Luis in federal witness-protection intake records.
Not full protection.
Preliminary cooperation.
He had approached federal investigators six weeks ago.
Why?
Vehicle-system fraud.
Corporate sabotage.
The investigators would not release details.
But Desmond’s counsel arranged a formal interview through authorities.
Luis appeared by video.
Older.
Shaking.
He looked at Sadi first.
“You’re Michael’s daughter.”
“Yes.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Why?”
“Your father warned us.”
“About AEGIS?”
“Yes.”
Then Luis told the truth.
In 2011, Paul Serrano planned to sell AEGIS access credentials to a criminal buyer.
Michael discovered it.
Confronted him.
The maintenance explosion happened during that confrontation.
Accidental electrical ignition.
Paul died.
Michael saved Luis.
Seamus Gallagher covered the scandal to protect the company.
Michael quit.
But one set of credentials remained missing.
Years later, Luis discovered those credentials had resurfaced.
Someone paid him to install a legacy AEGIS module in Patrick’s armored sedan.
“Who?”
Luis looked terrified.
“A woman.”
Name?
“Catherine Gallagher.”
Desmond’s face went blank.
Patrick’s wife.
And she had died in the bombing.
No.
Sadi corrected herself.
Patrick’s wife had died four years earlier.
Cancer.
So who used her name?
Luis whispered:
“She wasn’t dead when she hired me.”
The arrangement began five years ago.
Before Catherine died.
Before Desmond’s bombing.
May you like
Before Patrick took control.
And apparently Catherine Gallagher had been planning something against her own husband long before anyone knew why.
