Chapter 10 - THE HUNTING LODGE
Z
The lodge had not changed.
It still sat three miles beyond the nearest paved road, surrounded by New Hampshire forest and silence.
Marcus hadn't visited since his grandfather's funeral.
Snow covered the roof.
The windows were dark.
Daniel parked fifty yards away.
Two federal investigators remained in an unmarked SUV behind them.
After the threat at Marcus's house, Daniel had refused to treat the trip like a private investigation.
“Any cameras?” Marcus asked.
An agent checked a handheld scanner.
“None transmitting.”
“That doesn't mean none exist.”
“No.”
Marcus looked at Daniel.
“Comforting.”
Daniel smiled faintly.
“Glad to help.”
The brass key felt heavy in Marcus's pocket.
They entered through the rear door.
The lodge smelled of dust, leather, and old wood.
Marcus remembered his grandfather standing beside the fireplace with a glass of bourbon.
Nathaniel Voss.
The man who turned the family shipping business into an empire.
To the public, Nathaniel had been disciplined.
Brilliant.
Patriotic.
Marcus remembered something different.
A grandfather who never raised his voice because he never needed to.
A man who believed weakness was a contagious disease.
“This way.”
They entered the study.
A massive oak desk faced the windows.
Books lined every wall.
Daniel looked around.
“Where?”
“Elena said beneath the floor.”
They searched for thirty minutes.
Nothing.
Then Marcus remembered something.
His grandfather used to sit behind the desk and tap one shoe against the floor when thinking.
Always the same spot.
Marcus moved the desk.
Beneath it, one floorboard was newer than the others.
Daniel knelt.
“Here.”
They removed it.
Underneath was a steel lockbox.
The brass key fit perfectly.
Marcus opened it.
Inside were twelve bound ledgers.
Several envelopes.
Photographs.
And an old cassette recorder.
Daniel stared.
“Your grandfather was not a minimalist.”
Marcus picked up the first ledger.
1987–1994.
The second.
1995–2001.
The records continued until five years before Nathaniel died.
Daniel opened one.
Names.
Payments.
Political figures.
Private investigators.
Security contractors.
Foreign officials.
Some names Marcus recognized.
Others meant nothing.
“Founders Committee,” Daniel whispered.
Marcus found a folder labeled MEMBERSHIP.
Inside were six names.
Nathaniel Voss.
Edmund Vale.
Caroline Sutter.
Richard Bellamy.
Thomas Grey.
And one name that made Marcus freeze.
Evelyn Voss.
His grandmother.
Daniel noticed.
“She was involved?”
Marcus stared.
“She died when I was fourteen.”
A handwritten note beneath the names read:
Committee authority survives individual members through designated successors.
Daniel turned pages.
Each original member had assigned a successor.
Nathaniel's line led to Charles.
But beside Charles's name someone had written RESTRICTED.
Edmund Vale's line led to his son.
Caroline Sutter's to a corporate attorney.
Richard Bellamy's to another financier.
Thomas Grey's line ended.
Evelyn Voss's successor was blank.
Marcus frowned.
“Why blank?”
Daniel flipped further.
Then stopped.
“Oh.”
Marcus looked.
A separate sealed page had been taped inside the ledger.
Daniel carefully opened it.
One sentence.
EVELYN'S AUTHORITY PASSES TO FIRST GRANDCHILD OF LEGAL AGE WHO REFUSES COMPANY OFFICE.
Marcus stared.
Daniel slowly looked at him.
“You refused the executive position after college.”
Marcus's throat tightened.
“I joined legal and compliance.”
“You refused operations.”
“Yes.”
“Then according to this…”
“No.”
Daniel pointed.
“You inherited her committee authority.”
“I didn't know the committee existed.”
“That may have been the point.”
Marcus stepped backward.
The room suddenly felt colder.
“Adrian didn't remove me because I found theft.”
Daniel understood.
“He removed you because you unknowingly held authority he wanted.”
“But how would he even know?”
They both looked toward the records.
Someone had told him.
Marcus opened another folder.
Meeting minutes.
Most were decades old.
Then he found one dated three months before his disappearance.
Only three initials appeared.
A.V.
C.S.
E.V.
Marcus's heart accelerated.
“Adrian Voss.”
Daniel pointed to the others.
“C.S. could be Caroline Sutter's successor.”
“And E.V.?”
Marcus looked again.
No.
Evelyn Voss was dead.
Then Daniel said, “Could be another Voss.”
Marcus thought through the family.
No one.
Then a memory surfaced.
His grandfather had a younger brother.
Edward.
Edward had a daughter.
Eleanor Voss.
Marcus had met her maybe five times.
She lived in London.
Or supposedly did.
Daniel searched his secure database.
“Eleanor Voss, seventy-one. Former diplomat. Served on several international boards.”
Marcus stared at her photograph.
Elegant.
Silver-haired.
Calm.
She had attended his wedding.
She had kissed Elena on both cheeks.
She had held Lily when Lily was three months old.
Daniel kept reading.
“She's chairman emeritus of a philanthropic trust called the Vale-Sutter Foundation.”
Marcus looked at him.
“Vale-Sutter?”
“Two Founders Committee families.”
That was not a coincidence.
They continued searching.
Inside another envelope, Marcus found photographs taken outside the Prague clinic where he had been held.
One showed Vanessa.
One Adrian.
And one Eleanor Voss.
Marcus's stomach dropped.
“She's there.”
Daniel took the picture.
“Three days after Vanessa?”
“Look at the timestamp.”
Daniel checked.
“Seven hours before Vanessa.”
Marcus felt something dark settle inside him.
Eleanor had known.
Maybe before everyone.
Then the old cassette recorder clicked.
Both men spun.
Nobody had touched it.
A tiny red light turned on.
A voice played.
Nathaniel Voss.
Older.
Weak.
But unmistakable.
“If this recording has started, then the box has been opened after my death.”
Marcus stared.
A pressure switch.
His grandfather had designed the box to play automatically.
Nathaniel continued.
“The Founders Committee was created because power requires protection from ordinary law.”
Daniel muttered, “That's a promising beginning.”
Nathaniel's voice continued.
“But I made a mistake.”
Marcus stepped closer.
“I believed people who protected the family would also protect its children.”
A pause.
“I was wrong.”
Marcus felt his chest tighten.
“If my granddaughter Eleanor inherits operational control, she must never hold Evelyn's vote.”
Daniel looked at Marcus.
Nathaniel continued.
“Eleanor believes bloodlines matter more than conscience. She believes Voss International should become something beyond a company.”
The cassette hissed.
“A state within states.”
Marcus whispered, “Jesus.”
Nathaniel's voice grew weaker.
“If she attempts to consolidate control, Evelyn's heir can dissolve the Founders Committee permanently.”
Marcus stared at the ledger.
Daniel looked at him.
“You.”
The recorder continued.
“The dissolution instrument is stored separately.”
A pause.
“Because if Eleanor ever finds it, she will kill whoever holds it.”
The cassette stopped.
Nobody spoke.
Then one of the agents outside shouted through the radio.
“Movement!”
Daniel grabbed Marcus's arm.
“Get down.”
Gunfire shattered the front windows.
Marcus dropped behind the desk.
A bullet tore through the wall above them.
Daniel drew his weapon.
The federal agents returned fire outside.
Marcus stared at the open lockbox.
They had been followed.
Again.
“Back exit!” Daniel shouted.
Marcus grabbed the ledgers.
“No time!”
“Take the membership book!”
Marcus took the ledger and Nathaniel's recording.
They ran through the rear hall.
Another window exploded.
Outside, a black SUV crashed through the tree line.
Federal agents fired toward it.
The vehicle reversed.
Then disappeared into the woods.
The entire attack lasted less than forty seconds.
When silence returned, Marcus stood in the snow breathing hard.
Daniel approached.
“You okay?”
Marcus looked at the lodge.
A bullet hole scarred the window of his grandfather's study.
“They knew exactly where we were.”
Daniel nodded.
“And exactly what room you were in.”
Marcus looked at the ledger under his arm.
Someone wanted the Founders Committee buried badly enough to open fire on federal agents.
Daniel checked his phone.
“There's more.”
“What?”
“Eleanor Voss entered the United States yesterday.”
Marcus became still.
“Where?”
“Boston.”
Marcus understood.
The warning through his window.
The attack on the lodge.
Eleanor wasn't hiding.
She was coming toward him.
Daniel said, “We need to move Lily.”
Marcus didn't hesitate.
“Yes.”
He called Mrs. Harper.
No answer.
Marcus tried again.
Nothing.
His stomach tightened.
Then Lily's number appeared on his screen.
Marcus answered instantly.
“Lily?”
A woman's voice responded.
Smooth.
Older.
British accent.
“Hello, Marcus.”
He stopped breathing.
Eleanor.
Behind her voice, Marcus heard Lily crying.
“Where is my daughter?”
Eleanor laughed softly.
“At home.”
Marcus froze.
“What?”
“Don't worry. I haven't taken her.”
A pause.
“Yet.”
Marcus's hand tightened around the phone.
Eleanor continued.
“You have something that belongs to the family.”
May you like
Marcus looked at Daniel.
“And apparently,” Eleanor said, “the family still has something you care about more.”
