Chapter 5 - THE MIDNIGHT CONFRONTATION
Z
My breath caught in my throat, but I forced my face to remain completely expressionless. I slid my hand back into my pocket, my mind racing at top speed. The rain roared against the roof of the heavy SUV, creating a rhythmic drumbeat that did little to drown out the suffocating tension inside the vehicle.
In the front seat, Julian drove with one hand on the steering wheel, his eyes darting continuously between the stormy highway and the GPS display on his dashboard. In the back, Daniel sat next to Nora. They were separated by barely two feet of leather upholstery, yet a canyon of hurt and deception lay between them. Nora stared out the rain-slicked window, her eyes vacant, while Daniel kept his head down, tears silently dripping onto his jeans.
I needed to communicate with Daniel without alerting Julian.
Carefully, under the cover of the shadows in the backseat, I reached over and squeezed Daniel’s knee hard. He startled slightly and looked over at me. I held his gaze, then made a subtle downward motion with my eyes toward my pocket, followed by a slight shake of my head.
Daniel was flawed, and he had made disastrous choices out of desperation, but he was not stupid. He saw the shift in my expression and gave the faintest nod of understanding.
"How much further to the marina, Mercer?" Daniel asked loudly, intentionally drawing Julian’s attention.
"Forty minutes," Julian replied without turning his head. "Assuming this weather doesn't wash out the causeway to Tybee Island."
"What are you going to do to Elise when you get the drive?" Nora asked, her voice raspy and devoid of life.
"That depends entirely on her cooperation," Julian said coldly. "If she gives me what belongs to my firm, she can take her grief and disappear. I have no interest in raising a child or prosecuting a hysterical widow."
He was lying. I knew it, and deep down, I suspect Daniel knew it too. Men like Julian Mercer didn't leave loose ends. Once he had the drive, Elise, the baby, and perhaps all of us would become liabilities that needed to be erased.
As the SUV crossed the long, dark bridge onto Tybee Island, the storm hit us with full force. Gales of wind rocked the heavy vehicle, and sheets of water obliterated the road ahead. Streetlights flickered and died as power lines failed across the island.
"The signal is bouncing," Julian muttered, frowning at his GPS screen as the red dot began to glitch near the northern tip of the island. "She’s changing locations."
"The marina is on the south side," Daniel said, leaning forward. "Maybe she realized the boat is a trap."
"She’s at the old lighthouse grounds," Julian growled, realizing the red dot had stabilized near the historic brick structure standing tall against the black sky. "Smart girl. It’s deserted at this hour, especially in a hurricane."
Julian swerved the SUV onto a narrow asphalt road winding toward the coast. Up ahead, through the furious curtain of rain, the black silhouette of the historic Tybee Island Lighthouse loomed like a jagged tooth against the dark clouds.
Julian pulled the SUV into the dark parking lot behind a row of abandoned keeper's cottages. He turned off the engine and killed the headlights, plunging us into absolute darkness, save for the occasional flash of lightning that illuminated the sky.
He pulled the heavy silver pistol from his jacket and racked the slide with a sharp, terrifying clack.
"Here is how this works," Julian said, turning around to face us, his eyes cold and lifeless. "Mrs. Vance, you get out and walk toward the base of the lighthouse tower. Call her name. Show her you are alone. Daniel and Nora stay in the car with me."
"No way," Daniel snapped. "I’m not letting my mother go out there alone!"
"She goes alone, or I put a bullet in your wife's knee right now," Julian said, leveling the gun directly at Nora's head. Nora didn't even flinch; she seemed too broken to care whether she lived or died.
"I’ll go," I said firmly, opening the SUV door. The freezing wind immediately slapped my face, drenching me in seconds. "Keep your hands where I can see them, Julian. If I see you follow me, I’ll tell her to destroy the drive."
I stepped out into the storm, slamming the heavy door behind me.
The wind roared in my ears like a freight train as I trudged through the waterlogged grass toward the massive brick base of the lighthouse. Lightning flashed overhead, blindingly white, illuminating the wooden maintenance shed attached to the side of the tower.
"Elise!" I screamed into the storm, my voice swallowed by the wind. "Elise, it’s Linda! I’m alone!"
A small door on the side of the shed creaked open. A thin figure bundled in a heavy oilskin coat stepped into the dim light. She held a baby close to her chest, wrapped tightly inside a waterproof blanket beneath her jacket. Her face was pale, drawn, and streaked with tears and rain.
"Linda?" she called out, her voice trembling.
I rushed inside the shed, pulling the door closed against the howling wind. The sudden quiet inside was deafening.
"Are you okay?" I asked, panting as I approached her.
Elise backed away slightly, her eyes wide with terror, her hands cradling the small, sleeping bundle against her heart. "Did Julian come with you? Tell me the truth!"
"He's in the car with Daniel and Nora," I confessed quickly. "He has a gun, Elise. He tracked your phone."
Elise let out a sobbing gasp. "He killed Marcus, Linda! Marcus found out Julian’s company was using fertility clinics to traffic high-value legal documents and hide money in offshore accounts bound to surrogate contracts. When Marcus threatened to go to the FBI, Julian arranged the car crash! I only survived because I was at the hospital!"
I looked down at the tiny baby nestled in her arms. His little face was peaceful, blissfully unaware of the nightmare unfolding around him. My heart ache was unbearable. He carried my son's blood, but he was born into a web of absolute madness.
"He wants the drive, Elise," I whispered. "He said he’d kill us if he doesn't get it."
"The drive is here," Elise said, pulling a tiny silver USB drive on a silver chain from around her neck. "But Marcus programmed it. It contains evidence of dozens of murders, financial fraud, and political corruption. If I hand it to Julian, he will kill all of us—including this baby—to make sure no one ever talks."
Before I could answer, the wooden door of the shed was kicked off its hinges with a deafening crash.
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Julian Mercer stood in the doorway, drenched in rain, the gun raised and pointed directly at Elise's head. Behind him, Daniel and Nora were being dragged forward by two heavily armed men I hadn't seen before.
"Hand over the drive, Elise," Julian said, his voice dropping to a low, lethal register. "Or watch your dead husband's family die first."
