The gunshot seemed to hang between the trees.
Gabriel Mercer dropped hard onto the gravel, one hand pressed against his shoulder. Mara barely had time to register the movement before Thomas shoved her behind the silver sedan. Rivera dragged Nina and Helen down beside them.
"Stay low!"
Another shot struck the car.
Metal screamed.
Mara looked toward Gabriel.
He was still conscious.
Peter's voice came again from somewhere beyond the trees.
"Run, Mara."
She didn't understand.
Peter had been their enemy.
Peter had manipulated them.
Peter had controlled the network.
Peter had waited twenty-two years for this moment.
And now he was telling her to run.
Thomas crouched beside Gabriel.
"Where are you hit?"
"Shoulder."
"Can you move?"
Gabriel nodded through clenched teeth.
"Then move."
Rivera crawled toward the rear of the sedan.
"Shooter's east."
Thomas looked at him.
"How do you know?"
"The muzzle flash."
Thomas studied him for half a second.
Then he nodded.
"You're right."
Mara looked at Rivera.
The forged document bearing his name suddenly felt heavier in her memory.
Someone had tried to make him look guilty.
But the person who had done it knew enough about him to make the lie convincing.
"Rivera."
He turned.
"Yes?"
"Did my father ever know you?"
Rivera hesitated.
"I don't know."
"Think."
"I was a child when your father was investigating the property cases."
Mara stared at him.
"My father knew your father."
"Apparently."
"And Peter knew both of them."
Rivera looked toward the darkness.
"Then whoever is shooting at us knows that connection too."
A branch snapped.
Thomas raised his weapon.
Nobody fired.
Instead, a figure emerged between two trees.
Peter.
He wasn't running.
He walked slowly toward them with his hands visible.
Thomas aimed immediately.
"Don't."
Peter stopped.
"Thomas."
"You killed Gabriel."
"No."
Gabriel, still kneeling, laughed weakly.
"Not his style."
Peter looked toward the trees.
"The shooter is gone."
Rivera scanned the darkness.
"How do you know?"
"Because I know who sent him."
Mara stepped from behind the vehicle.
"Then say the name."
Peter looked at her.
"Malcolm Raye."
Gabriel shook his head.
"You're lying."
Peter glanced at him.
"You've spent thirty years believing you understood him."
"And you haven't?"
"No."
Peter looked at Mara.
"That's why I need you alive."
Thomas lowered his weapon slightly.
"Why?"
Peter answered without hesitation.
"Because the trust has started."
Mara frowned.
"What does that mean?"
Peter pointed toward the watch.
The hands had stopped moving backward.
They were now moving forward.
Slowly.
One tick.
Then another.
"The command has been recognized."
Mara looked down.
A tiny light had appeared beneath the watch face.
A faint blue glow.
She touched it.
The watch projected a thin beam onto the ground.
A symbol appeared in the dirt.
Twelve black keys arranged in a circle.
Then the center opened.
A map emerged.
Not a physical map.
A sequence of locations.
Twelve properties.
Twelve children.
Twelve pieces of evidence.
Mara stared.
"These are the trust properties."
Peter nodded.
"The original locations."
"Why are they activating now?"
"Because you opened Cabinet One."
Thomas stepped closer.
"What happens when all twelve activate?"
Peter looked at him.
"The network becomes visible."
"And then?"
"Every hidden transfer becomes legally traceable."
Gabriel pushed himself upright.
"That's why they want her dead."
Peter nodded.
"Yes."
Mara looked from one man to the other.
"Who are they?"
Peter's answer was quiet.
"Everyone who has something to lose."
A distant engine roared.
Headlights appeared through the trees.
Thomas grabbed Mara.
"We're leaving."
Peter stepped aside.
Mara looked at him.
"You're coming with us."
"No."
"Why?"
"Because if they see me running with you, they'll know we've changed sides."
Thomas gave a bitter laugh.
"You haven't changed sides."
Peter looked at him.
"Neither have you."
Then he handed Mara a small brass key.
She stared at it.
"What's this?"
"The second door."
"Where?"
"You'll know when you see it."
"Peter."
He met her eyes.
"Your father trusted Thomas."
Mara waited.
"He also trusted me."
She didn't know what to believe.
Peter continued.
"But he trusted Gabriel last."
Mara glanced at Gabriel.
"Why?"
"Because Gabriel knew where the first property was."
Gabriel looked at Mara.
"The first property is not a house."
Mara's pulse quickened.
"What is it?"
"The courthouse."
Rivera stiffened.
"Which courthouse?"
Gabriel looked at him.
"Your father's courthouse."
Rivera went pale.
"My father never owned a courthouse."
"No," Gabriel said. "He worked beneath one."
Peter stepped backward.
"You have less than an hour."
"For what?"
"The first transfer."
Mara's eyes narrowed.
"Whose?"
Peter looked toward the road.
"Yours."
The vehicles were getting closer.
Peter disappeared between the trees.
Thomas helped Gabriel to his feet.
"Move."
They reached the road and found an old pickup hidden beneath a tarp.
Thomas pulled open the driver's door.
"Everybody in."
Mara climbed into the passenger seat.
Rivera sat behind her.
Nina and Helen squeezed into the back with Gabriel.
Thomas started the engine.
As the truck pulled away, Mara looked back.
Peter stood beneath the trees.
He didn't wave.
He simply watched.
For the first time, she wondered whether Peter Vale had been waiting twenty-two years to defeat her.
Or whether he had been waiting twenty-two years to hand her the only weapon capable of destroying the thing he had helped build.
The distinction frightened her.
Because if Peter was telling the truth, the man she had spent hours trying to understand might not be the final enemy.
He might be the final witness.
The truck reached the highway.
Mara held up the brass key.
"There are two doors."
Thomas glanced at it.
"Yes."
"What does the second one open?"
He looked at her.
"Your father's final evidence."
"Where?"
Thomas's eyes returned to the road.
"Under the courthouse."
Rivera suddenly spoke.
"Which courthouse?"
Thomas answered.
"The one where your father was declared dead."
Mara looked at him.
"Then that's where we're going."
Thomas nodded.
Behind them, somewhere far away, another gunshot echoed.
This time nobody spoke.
Click here to continue reading: PART 18: Beneath the Courthouse
The Arrest Was Supposed to End in Minutes, Until the Woman Asked One Question That Changed Everything
Part 17 of 20
