Chapter 2 - HER DEAD HUSBAND LEFT A KEY INSIDE THEIR SON’S BACKPACK—AND THE SECRET IT UNLOCKED PROVED THE MAFIA BOSS’S MOST TRUSTED MAN HAD BEEN LYING TO HIM FOR YEARSJo did not sleep.
At 6:00 a.m., her sister Rachel found her sitting at the kitchen table staring at the brass key.
Sammy slept on the couch.
“What happened?”
Jo handed her the note.
Rachel read it.
Then again.
“Daniel wrote this?”
“Yes.”
“You're sure?”
“I was married to him for seven years.”
Rachel sat.
“When could he have put it in Sammy’s backpack?”
“I don't know.”
The backpack was new.
Jo had bought it at a thrift store four months earlier.
That made no sense.
Unless the message hadn't been there four months.
Someone had recently placed it inside.
Jo remembered the diner.
Customers.
Delivery drivers.
School.
The apartment.
Someone had been close enough to touch Sammy's belongings.
Fear crawled across her skin.
At 8:15 Gideon called.
Jo stared at his number.
She had never given it to him.
Of course he had found it.
She answered.
“How did you get my number?”
“Phone book.”
“Those don't exist anymore.”
“Then technology.”
“What do you want?”
“To tell you Victor lied.”
Jo looked at Daniel's note.
Do not trust Hale.
“About?”
“Your husband.”
Silence.
“Victor knew him.”
Jo's fingers tightened.
“How?”
“I don't know yet.”
“And you're calling because?”
“You deserve to know.”
“That's new for you?”
Gideon almost smiled.
“Yes.”
Jo made a decision.
“I found something.”
“What?”
“A key.”
Silence.
“Where?”
“Sammy's backpack.”
“Don't touch anything else.”
Her anger flashed.
“Don't order me around.”
Gideon caught himself.
“Sorry.”
That stopped her.
“Would you consider letting someone inspect it?”
“Police?”
“If that's who you want.”
Jo thought.
Daniel's note explicitly warned against police.
But Daniel had also warned against Hale.
She trusted nobody.
“I'm going to find out what it opens myself.”
“Jo—”
She hung up.
The key carried an engraved number:
Rachel recognized it.
“Union Station lockers?”
Kansas City's old station still had private storage lockers operated by a luggage company.
Jo went alone.
Or thought she did.
Gideon saw her entering from across the street.
He had promised himself he wouldn't follow.
Then told himself he wasn't following.
He was coincidentally monitoring a possible threat.
He knew that was nonsense.
So he remained outside.
Choice mattered.
Even when it frightened him.
Locker 314 contained one item.
A metal document case.
Jo opened it.
Inside were photographs.
Invoices.
A flash drive.
And a letter.
Jo,
If you're reading this, they found the trail.
I'm sorry.
The man you married wasn't the man I told you I was.
Jo stopped.
Daniel had been an accountant.
But not an ordinary accountant.
He had worked for Victor Sloane.
He moved money through construction companies and riverfront shipping firms.
At first he believed he was laundering gambling revenue.
Then he discovered trafficking payments.
Women transported through freight routes.
Bribes to judges.
Police.
Port inspectors.
Daniel began copying records.
Ledger Seven.
A complete accounting of the network.
But Victor wasn't the top.
Daniel wrote:
Gideon Hale's father built the system.
Gideon inherited pieces of it without knowing what they were.
Victor made sure he never looked too closely.
If Gideon discovers the truth, I don't know which man he'll choose to become.
Jo sat on the station bench for nearly an hour.
Then she called Gideon.
“Where are you?”
“Nearby.”
“How nearby?”
Silence.
“Gideon.”
“Across the street.”
“You followed me?”
“I stopped outside.”
“That's following.”
“Yes.”
She appreciated the admission.
“Come in.”
Gideon read Daniel's letter.
His face changed.
“My father.”
“Daniel says your father started it.”
“I heard.”
“You didn't know?”
“No.”
Jo studied him.
“I need more than that.”
“You should.”
He took out his phone.
“Who are you calling?”
“Federal prosecutor.”
Jo stared.
“You have one on speed dial?”
“Different lifestyle.”
“Apparently.”
Gideon stopped.
“What do you want me to do?”
That question again.
Not what he planned.
What she wanted.
Jo looked at the flash drive.
“I want copies made.”
“Okay.”
“I want one with a lawyer I choose.”
“Okay.”
“One with federal authorities.”
“Okay.”
“And one somewhere you don't know.”
Gideon nodded.
“Good.”
“Good?”
“If I become a problem, you should have leverage.”
Jo stared.
“What kind of mafia boss tells someone to keep leverage against him?”
“One who recently discovered his mentor may have been trafficking people through his company.”
The flash drive changed everything.
Ledger Seven contained twelve years of payments.
Victor.
Judges.
Detectives.
Businessmen.
And Gideon's father, Malcolm Hale.
But Daniel had added later records.
After Malcolm died.
Victor continued independently.
He used Gideon's legitimate shipping network as camouflage.
Gideon had signed documents.
Approved subsidiaries.
Accepted profits.
He hadn't known the source.
But his signature was there.
Jo looked at him.
“You benefited.”
“Yes.”
“Even if you didn't know.”
“Yes.”
“What are you going to do?”
Gideon stared at the screen.
Then:
“Burn it down.”
Victor moved first.
That afternoon, Sammy disappeared from school.
Jo received the call at 3:18.
She dropped the phone.
Gideon arrived twelve minutes later.
Jo attacked him.
Not physically.
With words.
“You said we'd be safe!”
“I know.”
“You have men everywhere!”
“I know.”
“Then where is my son?”
Gideon didn't defend himself.
“I'm going to find him.”
“No.”
Jo grabbed his coat.
“We are going to find him.”
He looked at her.
“Yes.”
Security footage showed Sammy leaving with a woman.
He knew her.
Rachel.
Except Rachel was at work.
The woman wore Rachel's coat.
Wig.
From a distance, convincing.
Sammy had been tricked.
A burner phone rang.
Gideon answered.
Victor.
“You should have left it alone.”
“Where's the boy?”
“Bring Ledger Seven.”
Jo leaned close enough to hear.
“Alive,” Victor said. “For now.”
Gideon's face became lethal.
Jo grabbed his wrist.
Not to stop him.
To remind him.
Sammy first.
Revenge later.
“Where?”
Victor gave an address.
Old river warehouse.
Gideon wanted Jo nowhere near it.
Jo refused.
They compromised.
She stayed with federal agents two blocks away.
Gideon entered wearing a wire.
Victor stood inside with Sammy.
The boy was tied to a chair but unharmed.
“Mr. Gideon!”
Gideon's chest tightened.
“Hey, astronaut.”
Sammy tried to smile.
Victor held a gun.
“Drive.”
Gideon raised it.
Victor checked.
“Where are the other copies?”
“There aren't any.”
“Liar.”
“Yes.”
Victor laughed.
“At least you've learned.”
“Let the boy go.”
“When I'm safe.”
“You won't be safe.”
Victor's smile disappeared.
“Your father would be ashamed.”
“My father trafficked women.”
“Your father built an empire.”
“Then he built garbage.”
Victor raised the weapon.
“You've gotten sentimental.”
“No.”
Gideon looked at Sammy.
“I've gotten selective about what I'm willing to lose.”
Victor fired.
The bullet hit Gideon's shoulder.
Federal agents stormed.
Victor was shot in the leg.
Sammy screamed.
Gideon fell.
Jo reached him at the hospital.
Sammy had already been checked.
Safe.
She entered Gideon's room.
He looked terrible.
“You got shot.”
“I noticed.”
She started crying.
Gideon tried to sit.
“Don't.”
He stopped.
Jo stood beside him.
“You scared my son.”
“I know.”
“He thinks you're dying.”
“I'm not.”
“You'd better explain that.”
“I will.”
She looked at him.
Then kissed his forehead.
Gideon froze.
“Don't make anything out of that.”
“I wouldn't dare.”
“Good.”
A pause.
“Jo?”
“What?”
“Daniel may be alive.”
She went completely still.
“What?”
Gideon reached toward the bedside table.
Federal investigators had found another file inside Victor's safe.
A photograph.
Daniel Bradley.
Taken six months ago.
May you like
And beside it—
a current address in Omaha.
Related Stories
