Chapter 6 - THE WATER PLANT
The abandoned water-treatment plant stood beyond the city limits beside a frozen reservoir.
Concrete buildings rose from the darkness like empty bunkers.
Mason arrived carrying the blue music chest.
A transmitter was taped beneath his vest.
Snipers watched from two ridges.
Chief Warren’s voice sounded through his earpiece.
“Visual on the east door. No movement.”
Mason entered alone.
The main filtration room was filled with rusted pipes and shallow pools of black water.
Avery sat in a chair on the far platform.
Her wrists were tied.
Her white pajamas were dirty, and tears streaked her face, but she was alive.
Lieutenant Hale stood behind her with a pistol.
Charles Voss waited near the control panel.
The attorney no longer looked polished. His coat was torn. Sweat shone across his forehead.
“Set the box down,” Hale ordered.
Mason placed it on the concrete.
“Let her go.”
Hale laughed.
“You still think this is about Daniel’s money?”
Voss opened the chest and removed the memory cards.
“The bank accounts are nothing,” he said. “The list includes judges, police chiefs, state contractors. People who paid Hale to make problems disappear.”
Mason understood.
Daniel had started as a thief.
Hale and Voss had turned the operation into a protection network.
Emily’s evidence could destroy dozens of powerful people.
“Why use Daniel?” Mason asked.
“Because greedy men are easy to control,” Voss replied.
Hale kept the weapon against Avery’s shoulder.
“She knew where the key was. That made her useful.”
Avery looked at Mason.
He saw fear.
But also something else.
She was watching his hands.
Mason had taught her a simple signal during the hospital interview: squeeze the teddy bear twice when you are ready to move.
She did not have the bear now.
So she tapped her heel against the chair.
Twice.
Mason shifted his weight.
Hale noticed.
“Don’t.”
Avery threw herself sideways.
Mason fired.
The bullet struck Hale’s weapon hand.
The pistol spun away.
Voss grabbed Avery and dragged her toward a catwalk.
Mason tackled Hale as officers stormed the building.
Below them, Voss held Avery over the edge of a filtration tank.
“Back up!” he screamed.
Avery kicked him.
Voss lost his grip.
The child fell.
Mason dove from the platform.
He caught Avery’s wrist with one hand and struck the metal railing with his other arm.
Pain tore through his shoulder.
Avery hung above the dark water.
“Don’t let go!” she cried.
“I won’t.”
Voss raised a second gun.
Before he could fire, a shot cracked from the ridge.
The weapon fell from his hand.
Officers pulled Avery to safety.
Hale and Voss were arrested.
For one moment, Mason believed it was over.
Then Chief Warren opened the blue chest.
The memory cards were gone.
May you like
Voss had switched them.
And Daniel Cole had escaped custody twenty minutes earlier.
