Chapter 3 - The File Under The Floor
Sarah forced open the emergency exit.
Cold night air rushed into the alley.
Alex followed, breathing heavily.
For the first time, he looked less like a mafia boss and more like an old man who had suddenly discovered that his entire life might have been built on a lie.
“Where are we going?”
“Somewhere they can't predict.”
“You've done this before.”
“Too many times.”
They reached a parked delivery van.
Sarah opened the door.
Alex hesitated.
“You expect me to trust you?”
“No.”
She looked at him.
“I expect you to survive long enough to decide.”
He climbed in.
The van moved through the city.
After several blocks, Sarah pulled into an abandoned warehouse.
She locked the doors and finally examined her wound.
Alex watched.
“You're bleeding.”
“I noticed.”
“You need a doctor.”
“No doctors.”
“Why?”
“Because someone already knows where I am.”
Alex leaned against the wall.
“Tell me about Matteo.”
Sarah's hands stopped.
“Your brother was involved in an operation twelve years ago.”
“What operation?”
“One that officially never existed.”
Alex waited.
“Matteo helped us expose a private network that sold intelligence about powerful families.”
“My family?”
“Yes.”
Alex looked stunned.
“Then why was he killed?”
Sarah shook her head.
“I never said he was killed.”
Silence.
Alex stepped closer.
“What are you saying?”
Sarah walked toward an old wooden crate.
She pulled away a loose floorboard.
Underneath was a metal case.
Inside was a thin black file.
She opened it.
Alex saw photographs.
Matteo.
Sarah.
Several other operatives.
And one photograph of Alex himself.
Taken twenty years earlier.
“What is this?”
Sarah looked at him.
“The reason I became Sparrow.”
Alex turned another page.
There was a handwritten note.
DO NOT TRUST THE VINCENZO FAMILY.
Then Sarah saw the final page.
Someone had written over it recently.
EXCEPT ALEX.
She stared.
May you like
The handwriting belonged to Matteo.
---
