Chapter 10 — Between Her and the Guns

Reed left the printed messages on the table.

“You can ask her questions,” she said. “You cannot turn this into a confrontation that puts the child at greater risk.”

I looked at Celeste’s reply again.

I don’t want to know the details.

“What else did the mechanic say?”

“He described the work. Investigators are comparing his account with what remains of the collision records.”

“And Celeste?”

“He says Garrett mentioned that she knew there would be a problem with the car.”

“That she knew.”

“That is his account. It isn’t the same as hearing it from her.”

I pushed the paper away.

“Then we ask.”

Reed held my gaze.

“We get Piper out. That comes first.”

“Yes.”

She waited until I looked directly at her.

“Say it again.”

“We get Piper out first.”

Only then did she move on.

By afternoon, the warehouse was being watched.

Reed’s people had identified two vehicles that arrived early and remained inside the yard. My men reported a third car making repeated passes along the service road.

Every observation went to the police.

I gave no orders to approach.

Daniel remained with me while investigators went through the company records. Questions arrived about permissions, signatures, accounts I had forgotten, and accounts I wished they hadn’t found.

I answered what I knew.

When I didn’t know, I said so.

“You should rest,” Daniel told me.

“I’ll rest when she’s out.”

“That may not be tonight.”

I looked at him.

He didn’t soften the statement.

“We need you able to listen.”

I lay down on a narrow couch in an unused office.

For forty minutes, I stared at the ceiling.

Then Celeste called.

I sat up.

“Piper first,” I said.

She gave me the phone without arguing.

“Mr. Silas?”

“I’m here.”

“Are you coming tonight?”

“Yes.”

“She said we have to go somewhere before you get here.”

“I know.”

“Will you be there?”

“I’ll come to the same place.”

Piper was quiet for a moment.

“There are men here.”

“Are they near you?”

“Outside the door.”

“Stay with your bear and your coat. If anyone tells you to wait, wait. You don’t have to do anything to help the grown-ups.”

“Okay.”

“Have you eaten?”

“Toast.”

“Anything else?”

“Some apples.”

I closed my eyes briefly.

“Good.”

“Can I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

“Is she really my mother?”

I looked toward Reed.

She had stopped writing.

“Did she tell you that?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“What did she say?”

“That she had to let somebody else look after me.”

There was no way to protect Piper by lying.

“She gave birth to you,” I said. “Noelle was the mother who raised you.”

“Then Mama was still my mama?”

“Yes. That doesn’t change.”

Piper drew a breath.

“I don’t remember this one.”

“You don’t have to pretend you do.”

“She says I should.”

“No. You can feel whatever you feel.”

Celeste took the phone.

“That wasn’t necessary.”

“Yes, it was.”

“We leave in an hour. Be there at midnight.”

“I’ll be there.”

When the call ended, Reed asked me to repeat every sound I remembered from Piper’s background.

Footsteps. A door. A low voice.

Nothing that gave us an address.

At eleven forty, an officer checked the small microphone beneath my shirt.

Reed stood in front of me.

“The entry team will make the decision about when to move. Don’t announce they’re outside. Don’t reveal the recording. Keep your hands visible.”

“I understand.”

“If something changes, describe it naturally. Give us positions if you can.”

She handed me the silver drive.

Its contents had been preserved and copied. The original had been documented before being released for the operation.

I put it in my jacket.

Knox walked me to the car.

“You don’t have to prove anything to Mercer,” he said.

“I’m aware.”

“Then remember it when he starts talking.”

I looked at him.

He had known me long enough to know which insults would make me forget the plan.

“Bring me a coat for Piper,” I said. “In case they leave hers behind.”

His expression changed.

“I already have one.”

At midnight, I opened the warehouse door.

The hinges dragged across concrete.

A single industrial light hung near the center of the building. Under it, Piper sat on a chair with her feet clear of the floor.

Her bear was pressed beneath her chin.

A man stood several feet behind her.

Another watched the side entrance.

I saw the coat I had bought folded on a crate.

“Piper.”

Her head lifted.

For a moment, she simply stared.

Then her mouth moved.

“You came.”

“I did.”

I took a step.

“Stay there.”

Victor Mercer emerged from beside a steel column.

He wore a dark suit and no tie. His silver hair was neatly combed. I had sat across from him at dinners where both of us pretended the people serving food were the only reason we chose our words carefully.

Two more men stood behind him.

All four guards were armed.

I kept my hands away from my jacket.

“Let her come to me,” I said.

“After we conclude our business.”

“She isn’t part of our business.”

“She became part of it when you started collecting things that weren’t yours.”

“The records came from my company.”

“Among other places.”

I looked at Piper.

“Stay seated, sweetheart. We’re going to sort this out.”

She nodded quickly.

Mercer extended one hand.

“The drive.”

“Your people attacked my men.”

“They were interfering with a collection.”

“Of a seven-year-old.”

“Of a woman who owes us a considerable sum. The child complicated matters.”

“Did my son complicate them too?”

Mercer’s expression tightened.

“Garrett was never authorized to touch your family.”

“But he used your network.”

“He used whatever he could reach.”

“And when you learned what he’d done?”

“We removed him.”

The words were delivered without hesitation.

I let him continue.

“He was stealing from us, attracting attention, and making decisions he had no authority to make. His continued presence became untenable.”

“Was Noelle untenable?”

“Garrett created that problem as well.”

“You keep calling people problems.”

“You know perfectly well how this world works.”

“I know you sent armed men after a child.”

“And now we have an opportunity to end this.”

I reached slowly into my jacket.

The guard nearest Piper shifted his weapon toward me.

I stopped.

“The drive,” I said.

Mercer nodded.

I took it out.

A guard crossed the floor and removed it from my hand. He carried it to a laptop on a crate.

I watched his back while he opened the files.

Piper’s breathing had become audible.

“Look at me,” I told her.

She did.

“You’re doing fine.”

The guard at the laptop gave Mercer a small nod.

Before Mercer could speak, the side door opened.

Celeste entered with three men behind her.

She had tied her hair back. A black coat hung open over dark clothes.

There was a gun in her hand.

One of Mercer’s guards raised his weapon.

Celeste’s men answered the movement.

“Put those down,” Mercer said.

Nobody did.

“This wasn’t our agreement,” he told her.

“Our agreement was that my daughter would be returned.”

“She will be. When the money is accounted for.”

“You have the records.”

“And you have the funds.”

I moved a step toward Piper while their attention shifted.

The guard behind her noticed.

“Stop.”

I stopped.

Celeste pointed her gun at Mercer.

“Let her stand up.”

“You brought weapons to a negotiated exchange,” he said. “Don’t pretend you’re the injured party.”

Piper began crying.

Celeste turned toward her.

“Sweetheart, stay calm.”

The girl recoiled from the word.

I saw Celeste notice.

For a second, her gun lowered.

“Piper,” I said. “Keep looking at me.”

Mercer glanced toward the laptop.

“Destroy the drive,” Celeste told him. “There’s no reason to keep it now.”

“There’s every reason.”

“The police have enough to start asking questions already.”

Mercer looked at me.

I kept my expression still.

Celeste had introduced the police. I didn’t need to.

“Those records exist elsewhere,” I said. “Breaking a piece of plastic won’t change that.”

Her eyes moved sharply toward mine.

“What did you do?”

“Preserved them.”

“You agreed—”

“I agreed to come.”

“You said you would follow the plan.”

“I said I would bring the drive. I brought it.”

Her fingers tightened around the gun.

“Silas, you don’t understand.”

“I understand the message you sent Garrett.”

She went still.

Mercer looked between us.

“What message?”

“The one telling him to keep Wyatt away from me until the accounts were clear.”

Celeste swallowed.

“He was frightened.”

“Of a five-year-old?”

“Of you finding out.”

“Then Garrett told you tomorrow would solve it. He told you to take the route you’d discussed.”

Her face lost its color.

“You don’t know what that meant.”

“Tell me.”

“He said the car would have trouble.”

The words came quietly.

I heard Piper stop crying.

Celeste looked at the floor.

“He said it would delay us. That someone would come and take Wyatt somewhere while he cleared the accounts.”

“And you believed him?”

“I wanted to.”

“You drove.”

“He said it wasn’t supposed to happen until we stopped.”

My chest hurt.

“You knew the car had been altered.”

“I didn’t think—”

“You put him in it.”

Celeste’s mouth opened, but no answer came.

For two years, I had imagined a sudden accident.

Now I saw a morning in which someone knew enough to ask questions and chose not to.

“Uncle Sil.”

Piper slid off the chair.

“Stay there,” I said.

But she was already moving.

The guard behind her stepped forward, reaching for her shoulder.

She ducked away from his hand and ran toward me.

He raised his gun.

I moved into her path.

Her body struck my back. Both arms closed around my waist.

I put one hand over hers and faced the man holding the weapon.

“Lower it,” I said.

Mercer turned.

Celeste’s men shifted their aim.

The guard looked from me to his employer, waiting.

Piper was shaking against my back.

I kept my eyes on him.

“You’ve got me in front of you. She’s seven years old. Lower the gun.”