Chapter 16 - THE HARBOR
Rain swept across the Whitmore cargo terminal.
Rows of shipping containers stretched toward the dark Atlantic.
Federal agents surrounded the harbor from three directions.
Grant entered through the main gate with Detective Cole and Harris.
I remained with Lily inside an armored command vehicle.
At least, that was the plan.
Then the monitors went black.
The vehicle’s rear doors unlocked by themselves.
A gas canister rolled across the floor.
I covered Lily’s face with my coat and kicked the canister outside.
Celeste appeared through the smoke.
She struck the guard beside the vehicle and reached for Lily.
I slammed the metal door against her arm.
Lily crawled beneath the seats.
Celeste grabbed my hair and pulled me outside.
She was stronger than she looked.
“You should have stayed a nanny.”
“I am a nanny.”
I drove my elbow into her ribs.
“That’s why you’re not taking my child.”
The words came naturally.
Lily had become more than someone I protected for a paycheck.
Celeste smiled through the pain.
“She isn’t yours.”
“She doesn’t belong to you either.”
Lily climbed into the driver’s seat and pressed the emergency alarm.
Red lights flashed across the terminal.
Agents ran toward us.
Celeste released me and disappeared between the containers.
Inside the main warehouse, Grant found Nathaniel tied to a steel chair.
Henry Whitmore stood beside him.
The old man wore a dark suit and carried a silver-handled cane.
He looked exactly like the photographs, except his eyes were colder.
“Hello, son.”
Grant raised his weapon.
“You’re not my father.”
Henry smiled.
“You always were dramatic.”
“You let us bury an empty coffin.”
“I needed freedom from the limitations of a public identity.”
“You ordered Evelyn’s murder.”
“I ordered her silence.”
Nathaniel lifted his head.
“He told Renata to frighten her.”
“Renata chose a permanent solution,” Henry said.
“Just as she chose to harm Lily.”
Grant stepped closer.
“You knew Renata was abusing her.”
“I knew the child required control.”
Grant’s finger tightened against the trigger.
Nathaniel spoke weakly.
“Don’t.”
Grant looked at him.
“If you shoot him, he wins.”
Henry tapped his cane against the floor.
A cargo crane activated above them.
A container lifted into the air.
Henry had filled it with explosive chemicals.
“If I cannot preserve my company, no one will inherit it.”
Grant realized the terminal workers had not all been evacuated.
Dozens of people remained trapped inside nearby warehouses.
Henry raised a remote control.
“One decision, Grant.”
He nodded toward Nathaniel.
“Save your brother or save the workers.”
The chair beneath Nathaniel began sliding toward the edge of the loading platform.
At the same time, the explosive container moved toward the fuel storage tanks.
Grant could reach only one control panel in time.
May you like
Nathaniel looked at him.
“Save them.”
