Chapter 14 - The Man Tommy Pretended to Be
Tommy’s posture had changed completely.
His shoulders were squared.
His breathing was controlled.
The arrogant panic from the bus was gone.
A performance discarded.
Jack studied him.
“You let me pin you.”
Tommy smiled.
“I needed to measure your response time.”
“You risked your wrist.”
“It healed before.”
He pulled back his sleeve.
Old surgical scars crossed the joint.
Military reconstruction.
Michael looked at him with open disgust.
“You said he was just an asset.”
Tommy kept the rifle trained on Duke.
“He is.”
Elias leaned back in the chair.
“Thomas Kane. Former special operations. Officially killed eight years ago.”
Jack remembered the name.
Kane had been part of a recovery team sent to Red Valley after Jack’s unit disappeared.
The same team that carried the metal rings.
“You were at the site,” Jack said.
“I found what you left.”
“The Ledger?”
“An empty case.”
Elias’s smile faded.
Kane continued.
“Mercer had already moved the cipher. The dog carried the route memory. We’ve been waiting for Duke to age enough that Jack would lower his guard.”
Sarah’s grip tightened around her pistol.
“You watched us for years.”
“Yes.”
Jack’s left hand trembled.
Kane noticed.
“You still do that when you’re angry.”
Sarah’s eyes shifted toward him.
The phrase from the phone call.
Elias had known it because Kane had been listening inside their home.
Kane raised the rifle slightly.
“Bring Duke to the ring.”
“No,” Jack said.
“Then the nurse dies.”
A monitor on the wall changed.
A live camera feed showed Emily standing only a few feet behind them.
Then the image switched.
Noah and his mother sat bound inside an unknown vehicle.
Alive.
Daniel’s brother lay unconscious beside them.
Daniel shouted from above.
“You said they were safe.”
Kane smiled.
“Safety is temporary.”
Emily stepped forward.
“My father built the Ledger. Use me.”
Kane looked at her.
“We intend to.”
Elias strained against his restraints.
“Thomas, this was not the agreement.”
“You don’t make agreements anymore.”
For the first time, Elias looked afraid.
Michael saw it too.
“You’re replacing him.”
“Northstar outgrew its founder.”
Kane’s finger settled near the trigger.
“Duke. Ring. Now.”
Jack looked down at the dog.
Duke stared back.
Eleven years earlier, Jack had commanded him through explosions, smoke, and collapsing tunnels.
Duke had obeyed every order.
Now Jack understood the deeper cruelty.
The people behind Northstar did not consider Duke a living partner.
Only a storage device.
A key with a heartbeat.
Jack crouched.
He placed one hand along Duke’s scarred neck.
“Easy.”
Duke’s breathing slowed.
Jack unclipped the worn tag beneath the harness.
The tag was lighter than it should have been.
Hollow.
He pressed the shallow notch.
It opened.
Inside was no cipher.
Only a thin strip of paper.
Jack unfolded it.
Three words were written in his own handwriting.
TRUST THE DOG.
Kane saw the paper.
“What does it say?”
Jack closed his fist.
“That you were wrong.”
Kane’s expression hardened.
Duke suddenly turned away from the ring and moved toward a rusted drainage grate.
He scratched once.
Then sat.
The route had never ended at the third ring.
The rings were decoys.
The real marker was beneath the floor.
Michael lunged toward Kane.
The rifle discharged into the ceiling.
Sarah pulled Emily behind a server rack.
Jack drove into Kane’s side.
The weapon skidded through the water.
Duke remained beside the grate, waiting.
Above them, Northstar security began cutting through the shutter.
Vale fired twice at the locking mechanism.
Daniel shouted that they had seconds.
Elias twisted in the chair.
“Jack! The Ledger isn’t beneath the grate.”
Jack looked at him.
May you like
Elias’s eyes moved toward Sarah.
“It’s inside her.”
