I didn't wait for him to argue. I climbed into the fireplace, ignoring the claustrophobia that instantly gripped my chest. I squeezed my head and shoulders into the narrow shaft. The smell of decades-old soot and burnt wood coated my throat. I pushed forward, scraping my skin against the rough brick, the darkness absolute. My bruised ribs screamed with every inch I dragged myself forward.
After ten agonizing feet, my hands found the iron door on the other side. I pushed hard. It swung open, spilling me out onto the pristine carpet of the study.
I lay there for a second, gasping for air, covered in thick black grime. Then I forced myself up. I moved quietly to the study door, opened it, and stepped into the main hallway.
The house was eerily silent.
I crept down the hall to the library doors and turned the deadbolt. Harrison stepped out, leaning heavily on a walking cane he had found inside.
“Where would he take the boy?” Harrison whispered.
“Daniel wants leverage,” I said. “He’ll stay in the open.”
We moved silently through the shadows of the grand corridor. As we approached the main foyer, I heard the heavy thud of boots on the marble floor.
I peered around the corner of the hallway.
The foyer was massive, illuminated by a brilliant crystal chandelier hanging from the second-story ceiling. The sweeping grand staircase curved down into the center of the room.
Standing at the bottom of the stairs was a massive man in a dark tactical jacket, holding a heavy steel baton. One of Daniel’s "medical transport" fixers.
But it was the top of the stairs that made my blood run cold.
Daniel was standing on the second-floor landing. His left hand was twisted fiercely into the back of Leo’s sweater, holding my son precariously close to the edge of the mahogany banister. Leo was crying silently, his face pale with terror.
Daniel looked down into the shadows where we were hiding, his eyes scanning the darkness.
“I know you’re out there, Marcus!” Daniel’s voice echoed off the marble walls, sharp and unhinged. “The library is empty. The game is over.”
Daniel pulled Leo an inch closer to the drop.
“Bring me the drive, Marcus,” Daniel demanded, raising the gun and pointing it down at the foyer floor. “Or your son pays for your heroics.”
CHAPTER 4
The cold reality of the moment crystallized in my mind. Daniel was completely trapped by his own greed, and men who are trapped have nothing left to lose.
I stepped out from the shadows of the hallway and into the bright, harsh light of the foyer. My clothes were torn and covered in black soot. My face felt sticky where the barrel of the gun had split my skin.
“Dad!” Leo cried out, trying to pull forward, but Daniel yanked him back violently.
“Stay exactly where you are, Marcus,” Daniel commanded.
The massive fixer at the bottom of the stairs turned toward me, slapping the heavy steel baton against his open palm. He didn't look like a doctor. He looked like a man who was paid to make problems disappear in the middle of the night.
Vivian stepped out of the second-floor hallway, stopping a few feet behind Daniel. She looked down at the scene, her face utterly drained of color. She was staring at Leo, watching how Daniel’s fist twisted the fabric of the boy’s sweater, holding him over the long drop to the marble floor.
“Daniel,” Vivian said, her voice shaking violently. “What are you doing? You said we were just going to secure the drive.”
“Shut up, Viv,” Daniel snapped without looking at her. “I am fixing your mess.”
I didn't look at Daniel. I looked directly at my sister.
“Is this what your life is worth, Vivian?” I asked, my voice carrying clearly through the echoing foyer. “Gambling debts? Shell companies? You’re going to let him drop a seven-year-old boy onto a marble floor for money?”