Chapter 8 - The Name on the Contract
The building lockdown began with a heavy metallic crash below the boardroom.
Security shutters descended over the lobby windows.
The elevators stopped between floors.
Emergency lights switched on, bathing the corridor in a dim red glow.
Ethan looked toward Daniel.
"Who has the security override?"
"The chief security officer and the executive administrator."
"Where are they?"
Daniel checked his phone.
"No response."
Chad moved toward the door.
"We need to leave through the service stairwell."
"Sit down," Ethan ordered.
Chad glared at him.
"You don't get to give orders anymore."
"Then consider it advice."
Catherine took the photograph of Michael and placed it in Ethan's hand.
"Your brother is alive, but I don't know where he is now. The people who arranged his disappearance have been moving him between private facilities."
"Why?"
"Because he knows who financed the network."
Ethan looked at the photograph again.
"What network?"
"The one that used the foundation to pay people to commit crimes, conceal evidence, and eliminate anyone who threatened the arrangement."
Daniel's voice was strained.
"And someone has a contract on Ethan."
Catherine nodded.
"Michael discovered it the night of the accident."
Ethan looked at Margaret.
"Tell me the truth. All of it."
She pressed both hands against the table.
"Your accident was intended to frighten you into resigning from the company. Michael believed the directors planned to replace you after your rehabilitation."
"And the driver?"
"We don't know who gave the order."
"Who was in charge of security?"
Margaret looked at Daniel.
Daniel shook his head.
"Don't look at me. I never authorized an attack."
Catherine placed another paper on the table.
The document contained a series of coded payments, one of which matched the date of Ethan's accident.
Beside it was a signature.
Daniel Price.
He stared at the page.
"That's not my signature."
Ethan felt anger rise again.
"Then whose is it?"
"I don't know."
"You've been saying that a lot tonight."
Daniel looked wounded.
"I've defended you for years."
"And now evidence says you may have helped put me in a wheelchair."
"I didn't."
The desperation in his voice was real enough to make Ethan hesitate.
Chad seized the moment.
"He's lying. Daniel prepared the original succession documents. He had access to the accounts. He knew exactly how to make a fraudulent transfer appear legitimate."
Daniel turned toward him.
"You were the one who delivered the forged board resolution."
"And you authenticated it."
The accusation hung in the air.
For one moment, Ethan understood that both men might be telling pieces of the truth.
Catherine moved toward the emergency stairwell.
"We cannot stay here."
Margaret stopped her.
"Where are you going?"
"To find Michael."
"You don't know where he is."
"I know where the payments originated."
She opened the leather folder and removed a small storage drive.
"This contains the records Michael gave me. The transfers, the offshore accounts, the names of everyone involved."
Ethan reached for it.
Catherine pulled it away.
"Not yet."
"You're asking me to trust you after revealing that you've been impersonating my dead mother."
"I'm asking you to understand that trust is exactly what got Michael captured."
A sharp crack sounded from the hallway.
The boardroom lights went out.
Someone shouted.
When the emergency lights flickered back on, Catherine was gone.
The storage drive had disappeared with her.
***
They escaped through a maintenance corridor and emerged into the underground parking garage.
A black SUV waited beside Ethan's vehicle.
Its rear door was open.
Inside lay a small envelope addressed to Ethan.
He opened it.
The first page was a copy of the contract authorizing the payment for his accident.
The second page was a photograph of a man standing beside the vehicle that had struck Ethan three years earlier.
Ethan recognized him immediately.
His father's former driver.
The man had supposedly moved to Florida after Richard's death.
Written beneath the photograph was a single sentence.
THE DRIVER DIDN'T HIT YOU BY ACCIDENT. HE WAS TRYING TO STOP YOU FROM REACHING YOUR BROTHER.
Ethan's hands shook.
"Daniel, find him."
"I'll try."
"No. Find him."
Daniel pulled out his phone.
Before he could make a call, Brooke suddenly stepped out from behind a support pillar.
She looked terrified.
"Ethan, don't trust Catherine."
He stared at her.
"Where have you been?"
"Following her."
"Why?"
"Because I found something in Chad's office."
She handed him a folded page.
It was a list of names connected to the foundation transfers.
Several directors were listed.
One was Brooke Whitmore.
She saw him reading it and began to cry.
"I didn't know what the money was for. Chad told me the payments were part of a private investment arrangement. He gave me access to an account because he said he wanted me to help protect his legitimate interests."
"You accepted money from him?"
"Yes."
"How much?"
"Two hundred thousand dollars."
Ethan stared at her.
"You told me you were afraid of him."
"I was."
"That doesn't mean you weren't helping him."
Brooke lowered her head.
"I know."
A car engine roared nearby.
Daniel turned toward the exit.
A dark sedan accelerated out of the garage, nearly striking a security officer.
Ethan recognized the driver.
Chad Mercer.
In the passenger seat sat Catherine.
She turned toward the window as the sedan disappeared.
For an instant, Ethan thought she was smiling.
Then his phone rang.
An unfamiliar male voice spoke before Ethan could answer.
"If you want your brother alive, stop chasing the women in your family."
Ethan went rigid.
"Who is this?"
"My name is Michael."
His brother's voice broke on the last syllable.
"I have ten minutes before they move me again. Listen carefully, Ethan. The person who ordered your accident isn't Chad, Daniel, or Catherine."
A pause followed.
"It's the one person you've trusted since the day you were born."
The call ended.
Ethan stared at his phone.
Behind him, Brooke whispered, "Your father?"
Ethan slowly shook his head.
"No."
He looked at Daniel.
The answer was obvious.
May you like
The person he had trusted since birth was standing less than six feet away.
And Daniel had been his father's lawyer before becoming his.
