Chapter 4: The Hunt in the Fog
Arthur grabbed my jacket, pulling me toward a narrow drainage tunnel at the back of the vault room—an old escape route built into the shipyard during the war. I grabbed the flash drive and the ledger from the safe, stuffing them into my pockets before diving into the dark, wet tunnel just as Thomas’s guards opened fire.
Bullets pinged off the concrete entrance, sparking in the darkness.
We crawled through the freezing muck, the sound of our breathing loud and frantic. After what felt like miles, we burst through a rusted grate, collapsing onto a muddy bank near the river. The Charleston fog was thick here, swallowing the city lights.
I turned to the man beside me. He was breathing heavily, his chest heaving, his face covered in grime. I reached out, my hand touching his shoulder, making sure he was real.
"Dad," I choked out, throwing my arms around him.
Arthur held me tight, his old frame shaking with heavy, silent sobs. "I'm so sorry, Ethan. I'm so sorry I left you. Every single day for fifteen years, my heart was breaking. But I had to keep you safe."
"We have to get to the police," I said, pulling back. "Thomas is trying to kill us."
"The police won't be enough," Arthur said, shaking his head grimly. "Thomas has judges, senators, and police captains on his payroll. That flash drive you have? It contains fifteen years of encrypted shipping manifests. It proves Sterling Logistics is still running the largest smuggling ring on the Atlantic. If we just walk into a local precinct, that drive will disappear, and so will we."
"Then we don't go to the local police," I said, a dangerous resolve hardening in my chest. "We go to the federal authorities. But first, I need to get Elena and Leo. If Thomas knows I found the vault, he'll go after them."
My phone suddenly buzzed in my pocket. It was a text from an unknown number.
May you like
My heart dropped into my stomach as I opened it. It was a live video stream. The camera was pointed at the front door of my brother-in-law's house. Standing on the porch were two men in dark suits.
A voice message followed from Thomas. "You have one hour to bring the drive back to the shipyard, Ethan. If you don't, your beautiful wife and son will pay the debt your father owes me."
