Chapter 5 - The Man Who Died Twice

Damian did not sleep.

At sunrise, he stood in Hazel’s borrowed apartment with the photograph of the sedan enlarged across a television screen.

Vittorio Russo’s face remained grainy.

It did not need to be clear.

Damian knew the man.

“He is older,” Hazel said.

Damian looked at her.

“That is your contribution?”

“I am not going to tell you this is impossible when it is on the screen.”

“My father is dead.”

“No. Your father was declared dead.”

“I watched my mother bury an empty coffin.”

“I know.”

“I watched her stop eating for months.”

Hazel said nothing.

Damian turned away.

“What did she know?”

“I don’t know.”

“You always know something.”

“Not this.”

His phone rang.

Bastion Lock.

Damian answered.

“You have thirty seconds.”

Bastion said, “Garrett is not working with Vittorio.”

Damian laughed without humor.

“I have a photograph.”

“I know. I gave them the route that put the car in front of you.”

Damian stopped.

Hazel moved closer.

“Why?”

“Because Vittorio wanted you to see him.”

Damian’s voice hardened. “Then you are working for him.”

“I have worked around him for twenty years. That is different.”

“Where is Garrett?”

“Alive when I last knew.”

“Where?”

“Pier Forty-One warehouse district. Old grain terminal.”

Hazel shook her head immediately.

Bastion continued, “Do not bring police. Vittorio has a hostage.”

“Who?”

“Elise Mercer.”

Damian looked at Hazel.

Garrett had mentioned his daughter maybe twice in twenty years.

She lived in Seattle.

Or Damian had believed she did.

Bastion said, “If you want Garrett alive, go now.”

The line ended.

Hazel said, “Trap.”

“Yes.”

“We do not go.”

“We do.”

“Damian.”

“He stayed in a burning car with me when I was nineteen because my door jammed.”

“That does not make this less of a trap.”

“No. It makes the trap worth entering.”

Hazel stared at him for a long moment.

“That was almost noble.”

“Do not sound surprised.”

“I am adjusting to new information.”

They did not go alone.

Hazel contacted two former protocol members Damian had never met.

One was a paramedic named Owen Price.

The other was a retired federal investigator named June Bell.

Neither asked Damian for an introduction.

June said, “Celeste’s boy?”

Damian replied, “Apparently.”

She studied him. “You look like Vittorio.”

“I am hearing that too often today.”

Hazel spread a diagram of the grain terminal across the hood of a car.

“Elise may not be inside.”

Owen asked, “Garrett?”

“Likely lower loading level.”

June tapped the eastern wall. “Vittorio used this place in the nineties. There is a rail tunnel under it.”

Damian looked at her.

“You knew my father.”

“I arrested three men who worked for him.”

“Did you ever arrest him?”

“No.”

“Why?”

“Because your father never stood close enough to his own crimes to get blood on his shoes.”

Hazel glanced at Damian.

He ignored it.

The rescue was quiet.

No dramatic firefight.

No heroic charge.

June killed the external power at 8:17.

Owen triggered a false gas alert from the neighboring terminal.

Hazel entered through the rail tunnel.

Damian followed despite being told not to.

“You are supposed to remain at the secondary exit,” Hazel whispered.

“You fired me from that assignment.”

“I cannot fire you.”

“Then consider me insubordinate.”

They found Garrett in a maintenance room with his hands bound to a steel chair.

He was bruised, exhausted, and furious.

The first thing he said was, “Why is he here?”

Hazel cut the restraints.

Damian said, “Good morning to you too.”

Garrett tried to stand and nearly fell.

Damian caught him.

Garrett pushed him away.

“You were told not to come.”

“I was told many things this week.”

“Where is Elise?” Hazel asked.

Garrett’s face changed.

“They showed me a live feed.”

“Location?”

“I don’t know.”

June’s voice came through the radio.

“Movement west corridor. Two leaving.”

Hazel said, “Let them.”

Damian looked at her.

“We are not chasing decoys.”

Garrett gripped the table.

“He has her because of me.”

Damian said, “He has her because of him.”

Garrett looked at Damian for the first time.

“I deleted the corridor footage.”

The room went silent.

Damian stepped closer.

“What?”

“After Hazel stopped Voss, I got a call. A video of Elise. They told me to wipe the primary camera feed and say nothing.”

“You let me fire her.”

Garrett’s face tightened.

“Yes.”

“You knew she had saved my life.”

“Yes.”

“You stood in my office while I terminated her.”

“Yes.”

Damian’s fist clenched.

Hazel moved between them without touching either man.

Garrett said, “Hit me later. We have work now.”

Damian’s voice dropped. “You do not get to schedule my anger.”

“No. But Vittorio does if we waste time.”

That stopped him.

Hazel asked, “How did the backup survive?”

Garrett looked at her.

“I found your parallel archive two years ago.”

“You never told me.”

“I thought it belonged to Celeste.”

“It did.”

“I created a shadow mirror of your shadow mirror.”

Hazel stared at him.

Damian said, “Is everyone in my building secretly making copies of everything?”

Neither answered.

Garrett continued, “I wiped the primary feed. I could not bring myself to destroy the mirror. Seven days later, I restored it.”

“Why seven days?” Damian asked.

“Because Elise sent me a message only she would understand. She was alive. I decided I could risk moving.”

Hazel said, “The Mercer authorization in the Morrow ledger was forged.”

Garrett nodded. “Vittorio has had pieces of my authentication for years.”

“Why?”

“Because I helped him disappear.”

Damian went still.

Garrett lowered his eyes.

“The yacht fire was real. Vittorio was not on the yacht.”

“Why did you help him?”

“Celeste asked me to.”

Damian stared.

“No.”

“She had evidence that a war was coming inside the company. Vittorio’s lieutenants were preparing to split. She believed that if the world thought he was dead, the network would fracture and she could dismantle it piece by piece.”

“So my mother saved him.”

“She exiled him.”

“He came back.”

“Yes.”

“Did she know?”

“Not until much later.”

“When?”

Garrett’s silence answered.

“Before she died,” Damian said.

“Yes.”

Hazel asked, “Did Vittorio kill Celeste?”

Garrett’s eyes closed.

“I could never prove it.”

A phone rang on the floor.

Not Damian’s.

Not Hazel’s.

An old black handset sat on a workbench.

Garrett whispered, “He left that for us.”

Damian answered.

A familiar voice came through.

Older.

Rougher.

Still impossible to mistake.

“Damian.”

His father had once said his name that way when correcting him at dinner.

As though the name itself belonged to Vittorio first.

Damian’s throat tightened.

“You are supposed to be dead.”

Vittorio chuckled.

“You always were too dependent on paperwork.”

“Where is Elise?”

“Safe if Garrett remains useful.”

Garrett stepped toward the phone.

Damian raised a hand.

“What do you want?”

“You.”

“You sent a killer to my office.”

“I sent a man to retrieve property. His incompetence created confusion.”

“He had a weapon.”

“Everyone in our world has a weapon.”

“Not anymore.”

A pause.

Vittorio sounded almost pleased.

“There you are.”

“What does that mean?”

“The boy finally found his spine.”

Damian’s face hardened.

Vittorio continued.

“Come to the old house tonight. Alone.”

“No.”

“Then Elise dies.”

Garrett flinched.

Damian said, “If you touch her, you lose the only leverage you have.”

“You learned something while I was gone.”

“I learned you should have stayed gone.”

Vittorio laughed softly.

“Midnight, Damian. Come home, son.”

The line disconnected.

No one spoke for several seconds.

Then Hazel said, “You are not going alone.”

Damian looked at her.

“I assumed.”

Garrett said, “He will know.”

Hazel picked up the Lattice key.

“Good.”

Damian watched her.

“What are you planning?”

Hazel’s expression became the one from the elevator footage.

Calm.

Measured.

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No longer forgettable.

“To make Vittorio believe he is finally getting what he wants.”