Chapter 8 - The Man Inside the Family

Victor found the tracker first.

Every Moretti dog wore one inside its collar.

Titan's signal was moving south on the interstate.

Fast.

"Someone put him in a vehicle," Victor said.

Luca was already on his phone.

"Traffic cameras. Toll readers. Every company vehicle."

Grace grabbed her coat.

Samuel blocked her path.

"No."

"Move."

"Dario wants Sofia. Marco may want you. Titan is bait."

Grace stepped closer.

"Titan is the reason I know you're alive. I'm not leaving him with the people who did this."

Samuel stared at her.

Then, slowly, moved aside.

"You got that from your mother."

"I got plenty from you too. Unfortunately."

Naomi coordinated from the lead federal vehicle. The tracker headed toward Manhattan, then turned east toward Queens.

Luca sat beside Victor in front.

Grace and Samuel occupied the rear.

"Tell me about Marco," Grace said.

Luca looked back.

"My father's sister's son. Six years younger than me. Smart. Charming. Always wanted to prove he was more than a family appointment."

"Did he know Dario well?"

"Dario paid for his first year of business school."

Samuel leaned forward.

"There it is."

Luca's expression hardened.

"That proves affection, not conspiracy."

"No," Samuel said. "But Dario invested in people like accounts. He expected returns."

Victor interrupted.

"Tracker stopped."

"Where?"

"Long Island City. Industrial block."

Naomi's voice came through speaker.

"We have NYPD units holding two streets away. No approach until federal tactical is in place."

Grace looked out the window.

"We're losing time."

"We're also avoiding walking into an ambush," Naomi replied.

The building was a disused pet-food warehouse with a faded mural of a smiling retriever on one wall.

Grace hated the coincidence.

They waited eight minutes.

It felt like eighty.

Then Naomi gave the signal.

Agents entered.

No shots.

No shouting.

A minute later Victor frowned at his earpiece.

"Empty."

Grace got out before anyone could stop her.

Inside, Titan's collar lay on a metal table.

No Titan.

Beside it sat a burner phone.

It rang.

Naomi held up one hand.

"Nobody touch it."

She placed it on speaker using gloves.

Dario's voice filled the warehouse.

"I wondered how quickly you'd follow the dog."

Grace stepped close.

"Where is Titan?"

"Safe for the moment."

"If you hurt him—"

"You sound like Samuel. He always cared too much about creatures that couldn't advance his interests."

Samuel's face darkened.

"That's why you'll never understand why you lost."

Dario laughed.

"Lost? Samuel, I am speaking to my family from a phone they cannot trace while you finally crawled out of hiding because I chose the right dog."

Luca cut in.

"Marco is working for you."

Silence.

Then:

"Marco is family."

Luca's voice sharpened.

"That wasn't the question."

"You always did think questions deserved answers. Your father spoiled you."

"Where is my cousin?"

"Closer than your dog."

Grace watched Luca's face.

He understood something.

"Marco isn't with you."

Dario paused.

Luca continued.

"You used him. He moved money. He planted people. But now he's exposed, and you cut him loose."

The pause lasted half a second too long.

Samuel smiled without humor.

"Still good at reading rooms, kid."

Dario's voice lost warmth.

"Bring Sofia to Saint Agnes Freight Terminal at nine tonight. Grace carries the bank evidence. Luca comes alone with them. No agents. No Samuel."

Grace said, "And Titan?"

"Returned when I have what belongs to me."

"Sofia doesn't belong to you."

"The information in her head does."

"People aren't ledgers."

"That sentimental idea has always made your family expensive."

The call ended.

Naomi immediately signaled technicians.

"Trace?"

An agent shook his head.

"Routed through six relays."

Luca stared at the phone.

"Saint Agnes."

Victor frowned.

"Old cargo terminal in Brooklyn. Closed five years ago."

Samuel looked at him.

"Dario used it before."

"How do you know?"

"One of the routes in the notebook."

Grace turned to Naomi.

"We go."

"We do not hand him Sofia."

"Obviously."

"And we do not bring the original bank evidence."

Samuel nodded.

"Copies."

Naomi shook her head.

"Better. We make him believe we are following his rules while we control the perimeter."

Luca looked unconvinced.

"He'll expect that."

"Of course he will. Criminal masterminds are rarely surprised by the existence of law enforcement. The question is whether he can identify all our positions."

Victor stepped closer.

"If Marco has Moretti security credentials, he knows our standard surveillance methods."

"Then we don't use yours," Naomi said.

Grace looked at Samuel.

"We still need Sofia."

Elena, who had refused medical transport and arrived with another agent, answered from the doorway.

"No, you don't."

Everyone turned.

Elena held a phone.

"I reached her through the correct Mercy signal. She knows I'm safe."

Samuel stared.

"You contacted her?"

"Yes."

"Elena—"

"Do not start. I have spent twelve years obeying plans made by frightened men. Sofia is thirty-one years old. She decides whether she testifies."

Grace looked at Elena.

"What did she decide?"

Elena's eyes filled.

"She's coming."

"Here?"

"No. Federal field office."

Samuel swore.

Elena stepped closer.

"She remembers everything, Samuel. Every name. Every route. Every night she heard her father beg Dario to stop. She has spent half her life waiting for the day fear stopped making her decisions."

Samuel's anger softened.

"I was trying to keep her alive."

"And you did. Now let her live."

Naomi's phone buzzed.

She checked it.

"We have another problem."

Luca looked at her.

"Marco?"

"Yes."

Naomi turned the screen around.

A surveillance photo showed Marco Moretti entering a private parking garage in Midtown twenty minutes earlier.

Beside him was retired detective Gerald Pike.

Grace stared at the man who had told her Samuel was dead.

Pike looked older, heavier, but unmistakable.

"Where are they now?"

"Still inside."

Luca's voice was quiet.

"Then take them."

Naomi shook her head.

"Not yet."

"Why?"

"Because Pike just accessed a vehicle registered to a company that owns a warehouse adjacent to Saint Agnes Terminal."

Samuel understood first.

"They're going to Dario."

Naomi nodded.

"And if we follow them instead of chasing Dario's instructions, they may take us straight to him."

Grace looked at Titan's empty collar.

"Then follow them."

Luca picked up the collar.

His thumb passed over the worn leather.

"And when we find him?"

Grace looked at the man who had been her father's enemy for twelve years without her knowing his face.

"We stop letting him decide who has to disappear."

Back at the field office, Victor pulled the kennel footage from the estate. At 5:42 p.m., a man in a groundskeeper uniform entered using Thomas Vale's badge. Titan approached without barking because the man carried a cloth taken from Grace's temporary staff locker. Her scent was on it.

Grace stared at the screen in disgust.

"They used me to lure him."

Samuel's mouth tightened. "They studied you before you ever reached the gate."

Victor advanced the video. Owen clipped a second lead to Titan's collar, walked him through the service exit, and loaded him into a van. The entire abduction took fifty-three seconds.

"How did no one stop him?" Luca asked.

Victor answered without defending himself. "Because the badge was valid, the uniform was valid, and the dog was calm. We trained our people to question anomalies. Owen made himself look normal."

Luca looked furious.

"Fix it."

"Already rewriting the procedure."

Grace watched the recording again. Near the edge of the frame, another person appeared for less than a second. A man in a dark suit.

"Pause."

Victor froze the image.

Only half a face was visible.

Luca recognized it.

"Marco."

Samuel leaned closer. "Is he helping Owen or following him?"

No one could tell.

That ambiguity mattered. Marco's car had been found at the estate. His badge had been used near the kennels. Yet the footage showed him ten yards behind Owen, one hand raised as if calling out.

"He may have tried to stop it," Grace said.

Luca looked at her.

"Or he may have been supervising."

"Exactly. So we don't know."

Luca breathed out slowly. "You sound like Naomi."

"Terrifying compliment."

Naomi entered carrying a second file. "Then you'll enjoy this. Marco withdrew two hundred thousand dollars yesterday, but he also emailed a sealed packet to outside counsel with instructions to release it if he disappeared."

"What's in the packet?" Luca asked.

"We don't have it yet. Counsel is asserting privilege until a judge reviews it."

Samuel gave a humorless laugh. "Your family really does make everything difficult."

Luca looked at him. "You faked your death."

"Point withdrawn."

The room relaxed for half a second. Then Grace looked at Titan's empty collar again, and the urgency returned.

Grace picked up Titan's collar one last time before leaving the warehouse. The leather still held several short black hairs.

"He fought the sedative," Samuel said.

"How can you tell?"

"Scratches near the buckle. He twists when he knows someone is handling his neck."

Grace ran her thumb across the marks. "Then he was awake long enough to know this wasn't normal."

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Luca looked toward the door. "And he'll remember who took him."

Grace met his eyes. "Then we should probably trust the dog again."