Chapter 5 - The Men Outside the Glass

Edwin turned off the greenhouse lights.

Darkness swallowed the roses.

Nicolas looked through the glass.

Four men got out of the first SUV.

Two from the second.

Henri whispered:

“Victor’s.”

Nicolas looked at Edwin.

“You recognize them?”

“Yes.”

“Then he never really retired.”

“No.”

Celeste’s breathing quickened.

Nicolas handed me the letters.

“Grace.”

I looked at him.

“Take my mother to the rear door.”

Diana shook her head.

“No.”

“Mom.”

“No.”

He stopped.

The word hit both of them.

Diana stepped closer.

“I disappeared once because men told me it would save you.”

Nicolas’s jaw tightened.

“I am not asking you to disappear.”

“You are asking me to leave while you stay.”

“Yes.”

“That is close enough.”

Edwin whispered:

“There is another way out.”

Everyone looked at him.

“Old irrigation tunnel.”

Henri frowned.

“That still exists?”

Edwin nodded.

“I helped Marco build it.”

Nicolas looked at Edwin.

“You knew about the box.”

“No.”

“But the tunnel?”

“Yes.”

Edwin moved a bench.

Beneath it was a narrow hatch.

Celeste looked at the glass.

A flashlight crossed the snow.

Nicolas picked up the ledger and tapes.

Henri grabbed his wrist.

“Those will get us killed.”

Nicolas looked at Edwin.

“They already got people killed.”

The front door shook.

One strike.

Then another.

Edwin opened the hatch.

“Now.”

We climbed down.

Diana first.

Then me.

Then Celeste.

Nicolas handed the box down.

Henri followed.

Edwin came last.

The tunnel was narrow.

Brick.

Cold water at our shoes.

Behind us, glass shattered.

Celeste flinched.

Nicolas whispered:

“Keep moving.”

The tunnel exited near the old caretaker cottage.

Nicolas’s car was too far away.

Henri pointed toward a service road.

“My driver.”

Celeste laughed bitterly.

“You brought a driver?”

Henri looked at her.

“I am seventy-one.”

Even Nicolas almost smiled.

The driver’s sedan was hidden beyond the trees.

We reached it.

Nicolas called his security chief.

No answer.

Again.

No answer.

His face changed.

Victor had reached his people.

He called another number.

A retired federal prosecutor.

Samuel Reed.

Marco’s old friend.

Samuel answered.

“Nicolas?”

“I found my father’s ledger.”

Silence.

Then:

“Where are you?”

Nicolas looked at Henri.

“Somewhere Victor Moretti is trying to kill us.”

Samuel’s voice changed.

“Do not call local police.”

Henri nodded immediately.

Nicolas frowned.

“Why?”

Samuel answered:

“Because Victor has owned half that county for twenty years.”

Diana closed her eyes.

Samuel continued.

“Drive south. Old federal courthouse annex. I will have agents meet you.”

Nicolas ended the call.

Henri stared.

“You trust Reed?”

“My father did.”

Henri shook his head.

“Your father trusted Victor too.”

Nicolas looked at Edwin.

“Then give me a better option.”

Henri had none.

We drove.

Behind us, headlights appeared.

Two cars.

Fast.

Celeste turned.

“They found us.”

The driver accelerated.

Snow thickened.

Nicolas looked at the black box.

Then at me.

“Grace.”

“Yes?”

“If they stop us, take this.”

He handed me one tape.

I looked at the label.

FINAL.

“Why me?”

“Because they will search me first.”

Diana watched.

Nicolas continued.

“If I tell you to run, run.”

I put the tape inside my coat.

Henri looked at him.

“Very noble.”

Nicolas turned.

“Do you have a complaint?”

“Yes.”

Henri removed a small pistol from an ankle holster.

Celeste stared.

“Dad.”

“What?”

“You wore a gun to my birthday gala?”

Henri checked it.

“I wore one to your baptism.”

Celeste closed her eyes.

Nicolas looked out the back window.

The first SUV drew closer.

Then red and blue lights appeared ahead.

Henri whispered:

“Police.”

Nicolas looked at the approaching vehicles.

Samuel said not to trust local police.

The patrol car blocked the road.

The driver slowed.

Nicolas said:

“Do not stop.”

The driver looked in the mirror.

“Sir?”

“Do not stop.”

The patrol car doors opened.

Two officers stepped out.

Weapons drawn.

The driver swerved onto the shoulder.

The sedan slid.

Celeste screamed.

The rear tire hit ice.

The car spun.

Stopped in a ditch.

The SUVs stopped behind us.

Nicolas kicked his door open.

“Move.”

We climbed out.

The officers shouted.

“Hands where we can see them.”

Victor’s men approached from behind.

Henri raised his hands.

Then whispered:

“They are together.”

Nicolas saw it.

One officer looked at Victor’s men.

Not surprised.

Diana gripped his sleeve.

“Nico.”

A third set of headlights appeared.

Black federal SUVs.

Samuel Reed had arrived with agents.

Everyone froze.

A voice shouted:

“Federal agents. Drop your weapons.”

Victor’s men ran.

One was tackled.

Another fired once into the air before being disarmed.

The local officers lowered their guns.

Nicolas stood in the snow.

Holding the box.

Samuel Reed stepped from an SUV.

Seventy.

Gray coat.

Tired eyes.

He looked at Diana.

Then Nicolas.

“Marco was right.”

Nicolas stared.

“About what?”

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Samuel looked at the box.

“That eventually the flowers would bring you back to the evidence.”