Chapter 4 - What Victor Hid Inside the Second Watch

The meeting location was an abandoned ferry terminal on the Hudson.

Luca hated it.

Emma hated that he was right to hate it.

Open approaches.

Too many sightlines.

Too many places to disappear.

They went anyway.

Marco drove.

Belini stayed at the clinic under guard.

She protested.

Nobody cared.

The receiver watch sat inside a signal-blocking pouch.

Emma held it.

Luca watched the river.

“You still haven’t told me why you disappeared for three years.”

“I was told Vale’s network survived the investigation.”

“And?”

“And that everyone connected to me was compromised.”

“Your father?”

“I believed he was dead.”

“Friends?”

“I left them.”

“Family?”

“None.”

Luca looked at her.

“That sounds lonely.”

Emma looked out the window.

“It was safe.”

“For whom?”

She did not answer.

The terminal appeared ahead.

One vehicle.

Two people.

The same lead man from the alley waited inside.

This time he came alone to the platform.

Emma stepped out.

Luca followed.

The man sighed.

“We asked for Emma.”

“You got Emma.”

“And me,” Luca said.

The man looked at his bandaged shoulder.

“I noticed.”

Emma held up the pouch.

“You wanted the watch.”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because Victor Moretti has been transmitting to someone we cannot identify.”

Luca’s eyes narrowed.

“Belini’s watch receives.”

“No.”

Emma frowned.

The man continued.

“It stores.”

That changed everything.

“Stores what?”

“Location history. route changes. proximity handshakes. device IDs.”

Luca looked at Emma.

She understood.

“It logs every compatible tracker near it.”

The man nodded.

“Including Victor’s.”

Marco stepped closer.

“So if Victor wore another transmitter—”

“We may be able to map where he has been.”

Emma opened the pouch.

“Why not tell us that in the alley?”

“Because we did not know whether Belini was compromised.”

Luca’s expression hardened.

“She is my fiancée.”

“That was exactly our concern.”

Emma almost smiled.

Luca did not.

“Who are you?”

The man reached into his pocket slowly.

Identification.

Not government.

A private investigative consortium.

Former federal agents.

Forensic accountants.

Witness-security contractors.

People who kept working after official cases died.

“My name is Nathan Cole.”

Emma knew it.

Her father had mentioned him once.

“He worked your case,” she said.

Nathan nodded.

“With Daniel.”

Her throat tightened.

“Where is my father?”

“Safe.”

“That is not a location.”

“No.”

“Take me to him.”

“Not yet.”

Luca stepped forward.

Nathan looked at him.

“Careful.”

Luca’s voice stayed calm.

“You arrived during an assassination, used a dead woman’s name, and told her dead father is alive. You do not get to say careful.”

Nathan studied him.

Then nodded slightly.

Fair.

Emma interrupted.

“The watch.”

Nathan opened a portable reader.

Marco placed the device beside it.

No network connection.

Local extraction.

The receiver watch unlocked.

Files appeared.

Hundreds.

Coordinates.

Timestamps.

Device signatures.

Then one folder.

V.M.

Victor Moretti.

Emma opened it.

Six months of movement.

Restaurants.

Warehouses.

Luca’s estate.

Belini’s apartment.

A private club.

Then one location repeated every Thursday at 11:30 p.m.

Nathan’s face changed.

Emma saw it.

“What?”

He enlarged the map.

An industrial building in New Jersey.

Emma did not recognize it.

Luca did.

“Vale Logistics.”

Emma turned.

“Adrian Vale?”

“Company was supposedly sold after he disappeared.”

Nathan looked at her.

“Vale never disappeared.”

Emma went still.

Luca’s voice lowered.

“Where is he?”

Nathan pointed at the map.

“If Victor is reporting to him…”

Emma finished the thought.

“Then probably there.”

Nathan shook his head.

“Maybe.”

“Why maybe?”

“Because Victor met someone else there.”

He opened an image tied to the location file.

Security snapshot.

Victor entering the warehouse.

Beside him stood an older man.

Gray hair.

Thin face.

Alive.

Emma stopped breathing.

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“Dad.”

Daniel Evans was standing next to the man who betrayed Luca.