Chapter 5
At seven forty-three, I reopened the council meeting.
On purpose.
Same men.
Same room.
Same transmitter listening from behind the wall.
Daniel and Preston were kept in the gallery.
Claire and Leo were moved to a secure upstairs office with four guards.
Daniel laughed when he saw her leave.
“Run upstairs.”
He called after her.
“That's what you're good at.”
Claire stopped.
I expected her to keep walking.
Instead she turned.
Daniel smiled.
“What's wrong?”
She looked at him.
“You're scared.”
His smile faded.
That was all she said.
Then she left.
I almost smiled.
Almost.
Inside the council room, I looked around the table.
Mauro Ferraro.
Anthony Costa.
Victor DeLuca.
Three other capos.
Men who had known Daniel socially for years.
Men who had watched him shake my hand.
None of them knew what he was doing to Claire.
Or claimed not to.
That question could wait.
I spoke loudly enough for the transmitter.
“Meeting continues as planned.”
Mauro understood immediately.
He leaned back.
“What about the security problem?”
“Contained.”
We waited.
Seven fifty-one.
Nothing.
Seven fifty-six.
A bodyguard entered.
He whispered in my ear.
“Movement in fossil preparation.”
“How many?”
“Two.”
“Let them move.”
Mauro looked at me.
I shook my head.
Not yet.
At seven fifty-nine, the lights in the dinosaur gallery flickered.
Once.
Then twice.
Anthony Costa frowned.
“That isn't normal.”
No.
It wasn't.
The side door to the council corridor clicked.
Unlocked.
From inside the wall.
I stared toward it.
Leo's tunnel.
The transmitter hadn't only been listening.
Someone had installed a remote release.
A man entered the lower corridor.
Then another.
My bodyguards took both before they reached the council door.
No shots.
No noise beyond a few seconds of struggle.
The second man had a compact receiver in his pocket.
Paired to our transmitter.
I walked into the gallery holding it.
Daniel saw it.
His face changed.
Preston didn't.
Interesting.
“Who are they?” I asked.
Daniel laughed.
“Ask your guards.”
“I'm asking you.”
“I don't know them.”
One of the captured men was dragged into the gallery.
He looked at Daniel.
Then at Preston.
Preston's jaw tightened.
There.
The man smiled weakly.
“Party went bad?”
Preston said nothing.
I crouched in front of him.
“Who sent you?”
He looked at my signet ring.
Then at Daniel.
Daniel snapped:
“Don't look at me.”
The man laughed.
“You still think this was your plan?”
Daniel stood.
“What?”
Preston closed his eyes.
That was the first time Daniel looked at his brother instead of me.
“What did he mean?”
Preston stayed silent.
Daniel's voice rose.
“What did he mean?”
I looked at the captured man.
“Answer.”
He shrugged.
“Daniel Hale was just supposed to keep the wife scared and the kid useful.”
Claire wasn't there.
Good.
Because I nearly killed him for saying it that casually.
Daniel turned toward Preston.
“You said this was surveillance.”
Preston looked at him.
“You never ask the right questions.”
Daniel's face changed.
The man continued.
“We were told Bellini's council would break before eight-thirty.”
I leaned closer.
“How?”
He smiled.
“Depends which men were still alive.”
The gallery went silent.
Daniel looked at Preston.
For the first time that night, the two brothers were afraid of different things.
Daniel had thought they were spying on me.
May you like
Preston had been planning something much larger.
And he hadn't even trusted his own brother with the truth.
