Chapter 13 - The Confession In The Empty Holding Tank
Garrett’s finger rested on the trigger.
The rogue officers beside him raised their sidearms.
There was nowhere to run.
The catwalk was sixty feet above the flooded floor.
Behind us was a solid concrete wall.
Ahead was Garrett’s rifle.
“Drop the weapon, Garrett,” Tobias said.
He stepped in front of me, shielding my body with his own.
Garrett laughed.
A high, manic sound that bounced off the steel girders.
“Still playing the hero, Toby?” Garrett mocked.
“You spent fifteen years eating my table scraps.”
“You let me roll you into the garden like a houseplant.”
“You think because you can walk, you’re a man?”
“You’re nothing.”
“Both of you are relics of a dead era.”
Penelope dragged herself to her knees.
She held onto the catwalk railing.
“Garrett... please,” Penelope wept.
“Our baby... your child is alive.”
“I’m still here.”
Garrett didn't even look at her.
His eyes remained locked on me.
“That baby was a legal instrument, Penelope,” Garrett spat.
His words were cold, sharp razors.
“You were an instrument.”
“Did you really think I loved you?”
“A pathetic, insecure bastard child desperate for her father’s approval?”
Penelope’s face crumbled.
The last trace of delusion died in her eyes.
She looked at the man she had betrayed her family for.
She saw the hollow void beneath his handsome face.
“You’re a monster,” Penelope whispered.
“I’m a businessman,” Garrett corrected her.
He raised the carbine to his cheek.
“Goodbye, Rosalind.”
“Thank you for the company.”
His finger began to squeeze the trigger.
Suddenly, a loud crack echoed from the shadows above the crane.
A high-caliber sniper round tore through the corrugated roof.
It punched through Garrett’s right shoulder.
Blood sprayed across the catwalk.
Garrett shrieked in agony, dropping the carbine.
The weapon bounced off the iron grating and plummeted into the black water
below.
The three rogue officers turned in panic.
Before they could acquire a target, four flashbang grenades dropped from the
ceiling rafters.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
Blinding light and thunderous sound engulfed the platform.
Black-clad tactical operators dropped from rappelling ropes like spiders.
They wore the insignia of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
“FEDERAL AGENTS! DOWN ON THE GROUND! NOW!”
Dozens of red laser dots painted the chest of every rogue officer.
The officers dropped their weapons instantly, throwing their hands into the air.
A tall woman with silver hair and a dark navy windbreaker descended the crane
stairs.
Special Agent Sarah Vance.
Garrett’s estranged older sister.
The one who had left the family twenty years ago to join the Department of
Justice.
She stepped over the rogue guards.
She kicked Garrett onto his back.
She pressed her combat boot directly into his shattered shoulder.
Garrett screamed in blinding pain.
Sarah looked down at her younger brother with utter contempt.
“You always were a sloppy little sociopath, Garrett,” Sarah said coldly.
I stared at her in shock.
“You?” I breathed.
“The phone calls,” Tobias realized, stepping forward.
“The burner phone messages.”
“The safe deposit box warning.”
Sarah Vance looked at Tobias and nodded.
“I’ve been building a RICO case against Julian Sterling and my father’s network
for four years,” Sarah said.
“When Garrett drove your car into the river, my wiretaps picked up his call to
Penelope.”
“I couldn't move until I had the physical audit records.”
“You got them from the Newport house.”
“The state police are raiding the port authority offices right now.”
The clock on the wall of the crane cabin chimed.
Twelve long, resonant strokes.
Noon.
Sarah checked her digital watch.
She looked at me and pulled a stamped legal document from her vest.
“The governor issued an emergency executive injunction five minutes ago,
Rosalind,” Sarah said.
“The Mercer trust has been placed under state protective conservatory.”
“You and Tobias are the sole confirmed trustees.”
“The shipyard is yours.”
Garrett writhed on the steel grating beneath Sarah’s boot.
“Sarah!” Garrett sobbed.
“I’m your brother! You can’t do this to me!”
Sarah leaned down.
She pulled a pair of heavy steel handcuffs from her belt.
She ratcheted them tightly around his wrists.
May you like
“You aren't my brother,” Sarah whispered into his ear.
“You’re an inmate.”
