Chapter 8 - When the Living Brother Spoke the Truth
The freezing water hit Detective Vance square in the eyes, blinding him for a fraction of a second.
"Bitch!" Vance roared, his gun swinging wildly toward me.
BANG!
A deafening gunshot echoed through the boardroom, shattering the panoramic glass window overlooking Manhattan. A spiderweb of cracks rippled across the reinforced glass as the deafening rush of high-altitude wind howled into the room.
Christopher had fired.
His bullet struck Vance's right shoulder, spinning the corrupt detective around and sending his service weapon skittering across the polished floorboards.
At the same instant, Christian lunged forward across the mahogany table like a rabid animal, tackling Christopher to the ground.
The two identical brothers collided with brutal, bone-crushing force.
Guns clattered across the carpet. The mahogany table groaned under their weight as they smashed into the leather chairs, knocking files, water glasses, and digital terminals to the floor.
"Get out! Everyone get out!" I screamed at the terrified board members.
The six executives scrambled over each other, clawing at the double doors and fleeing into the outer reception area, shouting for building security and 911.
Inside the room, the battle between the twin brothers was primal, vicious, and terrifyingly symmetrical.
They moved with the exact same reflexes, anticipated the exact same strikes, and fought with an intimate knowledge of each other's physiology. Christian landed a vicious left hook against Christopher's jaw, sending him crashing into the shattered glass window frame.
"You were always second best, Chris!" Christian roared, his face contorted in psychotic rage as he pinned Christopher against the window, his hands wrapping around his twin brother's throat. "I took your life! I took your home! And now I'm going to take your last breath!"
Christopher choked, his hands clawing at Christian's iron grip. Beneath them, through the cracked glass, the dizzying drop of forty-two stories plunged toward the miniature yellow cabs on the street below.
I looked around frantically.
Detective Vance was groaning on the floor, clutching his bleeding shoulder, crawling toward his dropped firearm.
I sprinted forward, kicked Vance's gun across the room out of his reach, and grabbed a heavy bronze architectural award from the display shelf near the door.
I ran toward the window, raised the solid bronze statue with both hands, and brought it down with all the strength in my body against the back of Christian’s shoulder.
CRACK!
Christian howled in agony, his grip on Christopher breaking as he stumbled sideways, clutching his fractured collarbone.
Christopher gasped for air, coughing violently, then surged upward from the floor. He drove his shoulder straight into Christian’s midsection, tackling him onto the conference table and pinning his arms behind his back with an iron grip.
"It's over, Christian," Christopher breathed heavily into his brother's ear, pressing his weight down until Christian could no longer move. "It’s over."
Christian lay pinned against the mahogany wood, his face pressed into the scattered paperwork of Project Janus. Blood dripped from his split lip onto the contract.
Suddenly, the elevator lobby chimed.
Heavy tactical boots thundered down the hallway.
"Federal Bureau of Investigation! Drop your weapons and put your hands on your heads!"
A team of eight heavily armed FBI tactical agents in tactical body armor swarmed into the boardroom, their assault rifles raised, followed by federal prosecutors and emergency medical technicians.
I sank to my knees against the wall, my entire body shaking uncontrollably as the adrenaline began to drain from my veins.
Christopher released his brother, stepped back with his hands raised in the air, and let the federal agents secure Christian in heavy steel handcuffs.
Two agents grabbed Detective Vance from the floor, securing his arms behind his back despite his agonized curses.
Special Agent Sarah Ross, the lead federal investigator on the Bennett syndicate task force, stepped into the center of the shattered boardroom. She looked at the two identical men, then down at the encrypted USB drive resting on the table.
"Christopher Bennett?" Agent Ross asked.
Christopher pointed to the USB drive. "I am Christopher Bennett. That drive contains the complete decryption keys, the offshore ledger, and the audio confessions of Detective Vance and Christian Bennett."
Agent Ross picked up the drive, plugged it into a handheld forensic tablet, and watched as millions of lines of authenticated syndicate transactions populated her screen.
She looked up at Christopher, her stern expression softening into one of profound professional respect.
"We’ve been chasing Richard Bennett’s offshore syndicate for twelve years," Agent Ross said quietly. "You just handed us the entire global network on a silver platter."
Christian, his face bruised and bloody, twisted around in his handcuffs, his eyes burning with pure, unadulterated venom as the agents dragged him toward the door.
"You think this saves you, Chris?" Christian hissed, spitting blood onto the carpet. "You’re still Richard Bennett’s son! His blood is in your veins! You will never escape what we are!"
Christopher walked over to his twin brother. He looked into the face that was a mirror of his own—the face that had brought terror, deceit, and violence into our home.
"Our father gave us his blood, Christian," Christopher said with quiet, absolute dignity. "But we choose what we do with our lives. I chose love. You chose greed. Have a nice life in ADX Florence."
As the federal agents dragged Christian out of the room, Christopher turned toward me.
May you like
He crossed the room, dropped to his knees on the carpet, and wrapped his arms around me. I buried my face in the crook of his neck, breathing in the true, unadulterated scent of my real husband—cedarwood, rain, and the warm, unbreakable promise of home.
We sat together on the floor of the shattered boardroom, holding each other as the sirens of the arriving police convoy echoed from the streets below.
