Chapter 6 - THE POCKET WATCH WITH THE WRONG TIME
“Mom!”
Harper screamed, rushing to the window. She slapped her hands against the bulletproof glass, sobbing hysterically as she stared at the woman in the headlights.
Dante grabbed Harper’s shoulders, pulling her back.
“Don't let him see you panic,” Dante ordered firmly, but his eyes were full of empathy. “I will not let her die.”
He put the phone back to his ear.
“Julian. You’re a dead man walking.”
“I’m a pragmatist,” Julian chuckled. “I knew the nanny was the weak link. I grabbed her mother from the hospital an hour ago. Bring me the rosary, Dante. To the old shipyard on 9th Street. You have thirty minutes. Or the nurse gets a bullet.”
The line went dead.
The SUV outside revved its engine and sped off into the night.
Harper collapsed onto the sofa, burying her face in her hands.
“He’s going to kill her,” she wept. “Because of me. Because I wouldn't lie for Caroline.”
“No,” Dante said.
He walked over to the desk and picked up the micro-film.
He looked at Rocco.
“Call the New York Commission. Tell them I have Julian Thorne’s ledger. Tell them Julian is at the 9th Street shipyard.”
Rocco grinned, a bloody, violent smile. “With pleasure, boss.”
Dante turned to Harper.
“I need you to stay here with Sophie. Lock the vault.”
“No!” Harper stood up, wiping her tears furiously. “That’s my mother! I’m going with you!”
“It’s a war zone, Harper. You’re a civilian.”
“I’m the woman who just cracked your fiancée’s skull with a vase,” Harper shot back. “I’m going.”
Dante looked at her.
There was a fire in her eyes that reminded him so much of the strength his late wife used to have.
“Fine,” Dante said. “But you do exactly what I say.”
Dante crouched in front of Sophie.
“Sweetheart, Rocco is going to stay right outside this door. You stay in the safe room. We will be right back.”
Sophie nodded bravely, clutching her torn stuffed rabbit.
Ten minutes later, Dante and Harper were speeding toward the shipyard in his armored Mercedes.
Dante drove with one hand, checking his loaded weapon with the other.
“Why did your mother keep the secret for so long?” Dante asked quietly.
Harper looked out the window at the dark city streets.
“Because Julian Thorne gave her this,” she said.
She reached into her pocket and pulled out a gold pocket watch.
She handed it to Dante.
Dante glanced at it. It was expensive, but the glass face was cracked, and the hands were permanently stuck at 4:00.
“What is it?”
“It’s a bomb trigger,” Harper whispered.
Dante slammed on the brakes, swerving to the side of the road. He stared at the watch in horror.
“Julian surgically implanted a micro-explosive near my mother’s spine during her last surgery,” Harper explained, tears spilling down her cheeks. “This watch is the detonator. If Julian dies, or if his heart stops, the watch triggers the bomb. It’s a dead-man’s switch.”
Answer one: Julian didn't just threaten Harper’s family with violence. He held them hostage with a literal bomb.
Open two: How could Dante kill Julian without triggering the explosive and killing Harper’s mother?
“Why didn't you tell me this before we left the house?!” Dante demanded.
“Because you would have stopped me!” Harper cried. “Dante, you can't kill him! If your men or the Commission shoot Julian, my mother dies instantly!”
Dante gripped the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white.
He had just sent the New York Commission’s hit squad to the shipyard.
They were going to execute Julian the second they saw him.
Dante slammed his foot on the gas pedal. The Mercedes roared to life, tearing through the streets at ninety miles an hour.
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He had to save Julian Thorne before his own allies killed him.
TITLE: THE HEIRLOOM NECKLACE IN THE GRAVEL
