Chapter 4 - THE HEAVY COAT
The realization crashed down on Anna like a physical blow.
Russo. The man who had approved Gabriel’s route. The man who had supposedly checked Section C and found the bomb. He hadn't been panicking earlier; he had been acting.
Russo was the one working with the Chicago syndicate.
Julian was just a desperate, indebted idiot they had used to deliver the detonator, ensuring all the blame would fall on Serena’s family.
“Put the gun down, Gabriel,” Julian demanded, pressing the knife tighter against Anna’s throat. “Or I swear to God, I’ll open her neck right here.”
Gabriel didn't lower his weapon. His gray eyes were locked onto Julian with a terrifying, absolute stillness.
“You’re a dead man either way, Julian,” Gabriel said softly. “Russo isn't going to let you live. You’re the loose end.”
“Shut up! Russo promised me a seat on that chopper!”
“Then why is he aiming a sniper rifle at you?”
Julian hesitated. The manic confidence cracked.
He instinctively turned his head toward the shattered window.
It was a microscopic shift in focus. A fraction of a second.
Gabriel didn't hesitate.
He didn't shoot Julian in the head. He shot him in the kneecap.
The suppressed gunshot was surprisingly quiet, but Julian’s scream was deafening. The knife slipped from Anna’s throat as Julian collapsed, clutching his shattered leg.
Anna scrambled forward, crawling frantically toward Gabriel.
He grabbed her arm, hauling her up and shoving her behind him.
“Are you cut?” he demanded, keeping his gun trained on the writhing man on the floor.
“Just a scratch,” Anna gasped, pressing her hand to her neck. Her fingers came away with a streak of blood, but it wasn't deep.
Gabriel looked at Julian.
“Where did Russo go?” Gabriel asked.
“Go to hell!” Julian spat, writhing in agony.
Gabriel walked forward and calmly placed his heavy dress shoe directly over the bullet wound in Julian’s knee.
Julian shrieked, his back arching off the floor.
“Where is Russo?” Gabriel repeated, applying a terrifying amount of pressure.
“The roof!” Julian sobbed. “He took Serena to the roof! He needs her fingerprint to unlock the offshore accounts before he kills her!”
Gabriel removed his foot.
He turned to Anna.
“The service stairs,” Gabriel said. “Can we get to the roof from here?”
Anna’s mind raced. “Yes. But if Russo locked down the floor, the electronic deadbolts on the stairwell doors will be engaged. I can’t override those from the closet. The power is cut.”
Gabriel looked at the heavy charcoal overcoat he had thrown over the detonator.
He walked over and picked it up.
He reached into the inside breast pocket and pulled out a small, heavy ring of keys.
Not electronic keycards. Old, brass skeleton keys.
“My father owned this hotel before he sold it to the Ashford group,” Gabriel said quietly. “He built a manual override into every mechanical lock in the building. Just in case.”
Anna stared at him. The man wasn't just a mafia boss. He was the ghost of the building she had worked in for a year.
Gabriel tossed the heavy overcoat to Anna.
“Put it on,” he ordered.
“What? Why?”
“Because it’s Kevlar-lined,” Gabriel said, reloading his pistol. “And we’re about to walk into a firing squad.”
Anna’s hands shook as she slipped her arms into the heavy coat. It fell to her knees, smelling faintly of expensive cologne and gun oil. It felt like armor.
They ran toward the service stairwell.
Gabriel used the brass key to unlock the heavy fire door.
The stairwell was pitch black. The emergency lights had been smashed.
“Stay behind me,” Gabriel whispered, clicking a small tactical light on his pistol.
They climbed. Forty-first floor. Forty-second.
When they reached the heavy metal door leading to the roof, they stopped.
The sound of the helicopter blades thrumming above them vibrated through the concrete walls.
Gabriel looked at Anna.
“You don't have to go out there,” he said softly. “You can go back down. You’ve done enough.”
“If I go back down, Russo’s men will kill me because I know the truth,” Anna said, her voice trembling but resolute. “I’m safer with you.”
Gabriel looked at her for a long second. A strange, profound respect flickered in his eyes.
“Then stay low,” he said.
He kicked the door open.
The wind on the roof was violent, whipping the rain sideways. The tactical helicopter hovered thirty feet above the helipad, a rope ladder dangling down.
Standing beneath the chopper, illuminated by a harsh spotlight, was Russo.
He had one arm wrapped tightly around Serena’s neck. In his other hand, he held a biometric scanner tablet. He was forcing her hand onto the glass screen.
“Gabriel!” Serena screamed when she saw him.
Russo spun around, raising a heavy assault rifle with one hand.
“Drop it, Boss!” Russo roared over the wind. “You’re a dead man walking!”
Gabriel didn't drop his gun, but he didn't raise it either. He stood perfectly still in the driving rain.
“You’re a traitor, Russo,” Gabriel yelled back. “The Commission will hunt you to the ends of the earth.”
“The Commission thinks you died in a terrorist attack tonight!” Russo laughed. “And once I get Serena’s fingerprint, I’m retiring to a private island!”
Russo forced Serena’s thumb onto the scanner.
The tablet beeped green.
A triumphant smile spread across Russo’s face. He shoved Serena violently away, sending her crashing to the wet tar paper of the roof.
He raised his rifle toward Gabriel.
“Goodbye, Boss,” Russo said, his finger tightening on the trigger.
Anna closed her eyes, bracing for the gunshot.
But the gunshot didn't come.
Instead, a deafening, metallic crunch echoed over the roof.
Anna opened her eyes.
Russo was staring at his assault rifle in absolute shock. The weapon hadn't fired. The firing pin had snapped.
Gabriel slowly raised his own pistol.
“I didn't trust you, Russo,” Gabriel said quietly. His voice carried over the wind, cold and absolute. “I haven't trusted you for a month.”
Russo went pale.
The Reversal hit.
Gabriel hadn't been caught off guard by the betrayal. He had known Russo was the mole. He had manipulated the entire evening, allowing Russo to think he was in control, specifically to draw him out onto this roof.
Gabriel fired once.
The bullet hit Russo dead center in the chest.
The massive bodyguard crumpled, falling backward off the edge of the helipad, disappearing into the darkness of the Chicago skyline.
Silence fell over the roof, save for the thrum of the helicopter above.
Gabriel walked forward, keeping his gun aimed at the chopper. But the pilot, seeing Russo fall, didn't hesitate. He banked hard to the left and sped off into the night, abandoning the mission.
Serena was sobbing on the ground.
Gabriel walked over to her. He didn't offer a hand to help her up.
He reached down and picked up the biometric tablet Russo had dropped.
He looked at the screen.
“You transferred the money,” Gabriel said softly.
“He forced me to!” Serena cried. “Gabriel, you saw him! He was going to kill me!”
Gabriel stared at the tablet.
Then he turned the screen around so Serena could see it.
And so Anna could see it.
The transfer hadn't gone to an anonymous offshore account.
It had gone to a private bank account registered to Serena Vale.
And at the very bottom of the screen, a small icon pulsed.
A live video feed.
Connecting to a man sitting in a dark office.
The man on the screen smiled.
May you like
It was Gabriel’s father.
The man who had supposedly died of cancer three years ago.
