Chapter 16 - The Betrayal at Bellwether
Rashad’s threat forced them back to Bellwether House. Grant Bell had arranged a meeting in the restaurant’s closed dining room, claiming he possessed the route to the clinic. No one trusted him, but every other route led through Rashad’s forces.
“We are walking into a trap,” Samira said.
“Yes,” Adam replied.
“You sound calm.”
“I am not calm.”
Maria looked at him. “You are shaking.”
He glanced at his hand and closed it into a fist. “My mother used to say fear is information. I am trying to listen.”
They entered through the kitchen. The room where Maria had stopped Leon was empty except for a single table. Grant sat beneath the chandelier, while Nadia Vale stood beside the windows in a dark suit.
Adam stopped breathing.
“Nadia,” he said.
She turned. Age had sharpened her features, but her eyes were the same ones Maria remembered from the photograph in the storage unit.
“You have your father’s voice,” Nadia said to Adam.
“And you have his secrets.”
Grant gestured toward the table. “The keys.”
Maria remained near the doorway. “First, my mother.”
“Elena is alive,” Nadia said. “But not in the clinic anymore.”
“Where is she?”
“In transit.”
“With Rashad?”
“With people who answer to him.”
Adam stepped forward. “You betrayed my father.”
Nadia’s face tightened. “I betrayed his fear. There is a difference.”
“You gave Grant the access card.”
“I gave him the card because Hassan believed the project would make him powerless. He planned to cancel Blue Gate and replace it with a military water program. Grant promised a private system that would keep the cities supplied.”
“He lied,” Maria said.
“Yes. I learned that too late.”
“You let Daniel die.”
Nadia looked at her. “I tried to warn him. He refused to leave the station.”
“Because you had already made the station unsafe.”
“Because your father believed saving the workers mattered more than surviving.”
The words sounded almost like praise, which made Maria hate her more.
Grant stood. “Enough history. Give me the keys.”
Maria removed them from her coat but kept them in her fist. “If I give you the keys, you will kill my mother.”
“If you do not, Rashad will.”
“You are not working with Rashad?” Adam asked.
Grant smiled. “Rashad believes he is using me. He is not.”
Samira’s weapon appeared beneath her coat. Nadia’s hand moved toward her own.
“Do not,” Adam said.
Maria saw a reflection in the window: a man on the roof, another in the kitchen, and a third behind the bar. Bellwether House had been turned into a cage.
“What did you do with Elena?” she asked Nadia.
Nadia looked toward Grant. “He does not know where she is.”
Grant’s smile vanished.
“You moved her without telling me?”
“I moved her because you intended to kill her after taking the keys.”
“You are in no position to lecture me about betrayal.”
Adam whispered, “Nadia, where is she?”
“On a train north.”
“Which train?”
Nadia looked at Maria. “The one your uncle boarded two hours ago.”
Maria felt the floor drop away.
Victor had not disappeared to save himself. He had taken Elena.
Grant suddenly drew a pistol. Samira fired first, striking his shoulder. The window behind Nadia shattered as the rooftop shooter opened fire.
Maria ran for the service corridor. Adam followed her while Samira fought the men near the bar.
Behind them, Nadia shouted, “The vault is not beneath the pumping station!”
Maria turned.
May you like
Nadia raised her voice over the gunfire.
“Your father hid it where you learned to stand!”
