Chapter 9 - Seven SecondsMarco moved before anyone else.
He shouted into his radio.
Two security vehicles intercepted the SUV near the practice diamond.
Elena grabbed Maya.
They ran behind the concrete equipment building.
The black SUV swerved.
It struck a fence instead of reaching them.
Airbags exploded.
Guards surrounded the vehicle.
The driver was unconscious.
There were no other passengers.
Luca reached the field less than a minute later.
It felt like an hour.
“Elena.”
She stepped from behind the building.
Her arms were wrapped around Maya.
They were unharmed.
Luca’s entire body loosened.
Maya ran toward him.
He caught her against his chest.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Then Maya whispered.
“I’m okay.”
Luca held her tighter.
“I know.”
But his hands were shaking.
The driver survived.
His name was Peter Sloan.
He worked for a private transportation contractor used by Costello Holdings.
Toxicology showed sedatives in his system.
He claimed he remembered stopping at a traffic light.
Then nothing.
The SUV’s steering system had been electronically compromised.
Someone had turned a man into an unwilling weapon.
Marco examined the vehicle.
The device installed inside was sophisticated.
More importantly, it required access to the Costello maintenance garage.
Only eight people had that access.
Jonathan Pierce was one.
Vittorio was another.
Jonathan disappeared during the chaos.
His phone went offline.
His house was empty.
Luca sat in the security room watching footage.
Every camera showed Jonathan leaving the study.
Then nothing.
One camera had stopped recording for exactly six minutes.
The system had been accessed from inside the estate.
Marco punched the desk.
“We have a leak.”
“We have several.”
Luca rewound the footage.
Maya entered quietly.
Elena followed.
“I told her to stay upstairs.”
Maya looked offended.
“I’m not a prisoner.”
Luca understood the irony immediately.
Neither of them wanted another cage.
He sighed.
“Come here.”
Maya approached the monitors.
She watched silently.
Then she pointed at one screen.
“That man.”
Marco looked.
“What man?”
“The one walking near Mr. Pierce.”
A staff member crossed behind Jonathan shortly before the camera failure.
It was Luca’s private secretary.
Damian Russo.
Damian had worked beside Luca for fourteen years.
He scheduled meetings.
Handled correspondence.
Managed confidential files.
He knew almost everything.
Marco pulled access logs.
Damian’s badge had entered the security control corridor during the six-minute outage.
Luca felt sick.
Damian had been with him during the worst years.
He had brought meals to the hospital.
Driven him to therapy.
Sat through surgeries.
Listened when Luca finally admitted he no longer believed he would walk again.
Marco sent guards to find him.
Damian was gone.
His office, however, remained unlocked.
Inside they discovered a burner phone.
A passport under another name.
And photographs.
Hundreds of photographs.
Maya leaving school.
Elena shopping.
Luca during rehabilitation.
The hedge.
The baseball field.
Their first meeting.
Someone had documented everything.
At the bottom of the drawer was a handwritten schedule for the coming month.
One date was circled.
Maya’s ninth birthday.
Beside it were three words.
TRANSFER BEFORE THEN.
Elena stared at the paper.
“Transfer what?”
Luca knew.
Not what.
Who.
May you like
He looked at Maya.
“They were planning to take you.”
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