Chapter 6 - The Secret Beneath The Clock
Edmund poured another drink.
This time his hands were trembling.
He explained that the Golden Clock had been built in 1846 by Elias Blackwood.
Official family history described Elias as an industrialist.
The private journals told another story.
Elias had controlled shipping routes beneath the city.
During Prohibition, later generations of Blackwoods used underground tunnels to transport illegal liquor.
Decades later, the routes became escape passages for politicians, businessmen, criminals, and spies.
Alexander flipped through the journal.
Several pages had been torn out.
"Who removed these?"
"I don't know."
Edmund pointed toward a drawing.
The Golden Clock was pictured beside a mechanical lock.
"The clock contains something."
"What?"
"A map."
Marcus looked at Alexander.
Suddenly Silas's comment made sense.
The clock was worth millions as an antique.
But a hidden map connecting tunnels beneath banks, government buildings, warehouses, and private estates could be worth infinitely more to organized criminals.
Alexander closed the journal.
"Why was I never told?"
"Your father wanted the secret buried."
Edmund looked toward the fire.
"He believed the tunnels had been sealed."
"Apparently he was wrong."
Edmund nodded.
"There is something else."
Alexander waited.
"Your father once worked with a detective named Adrian Cole to destroy the criminal organization using those tunnels."
Alexander recognized the name.
Cole had later become deputy police commissioner.
The same man who had signed the warrant used to arrest Sarah.
Marcus pulled out his phone.
The warrant signature was visible in the photograph he had taken earlier.
Adrian Cole.
Alexander felt the conspiracy widen.
If Cole was involved, corrupt officers were not simply pretending to be police.
Some might actually be police.
Alexander headed toward the door.
Edmund called after him.
"Where are you going?"
"To the docks."
"Then you're walking into a trap."
Alexander looked back.
"They already entered my home."
He opened the door.
"They already took my wife."
Thunder cracked above the estate.
"The trap is no longer theirs."
Before leaving, Alexander handed Marcus the journal.
"If I don't come back, give this to federal investigators."
Marcus frowned.
"We are both coming back."
Alexander almost smiled.
They crossed the courtyard toward the underground garage.
Behind them, Edmund remained in the doorway.
For decades, the Blackwood family had protected a secret beneath the city.
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Now that secret had reached for Alexander's wife.
He would answer with everything he had.
