Chapter 12 - The Woman in the Locked Room
Vanessa regained consciousness in darkness.
Her wrists were bound with plastic ties.
Her head throbbed.
The last thing she remembered was opening her apartment garage.
Someone had been waiting behind the concrete pillar.
Now she could hear machinery outside.
A warehouse.
She forced herself upright.
A thin line of light showed beneath the door.
Voices came from the other side.
One belonged to a man.
The other belonged to Evelyn Mercer.
Vanessa stopped breathing.
“She gave the phone to security,” the man said.
Evelyn answered.
“Then we assume they know everything on it.”
“What do you want me to do with her?”
A pause.
Vanessa pressed herself against the wall.
Evelyn’s response came quietly.
“She doesn’t need to disappear.”
Vanessa almost cried with relief.
Then Evelyn continued.
“She needs to become unreliable.”
The man laughed.
“Like Cassidy?”
“Exactly.”
Vanessa’s relief vanished.
Across the city, Gabriel’s team traced Vanessa’s last mobile connection to an industrial district.
Cassidy watched from the secure medical suite.
Dr. Reed checked her blood pressure.
“It’s too high.”
“I’m fine.”
“You are eight months pregnant and someone threatened your life.”
Cassidy looked at her.
“I’ll rest when Vanessa is safe.”
Hannah sighed.
“You don’t even like Vanessa.”
“No.”
Cassidy stared at the tracking map.
“But she doesn’t deserve to die because she discovered the truth.”
Gabriel entered.
“We have a location.”
Cassidy stood.
“Where?”
“Former Mercer textile warehouse.”
Detective Ortiz and local officers arrived first.
The building appeared abandoned.
One side door was unlocked.
Inside, they found an office converted into a makeshift medical room.
Sedatives.
Restraints.
Blank psychiatric intake forms.
A camera.
They found Vanessa inside a storage room.
Alive.
Terrified.
And furious.
Evelyn was gone.
So was the unidentified man.
Vanessa gave police everything she remembered.
The man had called Evelyn “Mrs. Mercer.”
Evelyn had called him “Owen.”
Gabriel immediately checked his list.
Owen Pike.
The Alder Crown network administrator who had access to the Philadelphia hospital leak.
The inside connection was no longer one executive.
It was a chain.
Martin handled finance.
Ellis handled operations.
Janice handled documents.
Owen handled systems.
Dr. Voss handled medicine.
And Evelyn coordinated them.
But Cassidy still did not understand one thing.
Why would so many well-paid professionals risk prison for Evelyn Mercer?
Vanessa answered that question.
“They weren’t working for her.”
Cassidy looked at her through a secure video connection.
“What?”
“I heard Evelyn arguing with Owen.”
“What did he say?”
Vanessa swallowed.
“He said, ‘You promised the investor would protect us.’”
Cassidy felt cold.
“What investor?”
“I don’t know.”
Vanessa leaned toward the camera.
“But Evelyn looked scared when he mentioned him.”
Cassidy stared at Gabriel.
Someone more powerful was behind Project Harbor.
Someone Martin and Evelyn both believed could protect them.
May you like
And somewhere inside the conspiracy was a person who did not merely want Cassidy’s money.
They wanted Alder Crown itself.
