Chapter 16 - The Blueprint of Betrayal
A figure stepped out from the shadows of a rusted auxiliary junction box.
He wasn’t wearing an expensive tailored suit like Evan Cross, nor the sharp designer gear of Viktor Volkov. He wore an old, oil-stained mechanic’s jacket, his gray hair cropped short, his face lined with the deep, weathered scars of a man who had spent forty years working the grease pits of Chicago’s lowest rail yards.
Arthur Vance. Diane’s estranged husband, and the man Gabriel had assumed died in a warehouse fire back in 2010.
“You always did have good ears, Gabe,” Arthur said, his voice raspy, carrying the heavy cadence of the old South Side docks. “Even better than your old man.”
“They told me you burned to death in the Tenth Street yards, Arthur,” Gabriel said, his hand remaining steady on his holster. “I paid for the funeral myself. Sent a check to your grieving wife.”
Arthur let out a harsh, barking laugh that echoed hollowly off the damp brick walls.
“A funeral? For a man who owned the paperwork to every shell company in this city? Please, Gabriel. I needed a ghost so I could watch you build Rowan Freight into a nice, fat, juicy target.” Arthur stepped closer, his left boot producing that distinct, mocking squeak. “You thought you bought your legitimacy with clean books and audited payrolls. But you built your whole empire on my foundation.”
“You traded your own family for a grudge?” Gabriel asked, his voice dropping into a dangerous register. “Diane is facing twenty years in federal prison. Your daughter Maya was used as a courier in a hit.”
May you like
Arthur’s face hardened into a mask of pure fury.
“Diane was a coward who wanted to play corporate lawyer while the real owners of this city starved. And Maya? Maya is a survivor, just like her old man.” Arthur unzipped his mechanic’s jacket, revealing a heavy wire detonator strapped across his chest, wired directly into the main gas lines feeding the entire financial district above. “And now, the whole house of cards comes down, Gabriel. Exactly the way it should have fourteen years ago.”
