CHAPTER 5 — THE MEN WHO WORE BADGES
By sunrise, they had crossed state lines.
Marco stopped at an isolated lakeside cabin that appeared abandoned.
It wasn't.
Inside waited three elderly men drinking coffee around a wooden table.
One had once been an FBI agent.
Another, a federal prosecutor.
The third had spent thirty years investigating organized crime before disappearing from public life.
None of them looked surprised to see Marco.
"You finally brought her," the former agent said quietly.
Elena frowned.
"You've been expecting me?"
"For eighteen years."
Marco placed Rosa's journal on the table.
Nobody opened it.
Nobody touched it.
Almost as if they feared what was inside.
The prosecutor finally spoke.
"Raphael Cain didn't build his empire alone."
"He bought protection."
"Judges."
"Police chiefs."
"Business executives."
"Even federal officials."
Elena felt sick.
"My mother knew all of them?"
The old man nodded.
"She copied every financial record before disappearing."
"And this journal contains the key that connects every name."
Marco added quietly,
"If Lucien destroys that evidence..."
"...every victim disappears with it."
Before anyone could continue, the cabin television suddenly switched on by itself.
Breaking News.
A reporter announced that authorities had issued nationwide arrest warrants.
Not for Lucien.
Not for his men.
For Marco Montana.
The screen showed old photographs from his years as an enforcer.
"Murder suspect."
"Kidnapping."
"Organized crime."
The reporter called him one of America's most dangerous fugitives.
Elena looked at Marco.
"Is any of it true?"
Marco answered without excuses.
"Most of it."
Silence filled the room.
"I can't change who I was."
"I can only choose who I become."
At that moment, Elena understood something painful.
Heroes didn't always begin as heroes.
Sometimes they spent the rest of their lives trying to repay impossible debts.
Outside, tires crunched across gravel.
More vehicles.
Too many.
The retired FBI agent checked binoculars.
His face went pale.
"They're not police."
"They're using police vehicles."
Marco quietly chambered a round.
May you like
"The corruption reaches farther than we thought."
The cabin was surrounded.
