Chapter 8 - Marcus Is Alive
Adrian slapped the photograph onto the table.
“Sofia was working with Victor?”
Marcus shook his head.
“No.”
“Then what am I looking at?”
“A failed recruitment.”
“Whose?”
“Daniel’s.”
Marcus sat carefully.
“Sofia figured out Daniel had access to the security layer Victor was using.”
“She approached him?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To turn him.”
Adrian looked at Ernesto.
The boy stood rigid.
“Did she trust Daniel?” Adrian asked.
“No.”
“Then why meet?”
“Because she trusted leverage.”
Marcus almost smiled.
“Your mother’s tough.”
Ernesto did not smile back.
“Where is she?”
Marcus looked away.
“I don’t know.”
The same answer again.
The boy’s fists tightened.
Marcus continued.
“Daniel agreed to give her access to Victor’s private archive.”
“What kind of access?”
“Red key card.”
Ernesto’s head snapped up.
“What?”
Marcus looked at him.
“Why?”
Ernesto sat on the floor and pulled off one shoe.
From beneath the insole, he removed a red card.
Everyone stared.
“My mom gave me this.”
Marcus stood too fast and nearly fell.
“That’s it.”
Adrian took it.
No logo.
Only MR-27 printed in black.
“Why did she give it to you?”
Ernesto’s voice dropped.
“She said if she didn’t come home, I had to give it to the man under the bridge.”
Adrian stared.
“She knew I’d be under the bridge?”
“No. She said the man under the bridge would know what to do.”
Marcus looked at Adrian.
“That’s not you.”
“What?”
“Sofia couldn’t know you’d survive there.”
Adrian’s pulse climbed.
“Then who did she mean?”
Marcus looked at Ernesto.
“Your father?”
The boy’s face closed.
“My father is dead.”
Marcus said nothing.
Too long.
Adrian saw it.
“What aren’t you saying?”
Marcus stood.
“First we use the card.”
They entered Victor’s private records floor through a service elevator after midnight.
No Cole security.
Marcus brought two former military contacts.
The red card opened a door no employee directory listed.
Inside:
Paper.
Not servers.
Victor trusted physical files for the worst things.
Adrian opened the first cabinet.
Shell companies.
Land purchases.
Eviction schedules.
Then a drawer marked:
A.C. SUCCESSION / PSYCHOLOGICAL CONTINGENCY.
His initials.
He pulled the folder.
Board resolutions.
Medical declarations.
Draft press releases about Adrian suffering cognitive impairment after “severe traumatic injury.”
Three directors had already signed.
Adrian stared.
“They planned for me to survive.”
Marcus took another page.
“No.”
He turned it around.
Emergency authorization.
Adrian’s signature block.
Power transfer to Victor.
Sedation protocol attached.
“They planned for you to look alive long enough to sign the company away.”
A light clicked on behind them.
Daniel stood in the doorway.
Gun lowered at his side.
He looked at the folder.
Then at Adrian.
May you like
“It’s time I told you what Victor made me do.”
CUT.
