Chapter 8: The Gate
I was back on the highway before Marcus finished the sentence.
"How many?" I said.
"Three vehicles.
Four men that I can see.
Sims is at the gate himself."
"Is Maya still upstairs?"
"Yes.
She hasn't come down."
"Keep it that way.
Don't tell her anything.
Just make sure she stays in the room."
"Already done.
Reyes is outside her door."
I pushed the car to ninety.
The estate was forty minutes from Richmond on a clear morning.
I had thirty if I drove the way I used to drive before I decided I had something to lose.
"What is Sims saying?" I said.
"That he has documents Victoria wants returned.
Says if we hand them over, everyone goes home."
"He means the statements."
"That's what I figured."
"He can't have them.
They're with Raymond Chu."
A pause.
"Does Sims know that?"
"Not yet."
I heard Marcus relay something to someone near him.
Then: "He's asking to speak to you directly."
"Put him on."
A shuffling sound.
Then a voice I didn't recognize but immediately understood — the voice of a man who had spent years being paid to make problems disappear and had learned to speak in the flat, reasonable tones of someone who considered violence a professional tool rather than a personal one.
"Mr.
Carter," Garrett Sims said.
"I think there's been a misunderstanding."
"Has there."
"Mrs.
Carter — Victoria — she made some statements last night that she'd like to walk back.
She wasn't in the right frame of mind.
She'd like the chance to clarify."
"The statements are already with my attorney."
Silence.
Just a beat of it, but I heard the calculation happening inside it.
"That's unfortunate," Sims said.
"Is it."
"For everyone involved.
Including you.
There are details in those statements that touch on your own operations, Mr.
Carter.
Things that, if they became part of a public filing, would create problems for you as well as for Victoria."
There it was.
The pivot.
The threat dressed as concern.
"Sims," I said.
"I want you to listen to me carefully."
"I'm listening."
"You are currently standing at the gate of my property with three vehicles and four men.
My attorney is filing documents with the court as we speak.
Your name, your payment records, and your specific instructions are all part of the written record as of this morning.
If you are still at that gate when I arrive, I will add unlawful intimidation to the list of things Raymond Chu is presenting to the U.S.
Attorney."
A longer silence.
"And if you have touched a single door, window, or person on this property," I said, "I will add everything else."
I heard him breathe.
"Victoria said you were reasonable," he said.
"Victoria was wrong about a lot of things."
I ended the call.
I drove the rest of the way without speaking.
When I turned onto the estate road, all three vehicles were gone.
The gate stood closed.
Marcus was standing just inside it with his arms crossed.
I pulled through and got out.
"He left?" I said.
"Two minutes after you hung up." Marcus looked at the road.
"He'll regroup."
"I know." I looked up at the house.
"I need to talk to Maya."
She was sitting up in bed when I came in, her back against the headboard, both hands resting on her belly.
She looked like she hadn't slept since I left.
"What happened?" she said.
I sat on the edge of the bed and told her everything.
The statements.
Raymond Chu.
The filing.
Sims at the gate.
She listened without interrupting.
When I finished, she was quiet for a moment.
"It's not over," she said.
"No.
Not yet."
She looked at me.
"Daniel.
I need to tell you something I didn't tell you last night."
I waited.
"The night before you came home," she said, "Sims came to the house alone.
Without Julian.
Without Victoria knowing, I think." She paused.
"He told me that if I said anything to you — anything at all — he wouldn't wait for instructions."
Her hands tightened on her belly.
"He said he knew a doctor," she said quietly.
"Who didn't ask questions."
The room was very still.
"Maya," I said.
My voice came out lower than I intended.
"Why didn't you tell me last night?"
"Because last night I was afraid you'd go find him before you thought it through." She looked at me steadily.
"And I needed you to think it through."
She was right.
She had been right about that, and she had been protecting me even then, even in the middle of everything they had done to her.
I reached out and took her hand.
"He threatened our child," I said.
"Yes."
I looked at our joined hands for a moment.
Then I picked up my phone.
May you like
"Raymond," I said when he answered.
"I need to add something to the filing."
