Chapter 6: The Man Behind Reyes
I didn't speak first.
I let the silence run.
"Still there?" Hale said.
"I'm here."
"Good.
I'll be brief.
The girl — Emma Carter — was placed in your home as a precaution.
I needed to know whether you'd connected my operation to the sh00ting two years ago.
It appears you have.
That changes things."
"Does it."
"It does." His voice stayed pleasant, the way expensive things stay clean.
"I'd like to offer you a straightforward arrangement.
You stop pursuing the account irregularities your man Luke has been pulling records on, and I provide you with the name of the person who actually ordered the hit on you.
Not the shooter.
The person who paid for it."
My hand tightened on the phone.
"You're telling me Hale didn't order the sh00ting," I said.
"I'm telling you I know who did.
And I'm telling you that information has a price." A pause.
"Walk away from the Carter account.
Walk away from Aldridge Document Services.
And I'll give you the name that's been keeping you up at night for two years."
"And Emma?"
"She goes back to her diner.
Her mother's account stays as it is.
Consider it the cost of the information."
I looked at the window.
The city lights were a smear through the rain.
"I'll need twenty-four hours," I said.
"You have twelve." The line went de@d.
Luke was already in the doorway.
He'd heard enough.
"He's panicking," Luke said.
"He wouldn't have called you directly if he weren't."
"He's not panicking.
He's consolidating.
There's a difference." I set the phone down.
"He knows we're close to Aldridge.
He's trying to buy time and redirect me at the same time."
"The name he's offering — do you think it's real?"
"It might be.
That's what makes it dangerous." I turned toward the desk.
"If he actually has the name of who ordered the hit, he's been holding it for two years.
That means he's had leverage over that person this whole time.
Which means whoever ordered it is still out there, still protected by Hale's silence."
"And if you take the deal?"
"Emma's mother loses everything.
Nine other families lose everything.
And Hale walks."
Luke was quiet.
"We move up the timeline," I said.
"Emma meets Reyes tomorrow as planned.
But I need Aldridge's records tonight."
"That's not enough time to do it cleanly."
"Then we do it quickly." I looked at him.
"And Luke — nobody tells Emma about Hale's call.
Not yet.
She needs to walk into that coffee shop tomorrow without knowing he's already trying to trade her away."
Luke nodded once and left.
I sat alone in the study.
The rain hit the windows in long, uneven streaks.
Hale had called me because he was afraid.
But fear in a man like Hale didn't make him retreat.
It made him move faster, cut corners, make decisions he'd normally take weeks to consider.
Emma was meeting Reyes at nine in the morning.
Hale had given me twelve hours.
The math was simple and it was bad.
My phone buzzed.
A message from Luke, sent from two floors down: *Aldridge had a fire at their west-side office.
Forty minutes ago.
Records room.*
I stared at the message.
Hale hadn't called to negotiate.
He'd called to keep me on the phone while someone else handled the evidence.
I typed back: *Get me everything that was backed up off-site.
Tonight.
And pull Emma's location.
I want to know she's home.*
May you like
Three minutes passed.
Luke's reply came in two words: *She's not.*
