Chapter 9 - THE NIGHT THE CITY WENT DARK
Victor moved before anyone else.
He crossed the open ground beneath the factory lights, firing at the men surrounding the vehicle. Elias pulled Sadi and Dr. Morales behind the concrete barrier while Sam was dragged toward the loading bay.
Sadi saw her brother disappear behind a steel door.
She tried to run after him.
Victor caught her around the waist.
“Let me go!”
“You’ll get killed.”
“They took Sam!”
“I know.”
“Then let me go!”
Victor dragged her behind cover as bullets struck the wall above them.
Dr. Morales sobbed beside them.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I’m so sorry.”
Sadi looked toward the loading bay.
The door had closed.
Victor spoke into his radio. “Seal the east side. Nobody leaves.”
His men returned fire.
The factory’s windows shattered one after another.
Smoke spread across the ground.
Sadi looked at Victor. “You said you could protect him.”
“I will.”
“You said that before.”
“And I still mean it.”
“Meaning it isn’t enough.”
Victor looked at her.
Then he stepped from behind the barrier.
Sadi grabbed his coat. “Where are you going?”
“To get your brother.”
He moved into the gunfire.
Sadi watched him disappear through the smoke.
For a moment, everything seemed unreal—the flashes of weapons, the sirens in the distance, the sharp scent of metal and dust.
Then she saw a narrow service tunnel beside the barrier.
A sign above it read: MAINTENANCE ACCESS.
She remembered the factory map from one of Victor’s files.
The tunnel led beneath the loading bay.
Sadi turned to Elias. “I know another way in.”
“You’re staying here.”
“You can either follow me or keep shooting at the front.”
Elias cursed under his breath, then signaled two men.
They entered the tunnel.
It was narrow, dark, and filled with old pipes. Sadi moved quickly, guided by the dim emergency lights.
At the end, she heard voices.
Dario was speaking.
“The box is not enough. We need the girl to remember.”
Sam’s voice answered weakly. “Leave my sister alone.”
Sadi reached the doorway.
Dario stood beside a metal chair. Sam was tied to it, but conscious.
A second man held a gun near his head.
Dario turned toward the sound.
Sadi stepped into the room.
“Let him go.”
Dario smiled. “You came willingly.”
“I came for my brother.”
“You came because you believed Victor could save him.”
“Where is he?”
“Probably dead by now.”
The words struck her chest, but she refused to show fear.
Dario walked toward her. “Your father left more than a ledger. He left a recording. You heard it when you were four.”
“I don’t remember.”
“You will.”
“What do you want?”
“The truth.”
“Then ask Victor.”
Dario laughed. “Victor knows only what your father allowed him to know.”
Sam pulled against the ropes. “Sadi, don’t listen to him.”
Dario turned toward him. “Your sister’s debt was arranged. Her job was arranged. Even the hospital account was manipulated.”
Sadi stared at him.
“What are you talking about?”
“Your brother’s treatment was paid partly through a charity controlled by Rafael. You were never supposed to finish paying the loan. You were supposed to lose control, steal from Victor’s office, and lead us to the ledger.”
Sadi’s blood ran cold.
“You’re lying.”
“Ask Victor where your salary came from.”
Her mind flashed through the months.
The envelope Victor had given her after Sam’s diagnosis.
The sudden raise.
The instruction to work only in certain rooms.
Had it all been part of a plan?
Dario stepped closer. “You were placed inside the estate because your father’s daughter could open what he hid.”
Sadi looked at Sam.
He was pale, frightened, but watching her.
Dario’s men had made one mistake.
They were talking.
And Sadi had spent eight months cleaning rooms where people believed she was invisible.
She had learned how sound traveled through walls.
She heard movement behind the storage shelves.
Someone else was there.
Victor.
Sadi looked directly at Dario. “You’re right.”
He paused.
“I remember.”
Dario leaned closer. “What?”
“The recording.”
“What did your father say?”
“He said Rafael was innocent.”
Dario’s face changed.
Sadi continued, “He said Victor’s father stole the money.”
Dario grabbed her.
Behind him, Victor stepped from the shadows.
“Interesting,” Victor said.
Dario spun around.
Victor’s face was streaked with blood, but his gun was steady.
Dario’s men raised their weapons.
Victor fired twice.
One man dropped his gun.
The other fled toward the back exit.
Elias entered behind Victor and cut Sam free.
Dario seized Sadi and dragged her against his chest.
Victor aimed at him.
“Let her go.”
Dario’s arm tightened around Sadi’s throat.
“You can’t shoot.”
Victor’s eyes met Sadi’s.
She saw the question in them.
Can you move?
Sadi shifted her foot backward.
Dario’s balance changed.
She drove her heel into his knee.
He shouted and loosened his grip.
Victor crossed the room and struck him with the butt of his weapon.
Dario fell.
Sadi stumbled into Victor’s arms.
For one brief second, she felt his heart beating hard beneath his shirt.
“Are you hurt?” he asked.
“No.”
“Sam?”
“Alive.”
A phone began ringing.
Dario’s.
Victor picked it up.
The caller spoke before he could say anything.
“Victor,” Rafael said. “You’ve been searching for me all night.”
Victor’s expression became murderous.
Rafael continued, “Bring Sadi Hayes to the old courthouse by midnight. Bring the box. Come without your men.”
Victor said nothing.
Rafael laughed.
“If you refuse, every account paying for Samuel’s treatment disappears by morning.”
The call ended.
Sadi looked at Victor.
“What does he mean?”
Victor’s silence was answer enough.
May you like
Her brother’s treatment depended on money connected to Rafael.
And midnight was only four hours away.
