Chapter 9 - The Bullet and the Broadcast
Thomas fell with Rosa in his arms.
Maya fired toward the roof before the second shot came.
Jacques dove behind the SUV.
"Thomas!"
Maya sprinted across the pier.
Blood soaked the side of Thomas's shirt.
He pushed Rosa toward her.
"Take her."
"You're hit."
"I noticed."
Another bullet struck the pavement.
Thomas fired twice at the rooftop muzzle flash.
A body rolled behind the parapet.
Jacques's SUV roared to life.
Thomas staggered up and emptied the rest of his magazine into the rear tires.
One blew.
The SUV fishtailed, smashed through a chain barrier, and stopped sideways near the river.
Jacques ran on foot.
Maya raised her gun.
Thomas caught her arm.
"Not in front of Rosa."
Maya stared at him.
"You have standards now?"
"Apparently they arrived late."
Sirens wailed in the distance.
Thomas looked toward the sound.
"Those are not for us."
A helicopter spotlight swept across the port.
WNOH NEWS was painted on the side.
Maya started laughing.
"Mateo made it."
Thomas leaned against a bollard.
His phone buzzed as the jammer signal disappeared.
Thirty-seven missed calls.
Then one incoming.
Nina Caldwell.
Maya answered on speaker.
"Nina?"
"Maya, I have Moreau and the boy. I have twelve scanned ledger pages. Tell me they are real."
"They're real."
"Then every newsroom in Louisiana gets them in five minutes."
Thomas looked at Maya.
"Wait."
Maya's eyes hardened.
"No."
"I am not asking you to bury it."
"Then what?"
"If you dump everything now, Jacques sees which witnesses matter. He will kill them before federal agents move."
Nina went quiet.
"He's right," she said.
Maya stared at the phone.
"I hate when that happens."
Thomas pressed his hand against the wound.
"Release enough to make suppression impossible. Hold the witness names."
Nina said, "Give me ten minutes."
The call ended.
Rosa stood inches from Thomas, staring at the blood.
"Are you dying?"
"Not if I can avoid the inconvenience."
She began crying.
Thomas knelt despite the pain.
"Hey. Look at me."
Rosa did.
"I am not dying tonight."
"You promised Mama."
"I did."
"You also promised me."
Thomas nodded.
"I remember."
Rosa pressed both hands over his bleeding side as if she could hold him together.
Maya looked away for a second.
Then Thomas's phone rang again.
Unknown number.
He answered.
A man's voice said, "Mr. Rousseau, this is Special Agent Daniel Price Jr. My father died waiting for Celeste Rousseau's evidence. I have been waiting twenty-eight years for someone to finish what she started."
Thomas went still.
The agent continued.
"But if we are going to move tonight, I need the original ledger."
Thomas looked at Maya.
She slowly reached beneath her raincoat and pulled out the real leather pages.
Then a red dot appeared on her forehead.
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