Chapter 17 - THE CHOICE
Fire climbed the first stack of boxes.
“Move!” Luca shouted.
Dominic drove Adrian’s man into the wall and pulled Brooke free.
She dropped to the floor, coughing.
Adrian grabbed one banker’s box and ran toward the rear stairs.
Dominic started after him.
Then Brooke screamed.
A burning shelf had fallen across her leg.
Dominic stopped.
Adrian was getting away with the evidence.
Brooke stared at him from the floor.
For one raw second, the choice was exactly what Adrian had always believed it would be.
Power or person.
Proof or mercy.
Dominic went back for Brooke.
He kicked the burning shelf aside, grabbed her under the arms, and pulled her clear.
She stared at him in disbelief.
“Why?”
“Because I’m not him.”
He dragged her toward the stairs.
Luca tackled Adrian’s man and zip-tied his wrists with a plastic restraint from his jacket.
“Go!” Luca shouted. “I have them.”
Dominic pushed Brooke down the stairs.
Smoke filled the warehouse.
Sprinklers finally burst overhead.
Water hammered the burning papers.
Police crashed through the loading doors.
Ruiz entered with officers behind her.
“Everybody down!”
Brooke collapsed on the concrete.
Dominic pointed toward the rear exit.
“Adrian has the original files.”
Ruiz sent two officers after him.
Dominic followed anyway.
“Mercer!” she shouted.
He ignored her.
Outside, rain and sirens swallowed the night.
Adrian was running toward the dock with the banker’s box under one arm.
Dominic caught him near the edge.
Adrian dropped the box and swung.
Dominic blocked it.
They hit the wet boards hard.
For fourteen years, Adrian had known every weakness Dominic had.
Every old injury.
Every habit.
Every instinct.
That made the fight ugly and fast.
Adrian drove an elbow into Dominic’s ribs.
Dominic caught his coat and slammed him against a piling.
The banker’s box slid toward the water.
Adrian looked at it.
Dominic saw the choice.
Adrian dove for the box.
Dominic grabbed him instead.
“Still choosing paper over people,” Dominic said.
Adrian head-butted him.
Dominic staggered.
Adrian snatched the box and backed toward the edge of the dock.
Police lights flashed behind them.
Ruiz raised her weapon.
“Drop the box! Hands where I can see them!”
Adrian laughed.
“You think this ends with me?”
Dominic wiped rain from his face.
“It ends with you telling the truth.”
“No. It ends with you doing what everyone knows Dominic Mercer does.”
Adrian opened his arms.
“Come on, Dom.”
Ruiz shouted, “Do not move!”
Adrian smiled at Dominic.
“Kill me.”
The words were almost gentle.
“Give them the monster they came for.”
Dominic stared at him.
He thought of Catherine.
Find the truth first.
He thought of Noah.
Are you going to hurt her?
He thought of Natalie.
Bring back the truth. Not revenge.
Dominic stepped backward.
“No.”
Adrian’s smile vanished.
“No?”
“You don’t get to use me to destroy the evidence against you.”
Adrian looked toward the water.
Then he hurled the banker’s box into the bay.
Ruiz swore.
Dominic did not move.
A police diver team would recover what it could.
Adrian had expected rage.
Instead, Dominic smiled.
“That wasn’t the only copy.”
Adrian froze.
It was a bluff.
But Adrian did not know that.
His eyes flicked toward the warehouse.
Toward Brooke.
That was all Ruiz needed.
“Turn around,” she ordered.
Adrian slowly raised his hands.
Officers cuffed him.
Back inside, Brooke sat wrapped in a blanket.
She watched Adrian being led past.
He did not look at her.
Something inside her finally broke.
She called to Ruiz.
“Detective.”
Ruiz stopped.
Brooke’s voice was hollow.
“I’ll tell you what happened to Catherine.”
Dominic went completely still.
Brooke looked at him.
“But he needs to hear it too.”
—
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