Chapter 10 - The Missing Briefcase
"Eli, listen to me very carefully," I said, leaning in closer, my voice urgent but controlled. "Did you see where he put the briefcase after he took it from the closet?"
Eli blinked, trying to recall through the lingering fog of the concussion. "He... he put it in his gray duffel bag. The one he keeps in the guest room. He said he was going to meet some man named Marcus at the warehouse downtown."
My heart hammered against my ribs. Marcus was in federal custody, and Ryan was locked in a holding cell, but Meridian Holdings had a massive network of operatives across Charlotte who hadn't been rounded up yet. If those physical files fell into the wrong hands, every single name, every logistical route, and every piece of counter-intelligence Grace’s team had just fought to secure could be compromised within the hour.
I stood up slowly, gently kissing the top of my son's head. "I need to make a quick phone call, Eli. I'll be right outside the door, okay? You're safe here. The men in the hall aren't going anywhere."
"Don't leave me, Dad," he whispered, his small fingers tightening around my thumb with surprising strength.
"Just for one minute, buddy. I promise."
I stepped out into the hallway, pulling my phone from my pocket with one hand while dialing Grace’s encrypted direct line with the other. The phone rang twice before her crisp, analytical voice came through the speaker.
"Miller."
"Grace, it's me," I said, keeping my voice low so the tactical guards wouldn't overhear. "Eli just gave me a crucial piece of information. Ryan packed the physical backup files into a gray duffel bag and took them from the house yesterday."
Silence stretched on the other end of the line for a second before Grace replied sharply, "Marcus didn't have those files when we searched his vehicle downtown. That means they're still out there."
"Where would Ryan hide physical documents if he wanted insurance against his own family?" I asked, pacing the length of the hospital corridor. "He doesn't own a home. He stays at my parents' place or uses the old family hunting cabin off Lake Norman."
"Neither," Grace said coldly. "Federal dispatch just flagged an unauthorized vehicle accessing the security gates at your parents' estate ten minutes ago—a black SUV registered to an alias linked to Meridian's executive security detail."
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My blood ran cold. "My parents' house. They're going after my mother and father."
"They aren't going after them to rescue them, Daniel," Grace warned, the sound of car doors slamming echoing through her phone receiver. "They're going to burn the house to the ground to destroy the paper trail. And based on my GPS tracking, they're only three minutes ahead of us."
