Chapter 6 - The Man in the Gray Suit.
Daniel stared at the message longer than anyone else.
Adrian's voice remained controlled.
"Where were you?"
Daniel swallowed.
"In the parking garage."
Evan frowned.
"You told me you went straight home."
"I lied."
Adrian's eyes became colder.
Daniel set the tablet on the desk as though he no longer wanted anything in his hands.
"I received a message at 2:04 telling me someone had information about Noah."
Adrian stepped closer.
"And you went alone."
"Because the message said you were the reason he disappeared."
The words landed hard.
Mara watched Adrian carefully, but he did not react with anger.
He reacted with hurt.
Daniel continued.
"I thought it was bait, but I couldn't ignore it."
In the garage, he had found no person, only an envelope taped beneath his car.
Inside was a photograph of Noah standing outside the river storage facility and a note reading UNIT 314.
Daniel had hidden the envelope because he wanted to verify it before telling Adrian.
Mara held up the brass key.
"They wanted all of us thinking about the same place."
Evan looked toward the blueprint.
"Which means the storage unit may be the trap."
"Or the one place Julian can't control," Mara said.
Adrian looked at Daniel.
"Anything else?"
Daniel hesitated again.
That hesitation was answer enough.
He removed his silver tie clip and placed it on the desk.
"This wasn't mine when I left the garage."
Evan picked it up with a handkerchief and examined the back.
A tiny transmitter had been built into the metal.
The tracker explained how Julian's people knew Daniel had returned to the executive floor.
It also explained the grainy photograph of a man dressed exactly like him.
Someone had prepared a duplicate suit, copied his appearance, and planted a tracking device to complete the frame.
Mara let out a breath.
"He doesn't need us to believe every lie."
"He only needs us to doubt each other long enough," Adrian said.
For the first time, Mara nodded at him as if they had arrived at the same conclusion from opposite directions.
A warning light blinked on the office security panel.
The service corridor sensor had activated.
Someone was coming through the route that supposedly had no cameras.
Evan moved to the wall beside the kitchen door.
Daniel muted his tablet.
Adrian guided Mara behind the stone column near the sofa.
"Stay here."
She looked at him.
"You realize telling me that hasn't worked once tonight."
Despite everything, Evan almost laughed.
The kitchen panel opened.
A man in a gray suit stepped through with both hands raised.
It was not one of Julian's security contractors.
It was Noah Vale.
Adrian stopped moving.
Four years of anger, questions, and silence stood suddenly ten feet away.
Noah looked older, thinner, and far more tired than the man from the video.
His eyes went first to Adrian, then to Mara.
"You found her."
Adrian's voice came out rough.
"You knew she was coming."
"I hoped she would make it."
Mara stepped out from behind the column.
"You could have warned me Julian was inside the tower."
Noah looked genuinely surprised.
"Julian isn't inside the tower."
Daniel immediately turned the tablet around and showed him the live lobby feed.
Noah stared at the image.
Then he walked closer and enlarged Julian's face.
"That's not live."
Evan frowned.
"The timestamp says it is."
Noah pointed to the marble clock in the background.
Its second hand never moved.
The entire lobby scene was a loop.
Adrian looked toward the office doors.
If Julian was not waiting downstairs, then he could be anywhere.
Noah's expression darkened.
"He never wanted Mara in the lobby."
Mara understood first.
"He wanted us out of this office."
A faint mechanical sound came from behind the large painting on Adrian's wall.
May you like
Noah turned toward it.
"Because that's where your father hid the real safe."
