Chapter Eleven Reckoning at Taylor International
Chapter Eleven
Reckoning at Taylor International
Taylor International had never looked more dangerous.
For most of London, the headquarters was a symbol of wealth.
Glass.
Steel.
Power arranged into forty-two immaculate floors overlooking the city.
Lucas had once loved the building.
Then he had hated what it represented.
Tonight, as the black security vehicle stopped beneath the covered entrance, he regarded it like a battlefield designed by his own bloodline.
Naomi followed his gaze upward.
Several floors remained dark.
Others glowed normally.
Employees were still inside.
That bothered her most.
“If Kells intends to release those files from here,” she said, “why hasn’t he evacuated the building?”
Anthony checked the message on his phone.
“Because evacuation would attract attention before he finishes.”
Adrian studied the security cameras above the doors.
“Or because he needs witnesses.”
Lucas looked toward him.
“To what?”
“Control.”
Adrian opened his door.
“Men like him rarely want to destroy something quietly.”
Naomi almost smiled.
“You’ve known a lot of men like him?”
“I was raised by one and related to two others.”
“Fair point.”
Anthony stepped out behind them.
“I’m choosing not to ask where I rank in this rapidly expanding family tree.”
“You’re the entertaining one,” Naomi said.
Anthony straightened his coat.
“Finally. Recognition.”
Lucas gave him a look.
“You are still a prince.”
“Yes, but entertaining prince sounds less exhausting.”
The humor lasted only seconds.
Commander Ross had remained in Spain to oversee Mercer’s transfer into custody and Serrano’s medical evacuation.
That left London security under Anthony’s authority.
Two tactical teams waited across the street.
Metropolitan Police had established a discreet perimeter.
No sirens.
No public evacuation.
Not yet.
They could not risk sending Kells into panic while he held access to the archive.
Lucas checked his phone.
“Building security says the main network is locked.”
Anthony nodded.
“Kells changed administrator privileges twelve minutes ago.”
“Can he publish from anywhere?”
“Not easily.”
Lucas pointed toward the upper floors.
“The primary international communications array is on thirty-eight.”
Naomi looked at him.
“And your office?”
“Forty-one.”
Anthony frowned.
“You think he’ll use your floor?”
“No.”
Lucas looked toward the building’s center.
“My grandfather’s.”
Naomi understood.
Arthur’s private executive suite had remained sealed after his death.
Hudson had never occupied it.
Lucas had refused.
One more monument to a man whose shadow had been larger than his body.
“Thirty-nine,” Lucas said.
Adrian studied the building plans on Anthony’s tablet.
“Private lift?”
“Yes.”
“Service shafts?”
“Two.”
“Stairs?”
“North and west.”
Naomi leaned closer.
“What aren’t we seeing?”
Lucas looked at her.
“The old mail corridor.”
Anthony stared.
“The what?”
“Arthur hated having confidential documents transported through normal staff lifts. He had an internal courier route built during the original renovation.”
Adrian raised an eyebrow.
“A secret passage inside a corporate tower.”
Lucas gave him a tired look.
“My family had a condition.”
Naomi almost laughed.
Then Anthony’s phone buzzed.
He read the message.
His expression changed.
“What?”
“Kells just sent a package.”
Naomi’s stomach tightened.
“To whom?”
“Five major news organizations.”
Lucas went rigid.
“What was in it?”
Anthony scrolled quickly.
“A minister. Two judges. A defense contractor. Banking records.”
Adrian swore.
“Selected targets.”
“Exactly.”
Naomi’s mind raced.
“Kells is proving the archive is real.”
Lucas nodded.
“Then he’ll threaten the rest.”
Anthony looked at them.
“Or sell silence.”
They had less time than they thought.
Lucas moved toward the entrance.
“Let’s go.”
The lobby was nearly empty.
Security staff had been ordered to remain at their stations to prevent Kells from realizing an operation had begun.
Naomi hated the calm.
Soft lighting reflected off polished stone.
A receptionist whispered into a headset.
Two men crossed toward elevators carrying laptops.
Everything looked normal.
That was the problem.
Lucas led them toward a service corridor.
A security officer approached.
“Mr. Taylor.”
“Status?”
“Thirty-nine is sealed. Mr. Kells has overridden the executive system.”
“Any employees trapped?”
“Six.”
Naomi stopped.
“Where?”
“Three administrative staff on thirty-eight. Two cleaners. One network engineer.”
“And the sixth?”
The officer hesitated.
“Your father’s former general counsel.”
Lucas frowned.
“Peter Shaw?”
“Yes.”
Anthony looked sharply at him.
“Why is Shaw here?”
“No idea.”
Naomi saw Lucas’s concern deepen.
Shaw had represented Taylor interests for decades.
Contracts.
Settlements.
Quiet negotiations.
He had defended Arthur’s business empire and later Hudson’s.
Adrian spoke quietly.
“Kells may need legal authentication.”
Naomi looked toward him.
“To release files?”
“To make them impossible to dismiss as fabrication.”
Lucas swore.
Kells wasn’t simply leaking evidence.
He was building credibility around it.
The elevator chimed.
Naomi turned.
Nothing.
Just an empty car.
Lucas pressed the service code.
Rejected.
Again.
Rejected.
Anthony looked toward the stairwell.
“Thirty-nine floors?”
Adrian sighed.
“I knew Europe would eventually punish me for preferring football.”
Naomi looked at Lucas.
“Mail corridor.”
He nodded.
“This way.”
The entrance was hidden behind what looked like an electrical closet.
Lucas opened it using an old mechanical key from the executive security desk.
Inside stood a narrow freight lift.
Anthony stared.
“Why does your family hide transportation inside walls?”
Lucas stepped inside.
“Because apparently normal doors were beneath us.”
Naomi entered beside him.
Adrian followed.
Anthony shook his head.
“I married into royalty and somehow your family is stranger.”
The lift rose.
No digital display.
Only numbers marked on a brass dial.
Naomi stood close to Lucas.
His shoulders were rigid.
She touched his arm.
He looked down.
“You okay?”
“No.”
The answer came without hesitation.
Good.
She preferred that to performance.
“My father’s hurt. My mother was drugged. My grandfather was murdered by someone we trusted. And that same man is now trying to turn this company into a weapon.”
Naomi slid her hand into his.
“Then we take it back from him.”
Lucas looked at her.
Not the company.
The choice.
The future.
He understood.
The freight lift stopped at thirty-eight.
A muted alarm sounded beyond the door.
Adrian raised a hand.
“Wait.”
Everyone became still.
Footsteps outside.
One person.
Then another.
Naomi heard muffled voices.
Kells’s men.
Adrian whispered,
“Two.”
Anthony looked at him.
“You can tell?”
“The second drags his left foot.”
Anthony blinked.
“I’m beginning to find you deeply irritating.”
Adrian almost smiled.
“Naomi said we’re related.”
Lucas opened a narrow service hatch.
Two armed men stood in the corridor.
Anthony quietly signaled the tactical team waiting two floors below.
Seconds later, the stairwell door opened.
The officers moved fast.
One guard reached for his weapon.
He never cleared the holster.
Both men were restrained before either managed to shout.
Naomi exhaled.
Anthony looked toward Adrian.
“Useful.”
“I’ll put it on my résumé.”
They continued upward.
Thirty-nine smelled like Arthur.
Naomi had never been in the suite before, but she recognized him anyway.
Dark walnut.
Leather.
Architectural drawings framed like artwork.
Nothing soft.
Nothing accidental.
At the far end, enormous windows overlooked London.
Simon Kells stood before them.
A laptop rested on Arthur’s old desk.
Peter Shaw sat nearby, pale and sweating.
One armed guard stood behind him.
A second lay unconscious near the wall.
Kells looked up as Lucas entered.
No surprise.
“I wondered how long it would take.”
Lucas stopped several yards away.
Naomi and Adrian spread slightly.
Anthony remained closer to the door.
“Kells.”
Simon smiled.
“Your father always said you had good instincts.”
Lucas’s expression stayed flat.
“He also said you murdered my grandfather.”
Peter Shaw stared at Kells.
“What?”
Kells did not look away from Lucas.
“Hudson survived.”
Naomi answered.
“Disappointed?”
“Annoyed.”
Lucas took one step forward.
The armed guard immediately raised his weapon.
Adrian shifted.
Kells noticed.
“Don’t.”
His voice was directed at everyone.
Naomi studied the laptop.
A progress window showed encrypted outgoing transmissions.
Twelve percent.
“What are you sending?” she asked.
Kells finally looked at her.
“Truth.”
Naomi shook her head.
“No. Your edit of it.”
His eyes narrowed slightly.
“You're Joseph's daughter.”
“Yes.”
“Biologically, no.”
Lucas stiffened.
Naomi did not.
“Still his daughter.”
Something in Kells’s face suggested he understood that distinction better than he wanted to.
He returned his attention to the screen.
“The archive contains enough material to destabilize half of Europe.”
“And that gives you permission to choose victims?” Naomi asked.
“It gives me responsibility.”
Adrian laughed once.
Kells glanced toward him.
“And you must be the hidden son.”
“Adrian James.”
“Mercer trained you well.”
“He also trained me to recognize men who use philosophy to make control sound noble.”
Peter Shaw looked toward Lucas.
“Lucas, he forced me to verify the records.”
Kells sighed.
“Peter.”
“You threatened my family.”
Lucas’s eyes hardened.
Kells looked annoyed rather than ashamed.
Naomi noticed the outgoing transfer.
Twenty-one percent.
She moved subtly closer to the desk.
Kells saw.
“Stop.”
She did.
“Those files already exist elsewhere,” Naomi said. “Twelve agencies received them.”
“Eventually.”
“They’ll verify them.”
“Perhaps.”
“You can't erase that.”
“I don’t intend to.”
That surprised her.
“What do you want?”
Kells smiled.
Finally.
The question he had been waiting for.
“Stability.”
Anthony scoffed.
“You drugged an elderly woman, assaulted her husband, kidnapped a lawyer, and threatened to detonate political scandals across several nations.”
Kells looked at him.