Chapter 18
LUC
My phone wakes me just after dawn. It's Remy. I reach for it before the second ring, careful not to wake Simone curled against my side.
"Talk to me."
"We got more." His voice carries that edge he gets when a case breaks wider. "Cyber team found a second layer of encrypted communications on Armand's server. Different encryption protocol, separate partition. We've been working on it since the raids. Just cracked it an hour ago."
I'm out of bed and pulling on jeans before he finishes the sentence. "What's in them?"
"Direct messages between Armand and an unknown party. Dated the same day as your kidnapping, after Julien grabbed you. You need to see this."
"On my way."
Simone stirs, and she opens her eyes. "What's wrong?"
"Breakthrough on the case. Stay here until I get back." I lean down, press a kiss to her forehead. "Derek will be outside. Don't leave the guest house."
"Yes, Sir."
The automatic submission steadies us both. I head out, and I text Derek to maintain position while I'm at the operations center.
The drive takes under ten minutes through the empty morning streets. Remy's waiting in the conference room with our cyber specialist, Blake Harrison, and a spread of monitors showing data I need to see.
"Show me," I say.
Blake pulls up the first message. "These were buried deep. Separate encryption from the communications the FBI presented at the press conference. Armand used a different protocol for his most sensitive traffic. Took us all night to crack it."
The message is dated the same day I was kidnapped, hours after Julien grabbed me:
LaSalle compromised. Liability. Eliminate immediately. Make it clean. No connection back.
The response comes from a burner number:
Understood. Half now, half on confirmation.
"We traced the payments," Blake continues, switching screens. "Wire transfers from the same shell corporation that funded the surveillance operation. Matches the timeline exactly."
"Murder for hire." Remy's voice is flat. "Direct evidence Armand ordered the hit."
"Who's the contractor?"
"Marcel Fontaine." Blake pulls up a file.
It shows a professional headshot, basic information from criminal databases.
"We got his identity from the burner number registration.
He has a record - assault charges, weapons violations, suspected involvement in several contract killings but never convicted.
He's smart enough to stay off most radars. "
"Where is he now?"
"That's the problem." Andy's voice comes from the doorway.
He's in full detective mode, badge clipped to his belt, case file under his arm.
"The FBI coordinated with us for arrest warrants an hour ago since Julien's murder is NOPD jurisdiction.
By the time tactical reached his apartment, he was gone.
The place was cleaned out. He knew exactly how to disappear. "
"How long ago?"
"Can't have been more than a few hours. Landlord saw him yesterday evening." Andy moves to the table, spreads out surveillance photos. "We've got an APB out, FBI's coordinating with Customs and Border Patrol in case he runs for Mexico or tries to fly out. But my gut says he's still in the city."
"Why?" Remy asks.
"Because running smart means disappearing immediately. Fontaine had time to pack, clean the apartment, cover his tracks. If he was running, he'd already be gone. He's still here for a reason."
I study Fontaine's file. The kind of operator who doesn't leave loose ends. Who plans exits before he makes moves. Who understands that the evidence we just found makes him a liability to anyone who hired him.
"Loose ends," I say quietly.
"Simone." Remy gets it immediately. "He knows we have the communications. He knows we can tie Armand to Julien's murder. If we have Simone's testimony about the surveillance operation plus evidence Armand ordered Julien killed, that's a federal conspiracy case that puts Armand away for life."
"Unless key witnesses disappear." Andy's jaw sets. "Fontaine's specialty is making problems go away. If Armand's going down anyway, Fontaine might be cleaning house. Eliminating anyone who can testify."
"Or eliminating witnesses who can tie him to the murder." Security feeds on my phone show clear perimeter. Derek's positioned at the guest house entrance, no movement on the cameras. "Either way, Simone's a target."
"I've got murder-for-hire charges drafted against Armand," Andy says.
"This new evidence gives us the direct link we were missing—communications ordering the hit, payment trail, identified contractor.
Federal prosecutors are confident. But without Fontaine in custody, he's the missing piece.
We need him alive to testify that Armand hired him. "
"And if he's hunting Simone, we can use that,” says Remy. “He comes for her, we're ready."
My expression hardens. "I don't like using her as bait."
"Neither do I, little brother, but Fontaine's a professional. He won't make a move without surveillance, without planning. That gives us time to set the trap."
I hate that he’s right, but I know that he is. I look at Andy. "How fast can you get surveillance on known associates, properties he might use as staging areas?"
"Already coordinating with FBI. We're pulling everything we can on his network." Andy checks his phone. "I'll keep you posted on any movement."
The meeting runs another hour. We coordinate protocols, and we establish communication channels between Rapier Strategic, FBI, and NOPD. By the time I head back to the estate, the sun's fully up and I've got a tactical plan for keeping Simone alive while we hunt the man who killed Julien.
Derek's still posted when I return. "All quiet. She's been inside the whole time."
I dismiss him and head into the guest house. Simone's at the kitchen table with her laptop, coffee cup beside her. She looks up when I enter.
"What did they find?"
I don't soften it. "Encrypted communications between your uncle and a contract killer named Marcel Fontaine. Direct messages ordering Julien's execution. Payment trail of a hundred thousand dollars. We have proof Armand ordered the hit."
Her face goes pale. "They can charge him?"
"Murder for hire. Federal case. Combined with the surveillance, conspiracy, and kidnapping charges, your uncle's going to federal prison for the rest of his life."
"And the killer?"
"Cleared out before they could arrest him.
Professional exit, knows they're onto him.
" I grab my coffee, drink it black and bitter.
"Andy thinks he's still in the city. You're a witness who can testify against Armand.
Fontaine might be cleaning house, eliminating anyone who can connect him to the murder. " I lean against the counter.
She stands, crosses to the counter, and leans against it beside me with a weary sigh. "When does this actually end?"
"When we put him in the ground or in a cell. He's getting sloppy, we're closing in." I set down the cup. "But until then, you follow protocols. No arguments, no testing boundaries. He's a professional killer and you're in his crosshairs."
"I understand."
She's been under constant threat for weeks. The board meeting, Armand's arrest, the media siege. Now this. The cracks are forming.
I pull her against my chest, feel the tension locked through her body. She doesn't cry, doesn't break down. Just holds on.
"I'm tired, Luc." Her voice is muffled against my shirt. "I'm tired of being scared. Tired of looking over my shoulder. Tired of waiting for the next threat."
"I know."
"How much longer?"
"As long as it takes. But Fontaine made a mistake staying in the city. We'll find him."
My phone buzzes. Text from Remy:
Fontaine spotted on surveillance. French Quarter, near Jackson Square. Moving units now.
I show Simone the screen. "They've got eyes on him."
Hope flickers across her face before caution kills it. She's learned not to count on anything ending cleanly.
"What happens now?"
"We wait." I pocket my phone. "FBI and NOPD are coordinating the takedown. Remy's running point with our team. We stay here, secured, until they have him in custody."
The day grinds on. Updates come in fragments. Fontaine spotted, then lost. Surveillance camera catches him near the riverfront, then nothing. He's moving through the city with the kind of operational awareness that says he knows he's being hunted.
By late afternoon, we still don't have him.
Simone works from her laptop, handling business calls and emails like she's not sitting in protective custody waiting for a contract killer to be caught.
I coordinate with Remy, review surveillance footage, and catalog Fontaine's movements looking for patterns.
"He's casing locations," I say on the phone with Remy. "Watch his route. He's not running. He's planning something."
"Agreed. Question is what."
By evening, I realize what Fontaine's doing. "He's hunting loose ends. Simone's not his only target. He's eliminating anyone who can tie him to the job."
"Who else would know?"
"Anyone Armand used to coordinate the surveillance operation. Staff at Dominion who might have seen him. The attendant who helped plant cameras." I pull up the list of people connected to the case. "He's working through a kill list before he disappears."
Remy's quiet for a moment. "We need to get ahead of him. Identify his targets, protect them before he moves."
"Already on it." I start making calls, coordinating with Andy and the FBI to pull anyone connected to the surveillance operation into protective custody. It takes hours, but by late evening, we've got potential targets secured.
Which means Fontaine's options are narrowing. And when a professional killer runs out of easy targets, he starts taking risks.
Simone appears in the doorway to my office. She's changed into comfortable clothes, hair loose around her shoulders.
"Still nothing?"