7. Rowan #2
"My father paid the rent." I keep my attention on Rahil.
He looks at the boxes. "Your father paid for many things with money that wasn't his."
The younger operator shifts toward Rahil's left man.
Rahil catches the movement. "You should stay where you are."
The man moves first. He crosses the distance before the younger operator gets his weapon clear, slams him into the metal divider, and drives an elbow into the side of his head. The operator drops to the concrete.
Harper jerks backward into the shelving.
Makari draws his weapon while Rahil's second man does the same. Nobody fires.
Rahil looks at Makari. "You know what happens if we start that here."
"I know what happens if you take another step." Makari keeps his weapon trained on him and shifts far enough to keep both men in view.
The younger operator is conscious, but blood runs from his hairline. Harper crouches near him, close to my phone on the folding table.
I move far enough around the shelving for Rahil to see me. "What did my father do?"
Makari doesn't look back, but his shoulders change enough to tell me he dislikes my position.
Rahil looks past him. "You should ask a better question."
"I'm asking you. Did Dad work for Orell?"
"Jeremy Bennett signed every route you've found." Rahil takes one step closer, forcing Makari to shift with him. "Your father understood what his signature meant."
"That doesn't answer whether he built it."
Rahil looks at the ledgers behind me. "He knew enough to become a problem."
Behind Makari, Harper reaches up and takes my phone from the folding table.
"Aaron became a problem too." I keep Rahil watching me. "Did you kill him?"
Rahil doesn't answer.
A faint vibration comes from the protection token in my pocket.
Harper triggered it. Telling her about it was a good idea.
Rahil looks toward the road before any of us hear the engine. Makari reacts a second later and moves back half a step. "Rowan, get down."
A black SUV tears through the storage lane and stops sideways across the row.
Erik is out before the vehicle settles.
Rahil's left man turns toward him. Erik closes the distance, catches him high on the shoulder, and drives him backward into the roll-up door of the next unit. Metal crashes through the lane.
Makari moves toward Harper while keeping Rahil covered. She's already dragging the injured operator farther behind the shelving. Rahil and his second man begin backing toward the Tahoe instead of escalating.
Erik starts after them.
Rahil stops beside the driver's door and looks directly at me. "Your father wasn't innocent enough to be worth this."
The Tahoe pulls away before Erik reaches it.
I take one step after them, and the torn edge of the shelving catches my forearm through my sleeve. I jerk back when pain cuts across the skin.
Erik turns at once and crosses the unit toward me. "Who cut you?"
"The shelf." I hold my arm away from my shirt.
He looks toward the lane where the Tahoe disappeared. "Who touched you?"
"Nobody."
Erik takes one step toward the entrance before stopping himself. "I'll make Orell answer for every person he sends near you."
"The shelf cut me." I move into his path until he looks at me again.
Makari crouches beside the younger operator while Harper presses gauze against his temple. "She's correct."
Erik ignores him. He stops close enough to inspect the torn sleeve without touching me. "Can I see your arm?"
The question catches me after four days of fighting him over permission.
I hold it out.
He pushes the torn fabric back carefully and examines the shallow cut. Once he confirms it isn't deep, he takes gauze from the open kit and wraps my forearm without closing his grip around me.
I wanted him here before the SUV arrived. I wanted him here when Rahil talked about Dad. I'm not ready to explain either one, even to myself, so I let him finish the bandage.
Harper looks up from the injured operator. "Your alert works."
Erik secures the gauze before turning toward her. "You triggered it?"
"I used the control on Rowan's phone."
Makari looks at Harper while checking the other man's pupils. "That was the correct call."
She pauses. "I'm going to remember you said that."
"You shouldn't."
The first siren reaches us from Route 9.
Makari gets to his feet. "Those are town units."
Erik listens long enough to place the direction. "State police are coming from the north."
The sirens from the south grow louder. Makari puts his weapon away and starts closing boxes.
I look toward the facility gate. "Why does that matter?"
"The town chief plays golf with Blackthorne's athletic director." Erik takes both ledgers. "We're not explaining this room to him before outside counsel is present."
"That sounds a lot like removing evidence."
"You photographed the unit before we touched it. Makari recorded our entry, and the facility has cameras." Erik picks up Aaron's notes. "We preserve the material somewhere the first responding department can't lose it."
The last official channel turned Aaron's death into an insurance theory.
I take the photograph of Richard and Orell from the table and slide it into its sleeve. "Harper goes with Makari."
Harper looks at the injured operator, then at me. "I'm going with Makari."
Erik waits until I release the photograph before taking it from me. "You're with me."
I look toward the facility gate, where the first cruiser is already turning in. This isn't the moment to win a transportation argument.
I climb into Erik's SUV.
Makari loads the ledgers behind us, and Erik takes Route 9 north before the officer entering the back row can decide whether to follow.