The Shadows of the Docks
Chapter 07 - The Shadows of the Docks
The industrial shipyard on the south side of the city was a graveyard of rusted shipping containers, decaying cranes, and slick, oil-stained concrete. Heavy fog rolled off the ocean, obscuring visibility down to a few yards.
I parked my SUV three blocks away, keeping the vehicle concealed behind an abandoned brick warehouse. I pulled Knox’s military-grade signal receiver from my jacket and watched the red blip indicating Chloe’s ankle monitor.
The blip was stationary inside Warehouse 14—a massive, cavernous steel structure right at the edge of the water.
I crept along the side of the warehouse, my hand resting firmly on the grip of my concealed firearm. The damp air smelled of salt, diesel fuel, and old iron.
A small side door near the loading dock was propped open with a broken wooden pallet. I slipped inside silently, stepping onto a rusted catwalk high above the main concrete floor.
Below me, illuminated by a single hanging industrial halogen lamp, stood Chloe. She was pacing back and forth nervously, still wearing her crumpled designer coat, clutching a thick leather duffel bag to her chest.
Standing across from her was a man dressed in a dark wool trench coat. His face was obscured by the shadows, but his posture was upright, rigid, and commanding.
“You’re late!” Chloe whimpered, her voice echoing faintly off the corrugated steel walls. “Where is the boat? You promised Mom’s associates would get me out of the country if I brought the backup drive!”
The man stepped forward into the pale yellow light.
My heart skipped a beat, a cold wave of shock paralyzing my limbs.
It was Julian Sterling—a former high-level partner at Harrington Enterprises who had vanished three years ago after a massive corporate espionage investigation. Everyone had assumed he was living in luxury in South America, out of reach of the law.
Instead, he had been hiding in plain sight, pulling Eleanor’s strings from the shadows all along.
“Calm down, Chloe,” Julian said smoothly, his tone sickeningly polite. “Your mother’s recklessness at the estate yesterday disrupted our entire timeline. Throwing a baby down the stairs? How crude. How unimaginative.”
“She panicked!” Chloe yelled, tears streaming down her face. “Arthur caught her! The cameras caught her! Just take the drive and give me my passport!”
Chloe unzipped the duffel bag and pulled out a sleek, black military-grade hard drive—the master vault containing the backdoor access keys to every encrypted account owned by Harrington Enterprises.
May you like
Julian reached out his gloved hand to take it, a dark, victorious smile spreading across his face. “You’ve done very well, my dear. Your mother may be a foolish brute, but you... you have secured my legacy.”
“Drop it, Julian!” I barked from the high catwalk, pulling my gun and aiming it straight at his chest.
