Chapter 2 - THE DEAD MAN WHO CAME BACKViktor had watched Thomas Bennett die.
Or at least, that was what he had believed.
He remembered the warehouse robbery with painful clarity.
The security guard falling beside the loading dock.
Blood spreading across his uniform.
The getaway driver screaming for everyone to get into the van.
And Viktor standing frozen, staring at the man he thought had just been murdered.
Now that same man was outside Gabriel Morel's farmhouse.
Alive.
Armed.
And apparently commanding the men who had come to kill them.
Viktor's legs almost gave way.
“That isn't possible,” he whispered.
Milan gripped his arm.
“What?”
“Bennett.”
“Who?”
“The guard.”
Milan stared.
“The one you went to prison for?”
Viktor nodded.
Outside, another gunshot shattered a window.
Glass rained onto the cellar floor.
Jeanne cried out upstairs.
Gabriel shouted for her to stay down.
Viktor climbed two steps toward the door.
Milan grabbed him.
“Where are you going?”
“Gabriel's alone.”
“He's the reason you spent three years in prison!”
Viktor looked at his younger brother.
“And he's the reason we're still breathing.”
He pulled free.
For a moment, Milan looked like the frightened seventeen-year-old Viktor had once protected from their father's violent temper.
But Milan was twenty-six now.
Old enough to understand that hatred could become a prison of its own.
Viktor opened the cellar door just enough to see the yard.
Gabriel crouched behind a stone planter.
Across the driveway, a tall man in a charcoal coat stood beside the first SUV.
Thomas Bennett.
His hair was shorter.
A thin scar crossed his jaw.
But Viktor recognized the face immediately.
Bennett smiled.
“Still playing the hero, Gabriel?”
Gabriel kept his weapon trained on the driveway.
“Get off my mother's property.”
“You know why we're here.”
“Then you know you're not getting what you came for.”
Bennett sighed.
“You always did make things difficult.”
Viktor stepped onto the porch.
“BENNETT!”
The man's smile vanished.
For several seconds, nobody moved.
Then Bennett laughed.
“Well, look who's finally out of his cage.”
Viktor felt something inside him break.
“You're alive.”
Bennett spread his arms.
“Apparently.”
“They said I killed you.”
“No,” Bennett replied. “They said somebody killed me. You just happened to be convenient.”
Viktor stepped forward.
Gabriel snapped his head toward him.
“Get back inside!”
But Viktor barely heard him.
“Three years,” he said.
Bennett tilted his head.
“What?”
“Three years of my life.”
Bennett's expression remained almost bored.
“Consider yourself lucky. Some people lose considerably more.”
Viktor lunged.
Gabriel caught him by the jacket and dragged him behind the planter as a rifle cracked.
The bullet struck the porch railing.
Wood exploded.
Viktor hit the ground hard.
“Are you trying to get yourself killed?” Gabriel shouted.
Viktor struggled beneath him.
“He destroyed my life!”
“And he'll finish the job if you stand up again!”
For a moment, their faces were inches apart.
The detective and the prisoner.
The man who had made the arrest.
And the man who had spent three years dreaming of revenge.
Then Viktor saw Gabriel's bleeding shoulder.
The detective had been hit.
“You're wounded.”
“It's a graze.”
“You're bleeding.”
“I noticed.”
Gabriel pulled a spare magazine from his jacket.
“Can you shoot?”
Viktor stared.
“You're giving me a gun?”
“No. I'm asking whether you can help me get my mother out of this house without making another terrible decision.”
Viktor looked toward the shattered window.
Jeanne was trapped inside.
Milan was in the cellar.
And Bennett's men were closing in.
“Yes,” Viktor said.
Gabriel nodded.
“Then listen.”
He explained that the farmhouse had an old storm tunnel connecting the cellar to a drainage ditch behind the orchard.
Jeanne had used it as a child when severe storms flooded the property.
The entrance was hidden beneath a wooden storage platform.
If Viktor could get Jeanne and Milan through the tunnel, they might reach the tree line.
Gabriel would remain behind long enough to distract the attackers.
Viktor stared at him.
“You'll die.”
“Maybe.”
“Why would you do that?”
Gabriel's expression changed.
“Because my mother has already buried my father. I'm not letting her bury the truth too.”
Viktor hesitated.
Then he asked the question that had haunted him since Bennett appeared.
“You knew he was alive?”
Gabriel looked away.
That was answer enough.
Viktor grabbed his collar.
“You knew?”
“I found out eight months ago.”
“Eight months?”
“Viktor—”
“You let me rot in prison!”
Gabriel didn't defend himself immediately.
The silence was worse than an excuse.
Then he said something Viktor hadn't expected.
“Yes.”
Viktor released him.
Gabriel continued.
“I knew there was a possibility Bennett had survived. I didn't have proof strong enough to overturn your conviction, and the people protecting him had already killed two witnesses.”
“You should have told me.”
“I should have done a lot of things.”
For the first time, Viktor heard regret in the detective's voice.
Not the kind offered to escape blame.
The kind that came from a man who had spent years living with a decision he couldn't undo.
Another shot struck the planter.
Gabriel pushed Viktor toward the cellar.
“Go!”
Viktor ran.
Inside, he found Jeanne crouched behind the kitchen island.
She was shaking but conscious.
“Mrs. Morel?”
She looked up.
“You're the man Gabriel arrested.”
Viktor stopped.
“Yes.”
Jeanne studied his face.
Then she asked quietly, “Are you going to hurt my son?”
Viktor couldn't answer immediately.
Three years earlier, he would have said yes without hesitation.
Now he looked toward the gunfire outside.
“No, ma'am.”
He helped her stand.
“I'm going to get you out.”
Together, they reached the cellar.
Milan had already found the wooden platform.
He pushed it aside, revealing a narrow concrete opening.
Cold air drifted from the darkness.
Jeanne stared.
“I haven't been down there in forty years.”
Viktor took her hand.
“Then we'll take it slowly.”
Milan entered first.
Jeanne followed.
Viktor was about to climb in when he heard Gabriel shouting upstairs.
“Viktor!”
He looked back.
Gabriel stood at the cellar doorway.
Blood soaked the shoulder of his shirt.
His breathing was ragged.
“Take this.”
He tossed Viktor a small black object.
A flash drive.
Viktor caught it.
“What is it?”
“The reason Bennett came here.”
Viktor stared at the device.
“The recording?”
“Not just the recording.”
Gabriel glanced toward the front of the house.
“They're coming.”
Viktor moved toward the tunnel.
Then Gabriel caught his arm.
“There's something else.”
“What?”
Gabriel's face tightened.
“Your brother wasn't the only person Bennett contacted.”
Viktor felt cold.
“Who else?”
Gabriel looked directly into his eyes.
“Your lawyer.”
A crash sounded upstairs.
Boots pounded across the kitchen floor.
Gabriel pushed Viktor into the tunnel and slammed the wooden platform back into place.
Darkness swallowed him.
For several seconds, he heard nothing except Milan breathing and Jeanne whispering a prayer.
Then a gunshot echoed through the cellar.
A heavy body fell.
May you like
And Bennett's voice drifted through the darkness.
“Search the tunnel. And bring me Viktor alive. His brother has already told me everything.”
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