Chapter 14 - The Wrong Agents
The first sign something was wrong came when the lead federal agent did not open the briefcase.
He carried it toward an unmarked SUV.
Enzo watched him.
“Where are you taking it?”
“Evidence processing.”
“Open it here.”
The agent smiled.
“Mr. Marchetti, this is a federal investigation now.”
Adeline looked at Enzo.
Something in the man’s tone bothered her.
Caldwell noticed too.
And smiled again.
That was the second sign.
The third came when Vittorio started walking away.
No handcuffs.
No escort.
Just walking.
Marco’s voice crackled through Enzo’s earpiece.
“Enzo.”
“Yes.”
“The team in the garage isn’t on the authorization list.”
Enzo’s blood turned cold.
Caldwell had expected them.
The agents were his.
“Adeline.”
She heard the warning in his voice.
The first gun came out.
Enzo pushed her behind a concrete pillar.
Shots echoed through the garage.
Marco’s team entered from the west ramp.
Real federal agents, contacted through an investigator Thomas Vale had once trusted, arrived from the east.
For twenty terrifying seconds, no one knew who was shooting at whom.
Car windows shattered.
Alarms screamed.
Caldwell dropped behind the sedan.
Vittorio ran.
The false agents abandoned the briefcase.
Adeline crawled toward it.
Enzo saw her.
“No!”
She grabbed the handle.
A man aimed at her.
Enzo fired once.
The attacker fell behind a car.
Adeline dragged the Cathedral behind cover.
Marco reached them.
“Move!”
They crossed toward the east stairwell.
Caldwell shouted from across the garage.
“Vittorio!”
Vittorio stopped near the exit.
“Get the book!”
For the first time, Enzo saw the hierarchy clearly.
Vittorio had spent decades terrifying men.
Yet Caldwell spoke to him like an employee.
Vittorio turned back.
That hesitation cost him.
Camilla appeared at the top of the parking ramp.
She had left the surveillance van.
“Vittorio!”
He looked up.
Camilla held her father’s phone.
On the screen was a live video call.
Charles Ashford lay in his hospital bed.
“You should have killed me,” Charles said through the speaker.
Vittorio stared.
Charles continued.
“I sent everything I had to six newspapers.”
Caldwell screamed.
“You idiot!”
Charles smiled faintly.
“No.”
“I finally stopped being one.”
Vittorio raised his weapon toward Camilla.
Adeline saw it.
“Camilla!”
Camilla dropped.
The shot missed.
Marco returned fire.
Vittorio disappeared behind a support column.
Caldwell used the distraction to run toward the elevator.
Enzo followed.
He caught the closing door with one hand.
Caldwell stared at him from inside.
For a second, they stood face to face.
The respected surgeon.
The feared crime boss.
One built his empire in daylight.
The other in shadows.
Caldwell smiled.
“You are exactly like your father.”
Enzo forced the door open wider.
“Thank you.”
Caldwell’s smile vanished.
He pressed another button.
The elevator jolted.
Enzo lost his grip.
The doors closed.
Caldwell escaped upward.
Vittorio escaped through the hotel service tunnel.
But the Cathedral remained with Adeline.
They brought it to a secure federal office before midnight.
This time, Enzo selected the agents himself.
The ledger contained thirty years of evidence.
Payments to judges.
Hospital executives.
Police commanders.
Political donors.
Federal officials.
And beside dozens of names, a single handwritten letter.
D.
Deceased.
Adeline searched for Thomas Vale.
She found him.
April 17, 2008.
T. Vale.
Threat level: Critical.
Disposition approved: H.C.
She turned the page.
Lorenzo Marchetti.
Disposition approved: H.C.
Then Isabella Marchetti.
Disposition approved: H.C.
Enzo stared at all three.
No rumor remained.
Caldwell had ordered their deaths.
Vittorio had executed the orders.
Adeline closed the ledger.
“We have him.”
Enzo shook his head.
“No.”
She looked at him.
“We have evidence.”
“That isn’t the same thing.”
He turned toward the city lights beyond the federal building.
“Caldwell has lived his entire life believing institutions belong to him.”
“Tonight, he lost the book that proves it.”
“Now he will stop protecting his reputation.”
Adeline understood.
“What will he protect?”
Enzo looked back at her.
May you like
“His freedom.”
And somewhere in Chicago, Henry Caldwell was already preparing to burn the city around him.
