Chapter 9 - A DECISION THAT COULD CHANGE EVERYTHING
Night had completely fallen by the time everyone gathered around Samuel's conference table again.
Nobody suggested calling it a day.
The hidden map.
The mysterious surveillance.
The break-in.
The searched employee files.
Individually, each event might have been dismissed as coincidence.
Together...
They formed a pattern.
Samuel folded his hands.
"We have two choices."
Daniel listened quietly.
"We ignore everything..."
Samuel continued,
"...or we find that warehouse before someone else does."
Richard immediately answered.
"I vote we leave before sunrise."
His colleague nodded.
"The longer we wait, the greater the chance someone beats us there."
Ryan looked uncertain.
"Shouldn't we tell the police?"
Richard sighed.
"We may eventually."
"But right now we don't even know what we're asking them to protect."
Daniel looked down at the faded leather tag attached to the key.
For years it had been nothing more than a painful reminder of everything he had lost.
Now...
It had become the center of a mystery stretching back more than two decades.
Samuel opened a drawer and removed a small notebook.
"My grandfather always kept one rule."
"What was it?" Daniel asked.
"If the truth survives..."
Samuel smiled slightly.
"...write everything down before someone rewrites it for you."
He placed the notebook in front of Daniel.
"From this moment forward..."
"You keep the record."
Daniel hesitated.
"I haven't written anything in years."
"Then tonight is a good night to begin again."
Daniel slowly opened the notebook.
On the first page he wrote only one sentence.
Tomorrow we start looking for the truth my father died protecting.
None of them realized...
Across the street, inside the dark sedan...
A man raised a camera with a long lens.
He photographed Daniel through the office window.
Then quietly made a phone call.
"We found him."
A calm voice answered from the other end.
"Don't approach."
The man lowered the camera.
"What are your orders?"
May you like
The reply came without hesitation.
"Let him lead us to the vault."
