"Yes."
"Why stop now?"
Preston looked ashamed.
"Because yesterday you didn't hit me."
Thomas stared.
Preston continued.
"I wanted you to."
"Why?"
"So I could justify what my father was planning."
Thomas understood.
A setup.
A staged assault.
A lawsuit.
A financial takeover.
"And now?"
Preston looked at Dmitri.
"I don't want the gym destroyed."
Dmitri leaned back.
"You don't get to decide that."
"I know."
Thomas looked at the flash drive.
"Where is your father?"
"At his office."
"With Adrian Vale?"
Preston's face changed.
"How do you know that name?"
Thomas stood.
"Because he killed my friend."
Preston went pale.
"My father knows him."
"How well?"
"Very well."
Thomas took the flash drive.
"Then we're going to the police."
Dmitri shook his head.
"They'll bury it."
Thomas looked at Detective Bennett's card on the desk.
"Not all of them."
At 8:30 that evening, Thomas walked into Bennett's office.
He placed the flash drive on her desk.
"Play this."
She did.
When Daniel Mercer appeared, Bennett's face changed.
She listened.
Then she looked at Thomas.
"You've been investigating this for six years."
"Yes."
"Why didn't you tell anyone?"
"Because the people I told were the people involved."
Bennett leaned back.
"How many people are in danger?"
Thomas answered immediately.
"Everyone who refused to sell."
She stared at him.
"And you?"
Thomas smiled without humor.
"Me most of all."
Bennett looked at the evidence.
Then at Thomas.
"You understand what happens if this is real."
"Yes."
"Harrington goes down."
"Maybe."
"Vale goes down."
"If he's involved."
"And you?"
Thomas looked at the photograph of Mercer on the video.
"I already went down six years ago."
He stood.
"I'm just standing up now."
Apex Burns
The first explosion happened at 4:12 in the morning.
Apex Combat Academy burned from the inside.
The fire department arrived within minutes.
The cryotherapy room was destroyed.
The recovery rooms were destroyed.
The training cage collapsed.
The espresso bar was reduced to twisted metal.
Dmitri stood across the street watching smoke rise.
His entire life was inside that building.
Thomas arrived twenty minutes later.
He stared.
Dmitri said nothing.
Thomas placed a hand on his shoulder.
"I'll help rebuild."
Dmitri laughed bitterly.
"With what?"
Thomas looked at the flames.
"With whatever it takes."
Police investigators found the fire had started in three separate locations.
It wasn't an accident.
Bennett knew it.
Thomas knew it.
And Richard Harrington knew it.
At 7:00 a.m., every news station reported the fire.
At 7:15, an anonymous source released financial records connecting Harrington Development to shell companies.
At 8:00, federal investigators arrived.
At 8:30, Richard Harrington's attorneys issued a statement denying everything.
At 9:15, Adrian Vale disappeared.
At 10:00, Preston Harrington walked into the police station.
He carried a folder.
"I want to talk."
Bennett met him.
"About your father?"
"Yes."
"Do you have evidence?"
Preston nodded.
"Everything."
He handed her the folder.
Inside were contracts.
Payments.
Photographs.
Emails.
And one document with a signature.
Richard Harrington.
Preston sat down.
"I thought he was just buying land."
Bennett looked at him.
"He was."
"No."
Preston shook his head.
"I mean, I thought that was all."
He began crying.
"He told people to scare residents."
Bennett remained silent.
"He had security teams threaten them."
"How?"
"Anonymous calls. Broken windows. Cars following them."
"Why?"
"To make them sell."
Bennett looked at the documents.
"How many?"
Preston whispered:
"Twenty-three neighborhoods."
Bennett closed the folder.
"Twenty-three?"
"That I know of."
"And federal operations?"
Preston nodded.
"My father paid someone for information."
"Vale?"
"Yes."
"How much?"
"Millions."
Bennett looked at him.
"Why are you giving me this?"
Preston wiped his eyes.
"Because my father finally told me something."
"What?"
"He said if Thomas Decker didn't disappear this time, he would make Emma disappear."
Bennett froze.
Thomas received the call five minutes later.
He was at Emma's school.
He arrived before the police.
He found her in the counselor's office.
She ran toward him.
"Dad."
Thomas hugged her.
"Are you okay?"
"Yes."
"What happened?"
"A man was outside."
Thomas stiffened.
"What man?"
"I don't know."
"Did he speak to you?"
"No."
Thomas looked through the window.
A black SUV sat across the street.
Same model.
Same darkness.
Thomas walked outside.
The vehicle drove away.
Bennett arrived.
She handed Thomas a piece of paper.
"Preston confessed."
Thomas read it.
"Harrington threatened Emma."
"Yes."
Thomas folded the paper.
"Then it's over."
Bennett looked at him.
"Not yet."
"Why?"
"Because Vale is missing."
Thomas nodded.
"He'll go to Harrington."
"Probably."
"No."
Thomas looked toward the road.
"He's going to the old facility."
Bennett frowned.
"What facility?"
"The one where Mercer died."
She stared.
"You know where it is?"
"I never forgot."
Thomas got into his truck.
Bennett stopped him.
"You're not going alone."
"I'm not."
She got into the passenger seat.
They drove for two hours.
The old facility sat beyond an abandoned industrial road.
Broken fences.
Empty warehouses.
Tall grass.
Thomas parked.
The place looked exactly as it had six years earlier.
He stepped out.
His limp was more obvious now.
Bennett noticed.
"Your leg?"
"Shrapnel."
"You never told me."
"Nobody asked."
They entered the warehouse.
A voice echoed from the darkness.
"Thomas."
Adrian Vale stepped into the light.
Older.
Thinner.
But unmistakable.
Thomas stopped.
For six years, he had imagined this moment.
In every version, he had attacked.
In reality, he simply stared.
"You."
Vale smiled.
"You look tired."
"You killed Mercer."
Vale shook his head.
"Mercer was going to expose everything."
"You killed six people."
"They were acceptable losses."
Thomas's jaw tightened.
Bennett raised her weapon.
"Adrian Vale, you're under arrest."
Vale laughed.
"You think this ends with me?"
Thomas looked around.
"Where is Harrington?"
"Safe."
"Where?"
Vale smiled.
"Closer than you think."
A gunshot echoed.
Bennett dropped.
Thomas caught her.
"Laura!"
She was alive.
Bulletproof vest.
Vale ran.
Thomas chased him.
The warehouse erupted with footsteps.
Vale disappeared through a side door.
Thomas followed.
Outside, a black SUV accelerated.
Thomas stopped.
He could have shot.
He didn't.
He lowered his weapon.
Bennett caught up.
"Why didn't you?"
Thomas stared at the disappearing vehicle.
"Because I know where he's going."
"Where?"
Thomas looked toward the highway.
"Home."