A surveillance photograph of a silver-haired man stepping from a government vehicle, one hand resting on an ornate cane.
Holden recognized him instantly.
Senator Malcolm Vane.
A national figure celebrated for fighting organized crime.
A man who had built his career by publicly condemning families like the Crosses.
A man scheduled to dine at Holden’s mansion the following evening.
A soft knock sounded behind him.
Holden shut off the reader and drew his pistol.
“It’s Viktor.”
“Enter slowly.”
The door opened.
Viktor stepped inside with his hands visible.
“You found something,” he said.
“You knew Serafina lived.”
“Not for certain.”
“You opened the tunnel the night of the fire.”
Viktor’s eyes changed.
So the document was true.
“My father ordered you to kill them.”
“Yes.”
“And you helped them escape.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Luca once saved my life.”
Holden kept the weapon aimed at him.
“Were you at the church?”
Viktor hesitated.
“Yes.”
“Mara saw you.”
“I located Serafina six weeks ago.”
“And you told me nothing.”
“She begged me not to.”
“You work for me.”
“I was trying to keep her alive.”
“You failed.”
Pain flashed across Viktor’s face.
“I knew Vane’s men were closing in. I went to move them, but Serafina disappeared with the child before I could reach her. By the time I found the church, she was already dead.”
“You watched through the window.”
“I was checking for surveillance.”
“Why didn’t you take Mara?”
“She had vanished into the tunnel.”
Holden lowered the pistol slightly.
“Who is Malcolm Vane?”
Viktor’s voice turned grim.
“Your father’s true partner.”
Before Holden could ask more, the mansion lights went out.
The office plunged into darkness.
A second later, emergency alarms began shrieking.
Gunfire erupted somewhere below.
Holden moved toward the door, but Viktor caught his arm.
“This is not an attack from outside,” Viktor said.
“How do you know?”
“Because the backup generators can only be disabled from the underground control room.”
Another burst of gunfire echoed through the corridor.
Holden’s first thought was Mara.
He ran.
Emergency lights flickered red along the walls. Guards shouted into radios that produced only static. Smoke rolled from the western stairwell.
Holden and Viktor reached the medical wing.
The nurse lay unconscious outside the room.
The door was open.
The bed was empty.
Phantom was gone.
On the floor, written in blood from the nurse’s injured hand, were three words:
THE DOG CHOSE.
Holden entered the room.
The window had been shattered outward.
Small footprints crossed the snow beyond it, accompanied by Phantom’s enormous tracks.
They led toward the eastern courtyard.
“Why would she go back there?” Viktor asked.
“She wouldn’t,” Holden said.
A child’s scream cut through the night.
They raced outside.
Snow whipped across the courtyard, obscuring the far wall.
Phantom stood beneath the old stone arch, snarling at three armed men dressed in black tactical clothing.
Mara was behind him.
One attacker raised his rifle.
Holden fired first.
The man dropped.
Viktor struck the second in the shoulder. Phantom launched at the third with terrifying speed, slamming him into the stone wall.
The rifle skidded across the courtyard.
Holden reached Mara and pulled her behind him.
“Are you hurt?”
She shook her head.
Phantom pinned the surviving attacker beneath one paw.
Holden approached.
The man wore no insignia. His face was covered.
“Who sent you?”
The attacker laughed through broken teeth.
“You still think this is about the girl?”
Holden pressed the pistol beneath his jaw.
“Tell me what it is about.”
The man looked toward Phantom.
“That animal was never yours.”
Holden’s eyes narrowed.
“What does that mean?”
“He was delivered to you.”
“I bought him from a breeder.”
“No. You bought paperwork.”
Phantom growled.
The attacker’s smile widened.
“Ask yourself why a dog born twenty years after the fire responds to Alessio.”
Holden felt the world shift.
The man reached into his coat.
Viktor fired.
The attacker collapsed.
A small metal device rolled from his hand and began blinking.
“Bomb!” Viktor shouted.
Holden grabbed Mara.
They ran as the eastern arch exploded behind them.
Stone and fire erupted across the courtyard. The blast threw Holden to the ground, his body shielding the child.
For several seconds, he heard nothing.
Then Mara was crying beneath him.
Holden pushed himself up.
Viktor lay nearby, bleeding from the forehead.
The arch had collapsed.
Flames crawled through the snow.
“Phantom!” Mara screamed.
No dog appeared.
She broke free and ran toward the rubble.
Holden caught her.
“He’s under there!”
The remaining guards arrived, dragging stone away with their bare hands.
A low bark sounded beneath the debris.
Mara sobbed with relief.
Then one of the men uncovered a narrow stairway hidden beneath the destroyed arch.
It descended underground.
Holden stared into the darkness.
He had lived on the estate for twelve years.
He had never known the passage existed.
Phantom emerged from the opening, bleeding but alive.
Around his neck hung a torn leather collar that had not been there before the explosion.
Attached to it was a brass key.
And a message.
Holden removed the folded paper.
The handwriting belonged to Senator Malcolm Vane.
Bring the girl and the dog to the old Cross estate at midnight tomorrow.
Come alone.
If you refuse, the truth about your brother’s death will be released to every enemy you have.
If you obey, I will show you why Phantom remembers a dead dog’s name.
Holden read the message twice.
Then Mara pointed toward the darkness below the courtyard.
“There’s someone down there.”
A faint sound rose from the hidden passage.
Not footsteps.
Breathing.
Holden aimed his weapon as Viktor activated a flashlight.
The beam moved across stone walls, rusted chains, and dozens of old animal cages.
Then it stopped on a man sitting behind iron bars.
He was thin, gray-haired, and dressed in the remains of an expensive suit.
When the light reached his face, Holden forgot how to breathe.
The prisoner lifted his head.
Though twenty years had altered him, Holden recognized the scar above his eyebrow.
Recognized the shape of his eyes.
Recognized the brother he had watched collapse inside a burning house.
“Holden,” Luca Cross whispered from the darkness. “Don’t take Mara to Vane.”
