Chapter 16
Maya's POV: "New Threat"
I broke into Agent Rodriguez's apartment at midnight, using skills I'd learned from twenty years of security work.
Her front door was unlocked, which instantly made me suspicious. FBI agents don't leave their homes unsecured, especially when they're meant to be in witness protection.
I crept through her dark living room with my gun drawn, listening for any sounds that might indicate she was home.
But the room felt empty. More than empty - it felt abandoned.
I turned on a small lamp and looked around. The furniture was covered with dust sheets, like no one had lived there for months.
On the kitchen table, I found a stack of mail addressed to "Agent Lisa Rodriguez" that hadn't been opened. The postmarks went back to January, which was six months ago.
Agent Rodriguez hadn't been living in this flat since Harrison's arrest.
So where had she been living?
I looked through her desk drawers and found something that made my heart race: a file folder labeled "Vincent Kane - Business Partner."
Vincent Kane. Another Kane family member we didn't know about?
I opened the folder and found documents that turned my knowledge of everything upside down.
Vincent Kane wasn't connected to Sarah, Elena, and Marcus. Vincent Kane was Harrison's business partner for twenty years.
And according to these papers, Vincent Kane was the real Ghost.
Harrison had been taking directions from Vincent Kane since the beginning. Every family Harrison killed, every witness Harrison silenced, every crime Harrison did - Vincent Kane had planned it all.
But who was Vincent Kane?
I kept reading through the papers and found bank records showing payments from "V. Kane" to Harrison Stone for every murder. Each payment was exactly fifty thousand dollars.
Over twenty years, Vincent Kane had paid Harrison Stone more than two million dollars to kill innocent families.
I found photos of Vincent Kane meeting with Harrison at restaurants, parks, and hotels. But in every picture, Vincent's face was turned away from the camera or hidden by shadows.
Whoever Vincent Kane was, he was very careful about not being photographed.
At the bottom of the file, I found something that made me feel sick: a list of future goals with today's date at the top.
Sarah Kane - Eliminate by Wednesday Elena Cross - Eliminate by Wednesday
Marcus Stone - Eliminate by Wednesday Maya Chen - Eliminate by Wednesday Agent Maria Kane - Eliminate by Wednesday
Wednesday was tomorrow.
Vincent Kane was going to kill all five of us within the next twenty-four hours.
I took photos of everything with my phone and got ready to leave Agent Rodriguez's place.
But as I was walking toward the front door, I heard footsteps in the hallway outside.
Someone was coming.
I quickly turned off my flashlight and hid behind the kitchen counter, my gun ready.
The front door opened quietly, and someone walked into the room.
Through the darkness, I could see the outline of a man wearing a long coat. He was moving carefully through the living room, like he knew exactly where everything was located.
"I know you're here, Maya," the man said in a voice I didn't recognize. "Agent Rodriguez told me you might show up tonight."
"Who are you?" I called out from my hiding spot.
"I'm the person who sent Elena that warning note," he said. "I'm trying to save your lives."
"Are you Vincent Kane?"
The man laughed bitterly. "No, Maya. I'm trying to stop Vincent Kane."
I kept my gun pointed toward his words. "How do I know you're not lying?"
"Because Vincent Kane is planning to kill you tomorrow, and I'm the only person who can prevent it."
The man stepped closer to the kitchen, and I could see his face in the moonlight coming through the window.
He looked familiar, but I couldn't place where I'd seen him before.
"My name is Agent David Peterson," he said. "I'm Dr. Peterson's brother."
My blood went cold. "Dr. Peterson is dead. We saw him die in the hospital blast."
"My brother died, yes. But before he died, he told me everything about The Thirteen Shadows and Vincent Kane."
"Dr. Peterson was The Ghost," I said. "He was the leader."
"No," Agent Peterson said sadly. "My brother thought he was the boss, but he was just another tool. Vincent Kane was controlling him the same way he controlled Harrison Stone."
I felt confused and scared. "So Vincent Kane has been manipulating everyone?"
"For twenty years," Agent Peterson confirmed. "Vincent Kane created The Thirteen Shadows. He hired Harrison Stone. He manipulated my brother into thinking he was in charge."
"Where is Vincent Kane now?"
"That's what I'm trying to figure out," Agent Peterson said. "He's been hiding his name for twenty years. None of us have ever seen his real face."
I thought about the photos in Agent Rodriguez's file. Vincent Kane's face had been hidden in every single shot.
"Agent Peterson, how do you know Vincent Kane is planning to kill us tomorrow?"
"Because I've been intercepting his communications for months," he said. "Vincent Kane has been sending directions to a network of assassins. Orders to kill everyone who knows about The Thirteen Shadows."
"What about Agent Rodriguez? Where is she?"
Agent Peterson's face went dark. "Agent Rodriguez has been working for Vincent Kane from the beginning. She was never really an FBI agent. She was a Thirteen Shadows operative placed in the FBI twenty years ago."
"So when she helped rescue Maria Kane from the underground chamber..."
"She was following Vincent Kane's orders," Agent Peterson ended. "Vincent Kane wanted Maria Kane alive so he could use her as bait to lure the rest of you into a trap." I realized we had been played by experts. Every move we thought we were making to beat The Thirteen Shadows had actually been part of Vincent Kane's plan. " Agent Peterson, where are Sarah, Elena, and Marcus right now?"
"They went to the old warehouse like the text message told. But Maya, that word didn't come from Harrison Stone."
"It came from Vincent Kane?"
"Yes. And he's not going to give them information about The Ghost. He's going to kill them."
My heart started racing. "We have to warn them!"
"We're too late," Agent Peterson said, checking his watch. "They've been at the building for an hour. If Vincent Kane wanted them dead, they're already dead."
"Then we have to go there and help them!" "Maya, if we go to the warehouse, we'll be walking into the same trap."
I looked at the file folder full of proof about Vincent Kane. "So what do we do?"
"We do what Vincent Kane doesn't expect," Agent Peterson said. "We turn the trap around on him."
"How?"
Agent Peterson pulled out a small gadget that looked like a radio.
"This is Vincent Kane's communication device," he said. "I stole it from Agent Rodriguez's real place. We can use it to send fake orders to his attackers."
"What kind of orders?"
"Orders to meet at the warehouse tonight instead of tomorrow," Agent Peterson said. "If we can get all of Vincent Kane's people in one place, we can end this once and for all."
I thought about Sarah, Elena, and Marcus possibly dying in a trap while we made plans.
"What if they're already dead?" I asked.
"Then we make sure Vincent Kane pays for killing them," Agent Peterson said grimly.
He started using the radio to send messages to Vincent Kane's killer network. I could hear him giving orders in a disguised voice, telling multiple killers to report to the warehouse instantly.
"How many assassins does Vincent Kane have?" I asked.
"At least twenty," Agent Peterson said. "Maybe more."
"And there are only two of us."
"Actually," Agent Peterson said with a strange smile, "there are more of us than Vincent Kane realizes."
"What do you mean?"
"Maya, do you remember the FBI agents who helped rescue Maria Kane from the underground chamber six months ago?"
"Yes."
"They weren't really FBI agents," Agent Peterson said. "They were Vincent Kane's assassins, pretending to be FBI agents."
"So who rescued Maria Kane?"
"The real FBI agents," Agent Peterson said. "Led by the real Agent Rodriguez."
I stared at him in shock. "There are TWO Agent Rodriguezes?"
"The woman you've been talking to for six months is an imposter," Agent Peterson confirmed. "The real Agent Rodriguez has been building a case against Vincent Kane while her imposter fed him information about your family."
"Where is the real Agent Rodriguez now?"
Agent Peterson smiled. "She's at the warehouse with backup, waiting for Vincent Kane to show up so she can arrest him."
I felt a mixture of hope and fear. "So Sarah, Elena, and Marcus might be safe?"
"If everything goes according to plan."
"And if it doesn't go according to plan?"
Agent Peterson's smile faded. "Then Vincent Kane will kill everyone at the warehouse, including the real FBI agents."
That's when the radio crackled with an incoming message in a voice I recognized: "This is Vincent Kane. Operation Final Shadow is starting now. Kill everyone at the building. No survivors. Repeat: no survivors."
I looked at Agent Peterson in horror. "Vincent Kane just ordered his assassins to kill everyone."
"Including the real FBI agents," Agent Peterson said sadly.
"We have to get to that warehouse NOW!" I said.
"Maya," Agent Peterson said, grabbing my arm. "There's something else you need to know about Vincent Kane. "
"What?"
"He's not a stranger. He's someone you know. Someone you've trusted for months."
"Who is he?"
Agent Peterson looked me straight in the eyes.
"Vincent Kane is Marcus Stone."