Chapter 9 - The Empty Station
Walt contacted the abandoned station through its old landline system.
Someone answered with three taps.
Luke was alive.
But he was not being held there.
He had been hiding.
Mason’s consultant tracked his motorcycle, phone and bank cards. Luke used the underground route to reach the station without activating any monitored accounts.
He stayed there while transmitting evidence to the cooperative attorney.
Lena’s relief became anger.
“You let me believe you were dead?”
Luke’s voice came through the clubhouse radio.
“I tried to reach you.”
“The helmet was in Mason’s office.”
Mason had intercepted Luke’s first radio and placed it inside the memorial helmet after assuming the battery was dead.
When he knocked over the table, he accidentally activated the live receiver.
His arrogance exposed him.
Luke continued:
“I couldn’t come back until the deed was public.”
Lena understood the danger.
But understanding did not erase six weeks of grief.
“You used me as proof that your disappearance looked real.”
Luke remained silent.
That was answer enough.
Even the brother fighting corruption had made a choice for her without consent.
Mason watched them fracture and smiled faintly.
“You see? He lies too.”
Lena turned toward him.
“My brother’s mistake does not make your theft smaller.”
The smile vanished.
She then spoke into the radio.
“Luke, you do not get to call this protection.”
“I know.”
“You come home and explain it to every person who mourned you.”
A long pause.
“I’m coming.”
An engine started beyond the tunnel.
Club members turned toward the steel door.
But before Luke arrived, Walt found another transmission hidden beneath the signal.
A second man had been speaking to him.
May you like
The voice belonged to Mason’s father.
A man declared dead fifteen years earlier.
