Chapter 5 - UNIT 114
Riverside Records Facility looked disappointingly ordinary.
Unit 114 held six archive boxes.
The newest contained supplier contracts.
Malcolm Voss appeared everywhere.
Carter Freight bought fuel, maintenance systems, tires, and routing hardware through companies that appeared unrelated.
Jonathan’s notes connected them.
Shared accountants.
Shared addresses.
Common financing.
At the center:
Voss Procurement Services.
Malcolm’s brother.
Ryan laughed without humor.
“I was right.”
Rachel looked at him.
“About suspicious contracts.”
“He was stealing.”
“Maybe.”
“I went to prison over that.”
“No. You went to prison for breaking his jaw.”
Ryan looked away.
Then the files showed something larger.
Jonathan had been cooperating with federal investigators before he disappeared.
An outside law firm arranged protected communications.
Jonathan believed someone inside Carter Freight was leaking his document requests.
So he left voluntarily.
He wanted investigators to watch who changed contracts in his absence.
Ryan stared.
“He disappeared as bait.”
“Partly.”
Then Rachel found a letter to Patricia.
P—
You may need to use the emergency proxy.
Do not sell founder assets.
Do not expand North Bridge rights.
Do not tell Ryan where I am.
He will come after Malcolm and ruin both the case and himself.
Ryan read the last sentence three times.
Patricia had followed one instruction.
Then violated another.
A second letter, dated three months later:
Patricia—
Stop the yard-option amendment.
We are not entitled to profit from emergency authority.
No reply.
Then the messages ended.
A final envelope explained why.
Jonathan to outside counsel:
If Patricia proceeds anyway, suspend direct updates to her. Her conflict is now material.
Ryan sat back.
Jonathan did not die.
He cut Patricia off.
Then the storage-room light went out.
The hallway stayed lit.
Rachel froze.
Footsteps moved outside.
May you like
Someone shut the unit door.
And locked it.
