Chapter 16 - No Way Around Friday
Thursday night, the weather service upgraded the storm.
Heavy snow.
Seventy-mile-per-hour wind gusts.
Road closures possible after noon Friday.
Caroline considered moving the board meeting.
Federal investigators asked her not to unless safety required it.
The final decision: a reduced in-person group at Raven Peak, everyone else remote.
Daniel arrived at eight Friday morning.
Grant met him in the mudroom.
“Rules.”
“I know.”
“Say them.”
Daniel stared.
“Do not confront Julian.”
“Good.”
“Do not search anything.”
“Good.”
“Do not leave approved areas.”
“Good.”
“Do not punch anyone.”
Daniel glared.
Grant smiled.
“Important historical context.”
“Very funny.”
Emma was not at Raven Peak.
She stayed in Denver with Maria and Dr. Morris’s approved arrangement.
That gave Daniel relief.
Celeste remained subject to restrictions and was not invited.
At 9:14, Julian arrived with two attorneys.
He had no management role but held enough partnership interests to present a restructuring proposal.
His eyes met Daniel’s.
“Still living here?”
Daniel smiled.
“Still billing yourself for advice?”
One attorney immediately intervened.
“Gentlemen.”
Daniel walked away.
Growth with sarcasm.
At ten, investigators monitoring service cameras saw Julian’s assistant enter the lower corridor.
Grant whispered into Daniel’s earpiece, “Do nothing.”
Daniel did nothing.
The assistant returned empty-handed.
At 10:22, Crestline’s Marcus Bell arrived.
The board meeting began at eleven.
Crestline offered $62 million for the distressed development subsidiary.
The price would prevent default on construction loans.
Julian presented an alternative plan through a consortium he claimed could preserve more upside.
Caroline asked, “Who is the consortium?”
Julian smiled.
“Confidential until exclusivity.”
Daniel recognized the tactic.
Another hidden buyer.
Another layer.
The meeting grew tense.
Outside, snow thickened.
At 11:41, the road down the mountain closed temporarily.
Everyone was now effectively trapped at Raven Peak until plows reopened access.
Daniel almost laughed at the symmetry.
Then Grant touched his shoulder.
“Problem.”
“What?”
“Lower-cellar sensor.”
“Julian?”
“No.”
“Who?”
Grant looked at his tablet.
“Celeste’s old credential.”
Daniel stared.
“She isn’t here.”
“Somebody is using it.”
They checked the camera.
A hooded figure entered through the service corridor.
Not Celeste.
Richard Sloan.
Daniel’s blood went cold.
“What is he doing here?”
Sloan was cooperating with prosecutors.
He had no reason to be at Raven Peak unless he had decided cooperation was no longer enough.
Agents moved.
But Sloan entered the cellar before they reached him.
The camera feed cut.
Grant cursed.
“Manual power interruption.”
Daniel started toward the corridor.
Grant blocked him.
“No.”
“My house.”
“Exactly why you’re bad at this.”
Then Julian stood from the board table.
“I need a recess.”
Caroline frowned.
“We’re in the middle of—”
“My attorney needs me.”
He left.
Agents followed at distance.
Daniel watched through Grant’s monitor.
Julian did not head toward his lawyer.
He headed toward the cellar.
“They’re meeting.”
Grant nodded.
Investigators wanted them together.
The microphone in the lower corridor still worked.
Sloan’s voice appeared.
“You said the drive was here.”
Julian answered, “It was.”
“You moved it?”
“No.”
“Then Celeste did.”
Julian laughed.
“Celeste can barely move without calling her lawyer.”
Sloan sounded panicked.
“She told prosecutors everything.”
“Not everything.”
“What’s on the drive?”
“Enough.”
“To implicate Daniel?”
“Enough to implicate whoever I need.”
Daniel felt anger surge.
Grant put a hand on his arm.
“Stay.”
Then Sloan said, “I’m not going back to prison because of you.”
“You haven’t been to prison yet.”
“You know what I mean.”
Julian’s voice hardened.
“You forged the consent.”
“You told me to.”
“Celeste told you to.”
“You approved the format!”
Silence.
The kind investigators loved.
Then something crashed.
The audio cut.
Grant’s radio crackled.
Agent requesting entry.
They moved.
Daniel stayed.
For seven seconds.
Then the fire alarm erupted.
Red lights flashed.
Smoke began filling the lower corridor.
Daniel’s instincts overrode the plan.
“Fire.”
Grant swore.
The board members were evacuated toward the great room.
Sprinklers activated in the cellar.
A security officer shouted that the lower electrical room had shorted after someone ripped cables from the wall.
Not an accident.
Somebody was destroying the server junction.
Then Grant’s tablet displayed one last live image from a battery-powered camera.
Julian stood in the cellar holding a rugged black external drive.
Sloan was beside him.
And behind them, the fire door began closing.
Daniel stared.
There it was.
Snow Insurance.
The archive.
The evidence that could resolve everything.
May you like
The final confrontation was no longer a possibility.
It had already begun beneath his feet.
