I answered it, pressing the phone to my ear as I stared down into the dark garden path.

“Natalie,” a voice raspy with pain whispered.

My breath caught in my throat.

It was my father’s voice, but he had just been wheeled out to an ambulance.

“They didn’t take me to the hospital, Natalie,” he whispered, his voice fading.

“Vance’s men have the perimeter.”

“The ledger… the last page…”

“What about it, Dad?” I hissed, looking at the black SUV waiting at the garden gate.

“The name on the last page isn’t Vance,” he gasped.

“It’s—”

The line went dead with a sharp, metallic click.

Suddenly, a massive spotlight washed over the balcony from above.

The roar of helicopter blades shook the entire villa, flattening the wet trees around the estate.

A voice boomed through a megaphone, drowning out the storm.

“Captain Brooks, this is the United States Army.”

“You are ordered to drop your weapon and step away from the railing.”

“You are under arrest for the murder of Colonel Hayes.”