Chapter 26 · The Name in the Fire

"Dad, move!" I threw myself across the rails as the banker raised his gun.

The shot cracked past my ear.

My shoulder slammed into the burning ledger. Pages scattered over the iron grating, orange at the edges. My father stumbled back, still wearing the cuffs, while the red light on the detonator blinked faster in the banker's hand.

"Elena!" Mara shouted. "Down!"

I hit the floor.

A second shot punched through the railing above me. Dust rained over my hair. The mine shuddered, and somewhere below us, a deep metal boom rolled through the shaft.

"You want the book?" the banker yelled. "Then crawl for it!"

"Go to hell!"

I snatched at the last intact page. Fire caught my glove. I jerked back with a curse, ripped the glove off, and reached again.

The page had one clean corner left. One.

Black ink crawled across it beneath the flames. My father's cramped handwriting. Transfer numbers. Bank seals. A list of names I had spent months trying to prove existed.

Then I saw the final line.

VANCE AUTHORIZED—

The rest curled inward.

My stomach dropped.

"Elena, get away from the ledger!" my father yelled.