Chapter 9 The Recording Tyler Protected
Chapter 9 — Charlie's Last Secret
The smile vanished from Victor Langford's face.
For the first time in thirty years...
He looked afraid.
Not of Daniel.
Not of Samuel.
Of the bird.
Charlie calmly ruffled his feathers.
Then repeated Richard Brooks's voice again.
"Victor... if you're hearing this..."
"...it means Charlie survived."
Every armed man froze.
Daniel stared at the macaw in disbelief.
Charlie had never spoken an entire sentence like this before.
Victor slowly raised one hand.
"Kill the bird."
Three rifles instantly pointed toward Charlie.
Daniel stepped in front of him.
"No."
Victor sighed.
"You still don't understand."
"That bird is worth more than everyone standing here."
Samuel quietly slipped a pistol from inside his jacket.
He whispered to Daniel,
"Buy me ten seconds."
Daniel nodded.
He looked directly at Victor.
"You killed Richard Brooks."
Victor smiled again.
"You still call him Richard."
"Not father."
Daniel's jaw tightened.
Victor took another step closer.
"I never hated you."
"I hated what Richard protected."
"The evidence."
Samuel quietly moved behind the wrecked truck.
One...
Two...
Three...
Victor continued,
"Richard could have become one of the richest men in America."
"He chose loyalty."
"That was his mistake."
Charlie suddenly interrupted.
In Richard's exact voice.
"Loyalty isn't weakness..."
"...it's the one thing money can't buy."
Victor's expression darkened.
He shouted,
"NOW!"
Gunfire erupted.
Samuel fired first.
One of Victor's men collapsed instantly.
Daniel tackled Olivia behind the overturned truck.
Bullets ripped through the wooden pier.
Charlie flew high into the air.
Every gunman tracked the bird instead of Daniel.
Victor screamed,
"Shoot it!"
Charlie dodged wildly between broken support beams.
Then...
Instead of escaping...
The macaw flew directly toward Victor.
The old businessman instinctively reached up.
Charlie landed on his shoulder.
Everyone stopped shooting.
Victor smiled.
"There you are..."
He gently reached toward the bird.
Charlie leaned close to Victor's ear.
And quietly spoke.
Not Richard's voice.
Not Tyler's.
Victor's own voice.
Recorded years ago.
"I planted the bomb."
Silence.
Victor froze.
Charlie continued.
"I killed Richard."
Another sentence.
"I buried the money offshore."
Another.
"Daniel can never remember."
Every confession.
Every secret.
Every crime.
Perfectly repeated.
Word for word.
Victor's own men slowly lowered their weapons.
One looked at another.
"You said..."
"...Richard confessed."
Victor's breathing became uneven.
"That's edited."
Charlie spoke again.
"You'll all disappear once the job is done."
Several gunmen exchanged nervous glances.
Samuel immediately understood.
"They're expendable."
Victor shouted,
"Don't listen to that bird!"
Too late.
One bodyguard slowly turned his rifle...
Toward Victor.
"You promised we'd be paid."
Another stepped back.
"So we were next?"
Victor realized everything was collapsing.
He drew a concealed pistol from inside his jacket.
Before anyone could react—
A single shot rang out.
Charlie screamed.
The bird fell from Victor's shoulder.
Daniel lunged forward.
He caught Charlie just before the macaw hit the ground.
Blood stained the brilliant blue feathers.
Charlie looked weak.
His breathing slowed.
Daniel held him close.
"No..."
Charlie looked into Daniel's eyes.
Very softly...
Using Richard Brooks's voice one last time...
"Under... the perch..."
"...everything..."
The bird closed his eyes.
And never moved again.
Across the pier...
Police sirens echoed in the distance.
Victor slowly realized the truth.
Charlie's recordings...
Had already been heard.
