Chương 5
“It is possible no one else received the information,” Shaw said.
“Possible.”
“Yes.”
Michael looked at me.
“And what do you think?”
I did not soften it.
“I think Aaron Voss did not run that search for free.”
Shaw’s pen stopped.
Mercer leaned forward.
“Why?”
“Because someone with his background knows the penalties.”
“Maybe he was doing Harold a favor.”
“No.”
I shook my head.
“A favor is checking employment records or calling an old contact.”
I looked at Shaw.
“He entered a compartmented index using credentials he did not own.”
Her expression sharpened.
“We haven’t established that.”
“You said his authorization expired.”
“Yes.”
“Then either he stole credentials, borrowed them, or someone opened the door for him.”
Mercer sat back.
“And any of those means preparation.”
Michael stared at the table.
“What was my father trying to find?”
I answered before anyone else could.
“A reason to prove I was beneath him.”
For the first time that day, Michael almost smiled.
It was small and bitter.
“That sounds like Dad.”
Then the smile vanished.
“And he may have given somebody enough information to get you killed.”
Nobody corrected him.
That frightened him more than an answer would have.
Shaw’s phone vibrated.
She looked at the screen.
Her posture changed.
“General.”
Mercer stood.
“What?”
“They located Voss’s vehicle.”
“Where?”
“Long-term parking at Hartsfield-Jackson.”
“When?”
“Entered yesterday evening.”
“And Voss?”
“No departure under his name.”
I felt the old instincts arrive before I wanted them.
“Check international manifests under aliases linked to his service history.”
Shaw nodded.
“We are.”
“Also rental cars leaving the airport between eight and ten this morning.”
Mercer looked at me.
“You are not running this.”
“I know.”
“You’re doing it anyway.”
“I’m sitting in a chair.”
“That has never stopped you.”
Michael looked between us again.
The familiarity wounded him each time.
I hated that I could see it happening and had no way to undo it.
Shaw received another message.
This one made her swear under her breath.
“What?”
She turned the phone toward Mercer.
“Voss’s house was cleared out.”
“How cleared?”
“Computers gone, closets mostly empty, neighbor says he left two days ago.”
Mercer’s eyes settled on me.
Not panic.
Calculation.
“He knew the query would be traced.”
“Yes.”
Michael stood.
“So this was planned.”
I looked at the sealed envelope still lying beside my hand.
The papers inside were supposed to end my old life.
Instead, somebody had reached backward and pulled it into the present.
Shaw’s phone rang.
She answered, listened, then looked directly at me.
“Mrs. Wade, does the name Daniel Kessler mean anything to you?”
The scar beneath my ribs seemed to ache before my mind caught up.
I had not heard that name spoken aloud in seven years.
Mercer saw my face.
“Emma.”
Michael stepped closer.
“Who is Daniel Kessler?”
I looked at Shaw.
“Where did you get that name?”
“Voss called him twice this morning.”
The room became very quiet.
I pushed my chair back and stood.
“Then you need to move everyone connected to me off this installation immediately.”
Mercer’s expression tightened.
“Why?”
“Because Daniel Kessler does not search for people.”
I reached for the envelope, then stopped myself and left it on the table.
“He confirms they are still alive.”
Mercer moved before anyone else did.
“Shaw, secure the building.”
Major Shaw was already reaching for her phone.
“Captain Wade goes with protective detail.”
Michael’s head snapped toward him.
“No.”
“That wasn’t a request.”
“I’m not leaving my wife.”
“You may not have that option.”
Michael looked at me instead.
“Do I?”
The question carried six years of decisions I had made without him.
I hated that Mercer had put another one in my hands.
“You should go with them.”
His face tightened.
“Of course I should.”
“Michael.”
“No, I understand.”
He looked toward the window in the conference room door, where two soldiers hurried past.
“You decide what I know, where I stand, when I leave, what danger counts.”
“That isn’t fair.”
He turned back.
“Neither is finding out my wife had a code name because my father accidentally dug up the wrong secret.”
The word accidentally made Mercer’s mouth flatten.
“He did not accidentally contact Voss.”
Michael ignored him.
I stepped closer to my husband.
“Kessler changes this.”
“Who is he?”
“I can’t give you everything in this room.”
“Then give me one thing.”
His voice dropped.
“One thing that is real.”
I looked at Mercer.
He did not give permission.
He did not stop me either.
“Seven years ago, Daniel Kessler brokered information between private military networks, sanctioned governments, and whoever paid enough not to care where the information came from.”
Michael waited.
“That sounds like something from a briefing.”
“It probably was.”
“What did he do to you?”
The question reached too cleanly into something I had spent years keeping behind locked doors.
I rubbed my thumb along the edge of my wedding ring.
“He sold a route.”
“What route?”
“Mine.”
Michael’s anger paused.
Not vanished.
Paused.
“Were you hurt?”
“Yes.”
“How badly?”
I said nothing.
His eyes dropped to my left side.
He had seen the scar beneath my ribs hundreds of times.
I had told him it came from a car accident when I was twenty-three.
He took one step back.
“That scar.”
I nodded.
He looked away.
Mercer spoke quietly.
“Captain, we need to move.”
Michael gave a hollow laugh.
“Sure.”
He walked toward the door, then stopped with his hand on the frame.
“Was the car accident real?”
“No.”
He nodded once.
That was all.
Then he left with the soldiers waiting outside.
I watched the door close.
Mercer stood beside me without speaking.
“Don’t.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You were about to.”
“I was going to tell you that operational secrecy is not designed for marriage.”
“I know that now.”
“You knew it before.”
I looked at him.
Mercer’s face remained irritatingly calm.
“Some lessons become true twice,” he said.
Shaw returned.
May you like
“We have a problem.”
“Only one?” Mercer asked.
