Chapter 5
The message changed everything.
My father wasn't just possibly alive.
Someone claimed to have him.
Detective Hollis immediately disconnected the laptop from the internet.
I nearly grabbed him.
"What are you doing?"
"Preserving evidence."
"They just contacted us!"
"And responding could expose this location."
"They already know it."
Lena touched my arm.
"Isaiah."
I pulled away.
"My father is alive."
"We don't know that."
"You saw the video."
"Eight months old."
"He could still be alive."
Her face softened.
"Yes."
I hated the caution.
But she was right.
Hope could make people stupid.
I'd already watched enough people become dangerous while claiming to protect someone.
I wasn't going to become another.
Digital investigators traced the message.
Masked route.
Several countries.
No useful location.
But the video metadata offered one clue.
My father's recording had been uploaded from a public library in West Virginia.
Eight months earlier.
Security footage was gone.
But library records showed someone used a guest computer under the name "Sam Bell."
Samuel Brooks used to call me Bell when I was a kid.
Because I couldn't pronounce Brooks when I was two.
Maybe coincidence.
Maybe not.
Lena and Maya stayed under police protection.
I refused to leave them.
Lena noticed.
"You don't have to sleep in that chair."
We were in a secure hotel suite arranged by authorities.
"Comfortable enough."
"It looks terrible."
"So do I."
She smiled faintly.
For one second, I remembered mornings eleven years earlier.
Her making coffee in my shirt.
Me pretending not to stare.
Then reality returned.
"You have a daughter."
"Yes."
"Who's her father?"
Lena looked toward the bedroom where Maya slept.
"Daniel Carter."
"Related to you?"
"No. Same last name by coincidence."
I nodded.
"What happened?"
"We married."
That hurt more than I expected.
"After me."
"Three years later."
"Is he alive?"
"Yes."
My shoulders tightened.
"Where is he?"
"Federal prison."
I stared.
"For what?"
"Fraud."
Of course.
Apparently nobody around us could live simple lives.
"Does Maya see him?"
"No."
"Does he know about this?"
"No."
Lena looked exhausted.
"I met Daniel because I wanted normal."
"What does that mean?"
"He was an accountant. Quiet. Safe."
She laughed bitterly.
"I thought safe meant boring."
"And?"
"He stole from clients for years."
I shook my head.
"Maya knows?"
"That he's in prison. Not details."
"Does he contact her?"
"Letters."
"And you?"
"Never."
I looked toward the bedroom.
"She's had a rough nine years."
Lena's eyes filled.
"She deserved better."
"She has you."
"For now."
I looked sharply at her.
"Don't."
"What?"
"Talk like you're already gone."
She looked away.
I lowered my voice.
"Maya ran into a diner carrying a key because you told her I would protect her."
"I knew you would."
"You don't get to trust me more than you trust yourself."
Her eyes filled.
"I was scared."
"So was Dad."
"I know."
"Fear doesn't excuse leaving people without choices."
"No."
She nodded.
"You're right."
We sat quietly.
Then she asked, "Did you marry?"
"No."
"Why?"
I almost laughed.
"You really want that answer?"
Her face fell.
"Isaiah."
"Not entirely because of you."
"That doesn't help."
"I tried."
I had dated.
Nothing lasted.
Part of me always waited for the next disappearance.
"I didn't know how badly I hurt you."
"That's because you didn't stay to see it."
She accepted that too.
The next morning, Robert agreed to cooperate.
His attorney negotiated protective custody.
I didn't care about his comfort.
I cared what he knew.
We met inside a federal building.
Robert looked smaller without the gun.
He wouldn't meet Maya.
Good.
I sat across from him.
"Is my father alive?"
Robert swallowed.
"I don't know."
"Wrong answer."
"It's the truth."
"When did you last see him?"
"Seventeen years ago."
"After Victor attacked the cabin?"
Robert nodded.
"You told Lena he died."
"I thought he did."
"Did you see his body?"
"No."
I laughed bitterly.
"What is it with everyone accepting deaths without bodies?"
Robert looked ashamed.
"Victor told me."
"And you believed him?"
"I wanted to."
That honesty surprised me.
"Why?"
"Because Samuel knew what I'd done."
"The warehouse."
"Yes."
"You wanted him dead."
Robert looked down.
"Part of me did."
Lena sat beside me.
Her face tightened.
Robert continued.
"Another part hated myself for it."
I leaned forward.
"Who could have helped Dad disappear again?"
Robert hesitated.
"One person."
"Who?"
"A federal agent named Thomas Reid."
Hollis looked up sharply.
"Reid died ten years ago."
Robert nodded.
"His daughter didn't."
"Who?"
"Angela Reid."
Hollis typed.
"What does she do?"
"Private security."
My stomach tightened.
"For who?"
Robert finally looked at me.
"Victor Hale."
Of course.
"You're saying the daughter of the agent who helped Dad disappear works for Victor?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because Thomas Reid wasn't protecting Samuel."
Robert swallowed.
"He was controlling him."
I stared.
"Explain."
"Reid was the corrupt agent who destroyed the first case."
My blood ran cold.
Dad's own supposed protector had sabotaged him.
"Then why stage Dad's death?"
"To keep Samuel quiet and useful."
"Useful how?"
"Victor and Reid needed to know where Samuel's evidence was."
Lena whispered, "Samuel never told them."
"No."
Robert looked at her.
"That's why he survived as long as he did."
Detective Hollis asked, "Where is Angela Reid now?"
"She owns Sentinel Risk Management."
I knew that company.
They provided executive security across Virginia and West Virginia.
Including for Hale businesses.
Hollis left the room.
Robert leaned forward.
"Isaiah."
"What?"
"If Samuel is alive, Angela knows."
"Why?"
"Because after her father died, she inherited his files."
"You've seen them?"
"Some."
"Where?"
"Sentinel headquarters."
Hollis returned ten minutes later.
His face was tense.
"We have a problem."
"What?"
"Angela Reid disappeared yesterday."
My jaw clenched.
"When?"
"Her office says she's on personal leave."
"Where?"
"Unknown."
Robert closed his eyes.
"Victor moved her."
"You think she's helping him?"
"I think she's been helping him for years."
Then Maya came into the interview room with an officer.
Lena stood.
"Maya, you were supposed to stay—"
"I remembered something."
Everyone looked at her.
"What?"
"Mom's old picture."
She opened her backpack.
That green backpack was apparently the center of the universe.
She pulled out a photograph.
Lena frowned.
"I didn't pack that."
Maya nodded.
"I did."
It showed Lena, younger, standing beside Samuel.
But behind them was a woman.
Blonde braids.
Dark security uniform.
Robert went pale.
"Angela."
Maya turned the photograph over.
There was writing.
Samuel's.
If anything happens to me, find A.R. She knows the second road home.
I looked at Robert.
"Second road home?"
He shook his head.
"No idea."
Lena stared at the photograph.
"I remember this day."
"When?"
"Seventeen years ago."
"Before Dad was attacked?"
"Two weeks before."
"What was Angela doing there?"
"Samuel trusted her."
Robert cursed.
"Of course."
"What?"
"She played both sides."
Hollis frowned.
"Meaning?"
"Thomas Reid used Angela to make Samuel believe someone inside the agency supported him."
"So she was spying."
"Probably."
Maya pointed to the background.
"What's that sign?"
We looked closer.
A faded highway sign.
ROUTE 33.
Beneath it, another sign.
MOUNTAIN HOME 12 MILES.
Road home.
Second road home.
Lena grabbed my arm.
"I know that place."
"What place?"
"Samuel took me there once."
"Where?"
"A motel near Seneca Rocks."
My heart jumped.
"Why?"
"He said if we ever got separated, I should remember it."
Hollis was already searching.
There was an old roadside motel along Route 33 called Mountain Home Lodge.
Closed five years ago.
Property purchased afterward by Sentinel Risk Management.
Angela Reid's company.
I stood.
"That's where he is."
Hollis raised a hand.
"We don't know that."
"Then find out."
Federal agents obtained surveillance.
By evening, drones showed three vehicles at the abandoned property.
One registered to Sentinel.
One to Hale Construction.
The third was unregistered.
Thermal imaging showed people inside.
At least four.
My heart hammered.
"Can you go in?"
Hollis nodded.
"We're working on the warrant."
I hated waiting.
Night fell.
Maya slept beside Lena.
I stared at the motel photograph on my phone.
Then at Dad's letter.
Trust the road home.
Maybe he had been leaving clues for years.
At 11:14 p.m., Hollis got the warrant.
Agents moved.
I wasn't allowed anywhere near the motel.
I watched from a command vehicle almost a mile away.
Radio chatter filled the darkness.
"Approaching west entrance."
"Movement second floor."
"Two subjects."
Then:
"Federal agents! Hands!"
More shouting.
A crash.
My heart stopped.
Then silence.
Hollis listened.
I stared at him.
"Say something."
He raised one hand.
Radio crackled.
"Three detained."
"Search continuing."
Then:
"Found a locked room."
My hands started shaking.
"Breaching."
Seconds passed.
Five.
Ten.
Twenty.
Then the radio came alive.
"We have one male."
I stopped breathing.
"Older. Approximately late sixties."
Dad would be sixty-seven.
"Alive."
My knees nearly gave out.
Hollis looked at me.
I couldn't speak.
Then the radio continued.
"Subject identifies himself as Samuel Brooks."
The world disappeared.
I sat down hard.
Lena covered her mouth.
Maya woke.
"What?"
She looked around.
"What happened?"
Lena started crying.
I whispered the words I'd waited nineteen years to hear.
"They found my dad."
Maya smiled sleepily.
"Alive?"
I nodded.
"Alive."
Then Hollis's expression changed.
He was listening to something else.
"What?"
I asked.
He didn't answer immediately.
"Hollis."
He looked at me.
"Samuel says Victor Hale isn't at the motel."
My stomach tightened.
"Where is he?"
Hollis listened again.
May you like
Then his face went pale.
"He says Victor knows where Maya is."
