Chapter 5 - Daniel Mercer Was WaitingFor three seconds, nobody moved.
Daniel stood beneath a single fluorescent light.
Thinner.
Older.
A scar cut across his eyebrow.
His clothes were torn.
But his eyes were the same.
Cold.
Focused.
Alive.
Elena ran toward him.
Daniel caught her.
She buried her face against his chest.
Caleb ran next.
Daniel dropped to one knee.
His arms closed around his son.
“I knew you'd find him.”
Caleb pulled back.
“I brought him.”
Daniel looked at me.
“You finally found the part of yourself you stopped looking for.”
I lowered my weapon.
“Where have you been?”
“Running.”
“From Victor?”
Daniel shook his head.
“From the people behind Victor.”
Rachel stepped closer.
“You said you were trapped.”
“I was.”
“Then why were you here?”
Daniel looked at the elevator.
“Because this place is the only location they can't access directly.”
I stared at him.
“You made that claim about my vault.”
“They built the vault.”
My jaw tightened.
“What?”
Daniel walked to the wall.
He pressed three bricks.
A hidden screen appeared.
Old photographs filled it.
My father.
Victor Kane.
Daniel's father.
Rachel's father.
Four men standing outside the same building.
I had never seen the photograph.
Daniel spoke quietly.
“They created an organization before you were born.”
“What organization?”
“Helix.”
Rachel closed her eyes.
“They recruited politicians, judges, bankers, police commanders, and businessmen.”
Daniel looked at me.
“Then they created wars between criminal groups to control the money moving through them.”
I stared at the images.
“And Victor?”
“A public enemy.”
“For Helix.”
“Yes.”
I thought about every conflict of my life.
Every rival.
Every betrayal.
Every assassination attempt.
Suddenly the pattern looked different.
Helix had not been fighting us.
They had been managing us.
Daniel continued.
“Victor discovered the truth.”
“So they made me believe he was the enemy.”
“Yes.”
“And you?”
“I found the ledger.”
“What ledger?”
“The one that proves everything.”
Daniel walked to a steel cabinet.
Empty.
I stared at it.
“Where is it?”
“Gone.”
“Who took it?”
“Someone you trust.”
My eyes narrowed.
“Thomas?”
Daniel didn't answer.
That was answer enough.
Elena stepped forward.
“Why did you disappear?”
Daniel looked at her.
“Because I was told Caleb would die if I stayed.”
She pulled him close.
“You should have told me.”
“I couldn't.”
“You let me think you were dead.”
“I know.”
She struck his chest once.
Then again.
Daniel didn't defend himself.
“I am sorry.”
I turned toward Rachel.
“How did you survive?”
“I didn't.”
I looked at her.
She smiled bitterly.
“The Rachel Voss you knew died three years ago.”
“What?”
“The woman in front of you has been living under another identity since.”
She removed a ring.
Inside was a tiny symbol.
The Helix symbol.
Daniel stepped toward me.
“The vault isn't the real prize.”
“Then what is?”
He looked at Caleb.
“The boy.”
I felt something tighten in my chest.
“What are you saying?”
Daniel swallowed.
“Caleb witnessed something nobody else saw.”
“When?”
“The night I disappeared.”
Caleb stared at the floor.
Daniel knelt.
“Tell him.”
The boy shook his head.
“I promised.”
“Tell him.”
Caleb looked at me.
His voice was barely audible.
“I saw the man who came to get Dad.”
“Victor?”
Caleb shook his head.
“No.”
“Then who?”
He pointed toward the ceiling.
“The man in your house.”
My mind went blank.
“Thomas?”
Caleb shook his head again.
“No.”
“Then who?”
The boy whispered a name.
“Your brother.”
I froze.
My brother had died twenty-three years earlier.
Or so everyone had told me.
Then Daniel looked at me.
“They lied to you too.”
The lights went out.
A gunshot exploded.
Rachel collapsed.
Daniel pulled Caleb down.
I raised my weapon toward the darkness.
Then a voice spoke from the elevator.
“Marcus.”
A familiar voice.
May you like
My father's voice.
“It's time you learned why your family built Helix.”
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