Chapter 4 - What Thomas Left BehindWe spent the night in a motel outside the city.
Adrian paid cash.
That alone made me uncomfortable.
People who pay for cheap motels in cash usually have reasons.
I sat on the edge of the bed while Oliver slept beside me.
Adrian stood near the window.
“Start talking.”
He didn't turn.
“I will.”
“Everything.”
“I can't.”
I stood.
“Then leave.”
He finally looked at me.
“What?”
“You heard me.”
“You and Oliver are safer with me.”
“You brought armed men to my apartment.”
“I brought protection.”
“You brought danger.”
His jaw tightened.
“Danger was already there.”
I stared at him.
“What does that mean?”
He walked toward the table.
Slowly.
Then he placed the flash drive down.
“Your husband didn't die three years ago.”
I felt my heartbeat in my throat.
“What are you saying?”
“He was already dead.”
I stared at him.
“That makes no sense.”
“He died fourteen months before the accident.”
My legs weakened.
“What?”
“The man you spoke to during that year wasn't Thomas.”
I shook my head.
“No.”
“He was a substitute.”
I backed away.
“You're lying.”
“I wish I were.”
“You expect me to believe someone impersonated my husband for fourteen months?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Thomas had disappeared.”
“Why?”
Adrian looked toward Oliver.
“Because someone was hunting him.”
“And then?”
“They found him.”
I sat down.
My mind screamed for logic.
Every memory suddenly felt contaminated.
The way Thomas had changed.
His strange phone calls.
The unexplained trips.
That night he'd come home with blood on his sleeve and said he cut himself on a broken drawer.
I'd believed him.
All of it.
Adrian said quietly, “Thomas left instructions.”
“What instructions?”
“To protect you and Oliver if he died.”
I looked at my son.
“He knew?”
“He knew there was a possibility.”
“Possibility of what?”
Adrian sat opposite me.
“An organization called Black Meridian.”
The name made no sense.
“What do they want?”
“The archive.”
“And what's in it?”
“The identities of everyone involved.”
I looked at the flash drive.
“Is that the archive?”
“No.”
“Then what is it?”
“The key.”
“To what?”
“The archive.”
Silence.
I finally asked the question I had been avoiding.
“Why me?”
Adrian's expression changed.
“Because Thomas trusted you.”
“That isn't enough.”
“No.”
He leaned forward.
“Because you're the only person who knows the password.”
“I don't know any password.”
“You do.”
“What is it?”
He smiled sadly.
“Oliver's birthday.”
I stared.
“That doesn't make sense.”
“Try.”
I didn't want to.
But I knew my husband's habits.
He loved strange patterns.
Dates.
Sequences.
Numbers.
I picked up the flash drive.
The screen on my laptop displayed one encrypted folder.
It asked for a password.
I typed Oliver's birthday.
Nothing.
I tried the date Thomas and I met.
Nothing.
Our anniversary.
Nothing.
Thomas's birthday.
Nothing.
Adrian watched silently.
Then I remembered something.
Oliver had once asked me why Dad always whispered a particular phrase before going to sleep.
I had laughed.
Thomas had said it was a habit.
Three words.
Words I hadn't thought about in years.
I typed them.
The screen went black.
Then white letters appeared.
WELCOME BACK, ELENA.
My entire body went rigid.
I hadn't told Adrian my middle name.
Almost nobody knew it.
Another message appeared.
SUBJECT STATUS: ALIVE
Then:
SECONDARY ASSET DETECTED
Then:
OLIVER BENNETT
I looked at my sleeping son.
“What does secondary asset mean?”
Adrian's face had gone pale.
“It means…”
He swallowed.
“They knew about Oliver before he was born.”
The motel room suddenly felt much smaller.
Then the screen displayed one final sentence.
TRANSFER COMPLETE. LOCATION COMPROMISED.
Adrian jumped up.
“Wake Oliver.”
“What?”
“Now.”
A car door slammed outside.
Then another.
Adrian grabbed the curtains.
Three black vehicles had surrounded the motel.
May you like
He turned toward me.
“They found us.”
