Chapter 4 - THE DEAD SOLDIERSThe official police report said the armory shooting was an attempted robbery.
Lisa knew it was a lie before the first officer finished speaking.
Three patrol cars.
Two federal agents.
No ambulance.
No forensic team.
Nobody even asked where Colonel Marcus Hale had gone.
Because by the time police entered the building, his body was missing.
Lisa stood in the rain outside the armory.
Ryan beside her.
She looked at him.
"Where is Daniel?"
"I don't know."
"You just said Evelyn took him."
"That's what I was told."
"By whom?"
Ryan looked away.
Lisa stepped closer.
"You're still lying."
"I don't know how to protect you anymore."
"You never protected me."
The words landed.
Ryan flinched.
"You monitored me."
Silence.
"You lied about Daniel."
Silence.
"You let your mother hit me."
Ryan's jaw tightened.
"I was afraid."
Lisa laughed.
"You?"
The decorated officer who had built his entire life around control had just admitted fear.
That frightened her more than the gun.
"Afraid of what?"
Ryan looked toward the officers.
"Of the people behind my mother."
"Names."
"I don't have them."
"Then find them."
Ryan shook his head.
"You don't understand the scale."
Lisa stared.
"Then explain it."
He pulled a folded piece of paper from his pocket.
A list.
Twenty-seven names.
Every name belonged to a dead soldier.
Beside each name were numbers.
Amounts.
Dates.
Bank account references.
Lisa recognized some of them.
"These are settlement accounts."
Ryan nodded.
"All paid after the soldiers died."
Lisa scanned the list.
"Who received the money?"
"Evelyn's charity."
"How much?"
Ryan looked at her.
"Thirty-two million."
Lisa felt dizzy.
"Thirty-two million?"
"Over eight years."
She read further.
Then stopped.
One name had been circled.
Daniel Bennett.
No amount.
No account.
Just one word beside it.
KEY.
Lisa looked up.
"What does this mean?"
Ryan didn't answer.
A black sedan rolled slowly past them.
Lisa watched the rear window.
For a fraction of a second, she saw a woman inside.
White hair.
Pale face.
Red scarf.
Evelyn.
Lisa pointed.
"That's her."
Ryan spun around.
The sedan accelerated.
They ran to the SUV.
The chase lasted seven minutes.
Then the sedan vanished beneath an elevated highway.
Lisa cursed.
Her phone rang.
Unknown number.
She answered.
A distorted male voice said:
"Check the dead."
"What?"
"The names."
"Who are you?"
"You're looking at the wrong family."
"What do you want?"
"Your company."
Lisa's blood went cold.
"My company?"
"Northstar Cybersecurity."
The line went dead.
Ryan stared at her.
"They know about your company."
"They know everything."
Her phone vibrated again.
A message arrived.
LOOK AT EMPLOYEE 17.
Lisa opened the secure personnel system.
Employee 17.
The number belonged to her closest friend.
Sarah Coleman.
Sarah had worked beside Lisa for eleven years.
She knew every password protocol.
Every internal weakness.
Every acquisition negotiation.
She had been the person Lisa trusted most outside the family.
Lisa clicked Sarah's file.
A red warning appeared.
ACCESS REVOKED.
Then:
ACCOUNT DELETED.
Lisa's heart raced.
"That's impossible."
"What?"
Lisa showed Ryan.
"Sarah's account was erased."
Ryan stared at the screen.
"By whom?"
"I don't know."
"Check the audit logs."
Lisa did.
One entry remained.
Two hours earlier.
From an executive credential.
Not Sarah's.
Not Lisa's.
A credential that had belonged to a Northstar executive who died nine years ago.
Lisa stared at the name.
MARGARET VALE.
Ryan looked at her.
"Who is that?"
Lisa's face went pale.
"She founded Northstar."
"Dead?"
"Yes."
"When?"
"Twenty-seven years ago."
The phone rang again.
This time it was Sarah.
Lisa answered immediately.
"Sarah?"
No response.
"Sarah, where are you?"
A breath.
Then a whisper.
"Lisa..."
"Where are you?"
"I didn't know."
"What?"
"I didn't know she was alive."
"Who?"
A pause.
Then Sarah whispered:
"Margaret."
The line disconnected.
Lisa stared at her phone.
Ryan asked:
"Who's Margaret?"
Lisa looked toward the city lights.
"The woman who built my company."
"And?"
May you like
Lisa swallowed.
"The woman officially declared dead before I was born."
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