Chapter 7 - THE GRAVE THAT WAS EMPTYThe cemetery was empty at 2:13 in the morning.
Rain fell steadily.
Nathan stood before his mother's grave holding a flashlight.
The stone carried her name.
EVELYN HAIL.
Born 1964.
Died 2013.
But there was one problem.
The ground had been disturbed recently.
Nathan crouched.
“Someone opened it.”
Mara scanned the cemetery.
“Stay back.”
A federal team began digging.
Twenty minutes later, they opened the casket.
It was empty.
Nathan stared into the darkness.
No body.
Only a plastic bag.
Inside was a cassette tape.
Nathan lifted it.
Mara recognized the handwriting on the label.
Evelyn Hail.
Nathan's mother.
They played it inside the federal SUV.
Her voice sounded tired.
“If Nathan is hearing this, then I'm already gone.”
Nathan closed his eyes.
“I need you to know something.”
A pause.
“Your father didn't die first.”
Nathan's eyes opened.
“I did.”
Mara looked at him.
Evelyn continued.
“They wanted your father to believe I was dead. They needed him to stop looking.”
Nathan gripped the seat.
“Who?”
“The organization calls itself Harbor Nine.”
Mara's face went cold.
Nine.
Not Black Harbor.
Harbor Nine.
“Your father worked with them before he betrayed them.”
Nathan looked at Mara.
“They recruited him?”
“Yes,” she said quietly.
Evelyn continued.
“There is a man named Gabriel Shaw.”
Nathan stared at Mara.
“Shaw was there the night I disappeared.”
The recording crackled.
“He told me that if I ran, Nathan would die.”
Nathan's hands shook.
Evelyn's final words came slowly.
“I ran anyway.”
The tape ended.
Nobody spoke.
Then Mara's phone rang.
No caller ID.
She answered.
A woman's voice said:
“You're getting close.”
Mara froze.
“Who are you?”
The woman laughed.
“You'll know.”
Then the call ended.
Nathan looked at her.
“Was that my mother?”
Mara did not answer immediately.
“I don't know.”
He looked away.
A federal agent rushed toward them.
“Agent Hail!”
She turned.
“We found something.”
He handed her a photograph.
A security image from six hours earlier.
A woman had entered a private clinic.
The face was partly covered.
But Nathan recognized the coat.
Red.
The same red coat the girl in the tunnel had worn.
He stared.
“Where is the clinic?”
The agent answered.
“Three miles from here.”
Nathan opened the vehicle door.
Mara followed.
As they drove through the rain, the agent's phone rang.
He answered.
Then his face changed.
“What happened?” Mara asked.
He lowered the phone.
“The clinic just exploded.”
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Nathan stared ahead.
And somewhere behind them, hidden in the darkness, a black SUV began following their convoy.
