Chapter 3 - Daniel's Last NightThe microSD card contained one video.
No password.
No encryption.
Just a timestamp.
Three years earlier.
11:48 p.m.
I stared at the screen.
Daniel appeared.
Alive.
Older than I remembered.
Tired.
Standing inside a dim warehouse.
He looked directly into the camera.
“Adeline, if you're watching this, something went wrong.”
My breath disappeared.
Evan covered his mouth.
Daniel continued.
“I need you to remember something. I never trusted the military report.”
I pressed a hand against my lips.
The recording shook.
Daniel glanced behind him.
“If they tell you I died, don't believe them.”
My entire body felt numb.
“You'll be told I was killed during extraction. That's false.”
Elias moved closer to the laptop.
Daniel's face hardened.
“There is an organization inside the organization.”
He paused.
“Men who wear legitimate uniforms. Men who move money through legitimate companies. Men who have access to everything.”
He looked toward the camera.
“I've been tracking a network called Black Harbor.”
Elias went perfectly still.
Black Harbor.
I recognized the name.
It had appeared in one of the articles I'd once cleaned up for the mansion's business manager.
A shadow corporation.
A shipping company.
Three shell companies.
Rumors of bribery.
Then Daniel said the sentence that changed everything.
“Elias Baron is not running Black Harbor.”
Elias looked at me.
“He's being used to cover it.”
The video ended.
Nobody spoke.
Then Elias asked:
“How much did your brother know?”
“I don't know.”
“You're certain?”
“I haven't seen him in three years.”
“Then someone has been using his identity.”
My phone vibrated.
Another message.
One sentence.
Ask Baron what happened on Pier 17.
I looked up.
“What is Pier 17?”
Elias's expression changed.
For the first time since I'd met him, genuine fear showed in his eyes.
“Where I first met Daniel.”
He turned away.
“No.”
I followed him.
“What happened there?”
“Not here.”
“Elias.”
He stopped.
“You don't understand.”
“Then explain it.”
His hands closed into fists.
“Three years ago, a shipment came into Boston.”
“From where?”
“Europe.”
“What was in it?”
“Money.”
“That sounds ordinary.”
“It wasn't.”
He looked at me.
“It belonged to Black Harbor.”
I waited.
“There were supposed to be seven crates.”
“How many arrived?”
“Six.”
“Who stole the seventh?”
“Nobody.”
His voice was almost a whisper.
“It was never loaded.”
“Then why did everyone think it was?”
“Because the manifest said otherwise.”
He stared at the dark laptop screen.
“Daniel was the man who discovered the missing crate.”
“What was inside?”
Elias hesitated.
“A ledger.”
“That's it?”
“No.”
He looked at me.
“Names.”
I understood immediately.
Politicians.
Police.
Business owners.
Judges.
People who could make evidence disappear.
Daniel had found a list of people who were secretly working for Black Harbor.
“And you?”
“I was supposed to retrieve it.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because Daniel got there first.”
Elias walked toward the door.
“I found him surrounded by six armed men.”
“You said he saved your life.”
“He did.”
“How?”
Elias looked at me.
“He walked between me and a bullet.”
My chest tightened.
“Then what happened?”
“I carried him out.”
“And he died?”
Elias said nothing.
That silence told me everything.
“You don't know.”
“No.”
“You thought he died.”
“Yes.”
“And you never saw the body.”
“No.”
“Then why did you tell everyone he was dead?”
Elias's face hardened.
“Because that's what Black Harbor wanted.”
I stared.
“You helped them.”
“I protected Daniel's identity.”
“By pretending he was dead?”
“Yes.”
“Then why didn't you find him?”
“Because three hours after the attack, every security camera around Pier 17 went dark.”
He stepped closer.
“Every exit was sealed.”
“And Daniel?”
“Gone.”
A floorboard creaked behind us.
Evan stood in the hallway.
He was holding something.
An old military dog tag.
Daniel's.
“I found this in Mom's drawer,” he said.
Elias took it.
Then he turned it over.
His face drained of color.
A second number had been engraved beneath Daniel's service number.
My stomach twisted.
“Pier 17.”
Elias nodded.
Then his phone rang.
He answered.
“Talk.”
His lieutenant spoke rapidly.
Elias's expression hardened.
“Is she there?”
I frowned.
He looked at me.
“Who?”
He hung up.
Then he said:
“The woman who called you?”
“Yes?”
“She was found dead.”
My heart stopped.
“When?”
“Twenty minutes ago.”
“Where?”
Elias looked toward Evan.
“In front of the building.”
The room seemed to tilt.
Then three gunshots cracked outside.
Elias shoved me down.
Glass exploded across the window.
His men reached for weapons.
Evan screamed.
I crawled toward him.
Elias grabbed my shoulder.
“Stay low.”
Another shot.
Then silence.
I looked at him.
“Who was shooting?”
May you like
His face had gone cold.
“The same people who killed Daniel.”
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