Chapter 6 - The Woman in the ChurchThe abandoned church stood at the edge of the county.
Broken windows.
Overgrown cemetery.
A bell tower leaning toward the sky.
We entered through the side door.
Emily stayed with two agents in the vehicle.
I refused to bring her inside.
The woman was sitting alone beneath the altar.
Red scarf.
Dark hair.
Scar near her chin.
I recognized her immediately.
“You.”
She smiled.
“My name is Claire Mercer.”
I stopped.
“Thomas Mercer was your father?”
“My husband.”
I stared.
“I thought you were dead.”
“So did everyone else.”
She lifted a small black notebook.
“My husband wasn't the first person they used.”
“Why come to me?”
“Because you're the only one who doesn't know what you're carrying.”
I sat across from her.
“What is the case?”
She laughed bitterly.
“Do you remember Project Lantern?”
I did.
A classified investigation into shell companies, blackmail, witness intimidation, and asset transfers.
It had been shut down without explanation.
Every record disappeared.
Almost every investigator vanished from the project.
“Lantern didn't fail,” Claire said.
“It changed names.”
“How?”
She opened the notebook.
“It became Harrington.”
My stomach tightened.
“The Harrington network took the original operation and inverted it.”
Instead of exposing wealthy criminals, they began serving them.
Money laundering.
Legal manipulation.
Medical fraud.
Witness coercion.
Marriage contracts designed to transfer assets.
And when someone refused?
They became unstable.
Or dangerous.
Or dead.
“Thomas discovered the medical side.”
Claire's eyes filled with tears.
“He wanted to expose it.”
“What happened?”
“They killed him.”
“Who?”
She looked directly at me.
“Your daughter.”
I stood.
“What?”
“They needed Emily's case to be perfect.”
“Why Emily?”
“Because she's the daughter of Arthur Collins.”
I stared.
Claire continued.
“Fifteen years ago, your investigation uncovered something no one else knew.”
“What?”
“A vault.”
The word echoed through the empty church.
“What vault?”
“An archive containing every transaction, every name, every witness.”
“Where?”
Claire smiled sadly.
“You tell me.”
I frowned.
She pointed toward my chest.
“The case.”
I went still.
“The steel case doesn't contain the archive.”
“No?”
“It contains the key.”
A sound came from outside.
Car door.
Then another.
Claire stood.
“They found us.”
Agents rushed in.
“We need to move.”
Gunfire shattered the church windows.
Emily screamed from the vehicle.
I ran.
A man had grabbed her.
I tackled him against the car.
He hit the ground.
Another attacker appeared.
An agent shot him in the leg.
Emily stumbled free.
I pulled her behind me.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“Look at me.”
She nodded.
“I'm okay.”
Then Claire shouted:
“Arthur!”
I turned.
She was standing with the black notebook.
An attacker raised a weapon behind her.
I fired first.
He collapsed.
Claire stared at me.
“You still remember how.”
I lowered the gun.
“Sometimes.”
She looked at Emily.
“Now listen carefully.”
She opened the notebook.
“Your daughter isn't the target.”
I felt the blood leave my face.
“Then who is?”
Claire looked at me.
“You are.”
She tore out a page.
“Michael was ordered to marry Emily because they needed access to you.”
“Access to what?”
“To the last surviving copy of Lantern.”
I stared at the page.
There was a symbol printed at the top.
A black circle with three lines through it.
I knew it.
My old division used it.
“Where did you get this?”
“From Ethan.”
My head snapped up.
“Ethan is alive.”
Claire nodded.
“He's been underground for years.”
“Where?”
She looked toward the road.
“That's the problem.”
“What?”
“He no longer works against them.”
She handed me the page.
“He works for them.”
Emily looked at me.
“Dad…”
May you like
Then Claire whispered:
“And he's coming for you.”
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