Chapter 4 - The Woman in the ChurchClara finally told me who she was working forThe church had been abandoned for eleven years.
Stained glass windows.
Broken pews.
Dust covering the altar.
A place built for confession.
Someone had chosen it deliberately.
I entered alone.
My ribs screamed with every step.
I ignored them.
Clara stood beside the altar.
No armor.
No makeup.
No carefully styled ponytail.
Just a gray coat and trembling hands.
"You came."
"You asked me to."
She laughed nervously.
"I didn't send that message."
"I know."
She looked behind me.
"You're being followed."
"No."
"You don't know that."
"I do."
"How?"
"Because the man following me stopped breathing eight minutes ago."
Her face went pale.
"God."
"Don't."
She looked at me.
"Don't what?"
"Don't pretend you suddenly grew a conscience."
Her eyes filled with tears.
"I never wanted you to die."
"Then why did you put a seal over a sucking chest wound?"
"I was ordered to."
"By Rook?"
She said nothing.
"How long have you been working for him?"
"Nine months."
"And Julian?"
"Four months."
The pieces aligned.
"What did Julian know?"
"Enough."
"How much?"
She looked down.
"He knew Arthur was going to expose Harborlight."
"Expose it to whom?"
"Congress."
My heart stopped for a second.
"Arthur had evidence?"
"Yes."
"Where?"
Clara looked toward the ceiling.
"With you."
I frowned.
"What?"
"Arthur knew Julian couldn't access your Keystone files."
"He couldn't."
"So he used you."
The room seemed to tilt.
"Used me for what?"
"He hid the master ledger inside your security credentials."
My mouth went dry.
"Where?"
Clara whispered:
"Your apartment."
I almost laughed.
"My apartment was searched after the shooting."
"I know."
"Then it's gone."
"No."
Clara stepped closer.
"They didn't find it."
"How do you know?"
"Because I watched Julian look for it."
That frightened me more.
"Clara."
"There's something you need to understand."
Her voice shook.
"Rook never cared about Julian."
"Then who does he care about?"
She looked directly at me.
"You."
The word hung between us.
I felt a chill move through my body.
"Why?"
"Because you're the only person who can prove Harborlight existed."
A gunshot exploded outside.
Clara screamed.
I pulled her behind the altar.
Glass shattered.
Another shot.
Then another.
I leaned toward a broken window.
Three shooters.
Maybe four.
"Stay here."
"Where are you going?"
"Outside."
"You're hurt!"
"I'm also armed."
I moved through a side corridor.
The first attacker entered through the west door.
I caught him before he saw me.
Elbow.
Knee.
Weapon secured.
Second attacker came through the nave.
I dropped behind a pillar.
Two shots.
He went down.
The third tried to circle behind Clara.
I reached him just before his hand touched her shoulder.
A struggle.
My ribs screamed.
He punched the wound.
I nearly blacked out.
Then Clara slammed a bronze candleholder into his head.
He collapsed.
She stared at me.
"I thought you said you didn't want me here."
"I changed my mind."
A fourth shooter entered.
We both heard him.
Clara looked terrified.
I grabbed her hand.
"Run."
We made it through the rear door.
A black SUV waited outside.
Clara stopped.
"It's mine."
"Get in."
"What?"
I shoved her toward it.
"Drive."
She started the engine.
I climbed into the passenger seat.
The rear window exploded.
Clara screamed and accelerated.
We tore down the church road.
"Where?"
"My house."
"No."
"The ledger is there."
"Your house is compromised."
"Then where?"
I thought.
One location.
A place Julian had never seen.
My mother's old townhouse.
We drove for twenty minutes without speaking.
Finally Clara said:
"Can I ask you something?"
"No."
"You really don't love Julian anymore?"
I looked out the window.
"I stopped loving him when I realized he liked the woman I pretended to be around him."
She swallowed.
"And who were you pretending to be?"
"Normal."
She stared at me.
"You were never normal."
"Neither were you."
Clara smiled sadly.
"No."
We reached the townhouse.
The front door was open.
My hand went to my weapon.
"Stay behind me."
Inside, everything looked untouched.
Too untouched.
I moved through the rooms.
Kitchen.
Living room.
Bedroom.
Nothing.
Then I saw the grandfather clock.
It was three minutes slow.
I remembered Arthur.
He had visited this house once.
He'd told me:
"Time hides what people don't notice."
I opened the clock.
Behind the mechanism was a small steel compartment.
Inside was a flash drive.
And a handwritten note.
Kalin,
If you're reading this, I was right about Julian.
Do not trust anyone in Keystone.
The ledger is not evidence.
It is a list of names.
And one of those names belongs to someone you love.
I stared at the final sentence.
Clara read over my shoulder.
"Someone you love?"
I nodded.
Then the flash drive activated by itself.
A video appeared.
Arthur Croft sat in a dark room.
Bruised.
Terrified.
Alive.
He looked directly at the camera.
"If Kalin sees this, it means they killed me."
Clara covered her mouth.
Arthur continued.
"Julian didn't do it alone."
Then he said a name.
The name belonged to the person who had trained me.
My hands went numb.
Clara whispered:
"Who is it?"
May you like
I looked at the screen.
And realized I had spent thirteen years calling him father.
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