Chapter 10 - THE SECRET UNDER THE HOUSEOur house had a basement.
But it didn't have a basement entrance.
Not officially.
The original house plans showed a foundation storage area.
Nothing more.
Yet Claire had once mentioned that my father had renovated the basement before we bought the property.
I never asked why.
Now I understood.
We searched behind the old shelving.
Nothing.
Behind the boiler.
Nothing.
Then Lily pointed toward a wall.
“Daddy.”
“What?”
“There.”
A tiny scratch.
Almost invisible.
A rectangle.
My father had built something into the wall.
We removed the panel.
A keypad appeared.
Four digits.
I tried his birthday.
Wrong.
Mine.
Wrong.
His wedding anniversary.
Wrong.
Then I remembered his phrase from the video.
You were never the target. The children were.
I entered Lily's birthday.
The keypad flashed green.
The wall opened.
Behind it was a hidden corridor.
Cold air rushed through.
My attorney stared.
“You've got to be kidding.”
We entered.
The corridor led downward.
At the end was a reinforced steel door.
Inside was a room filled with documents.
Photographs.
Computer drives.
Bank records.
And dozens of files marked with one word:
VOSS.
I opened the first file.
Then the second.
Then the third.
My father had spent years collecting evidence against Samuel Voss.
But the final file wasn't about Voss.
It was about Claire.
I opened it.
Photographs of her from childhood.
School records.
Travel records.
Bank transfers.
And one handwritten note.
She was recruited at nineteen.
My stomach dropped.
Claire had been nineteen when she first entered Voss's network.
The next page showed Marcus.
Recruiter.
Then Diane.
Asset.
Vanessa.
Facilitator.
They had built a network around me.
I kept reading.
Then I found my name.
Target: Daniel Hayes.
Underneath:
Objective: Gain legal access to inherited assets.
I almost laughed.
My father had predicted it.
He had known they would come.
But there was one final paragraph.
If they discover the Northstar Asset, they will escalate.
Northstar.
That name appeared nowhere else.
I searched the room.
Nothing.
Then I found a map.
A property marked outside the city.
An old warehouse.
My father had circled it in red.
I called Harold.
“What is Northstar?”
He was silent.
“Harold.”
“You found it?”
“What is it?”
“Your father's contingency.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means your father expected to die.”
“He did die.”
“No.”
Harold's voice changed.
“He expected to be killed.”
I stared at the files.
“Why?”
“Because Northstar could expose everything.”
“What is it?”
“A database.”
“Containing what?”
“Every account Voss ever used.”
I felt my heart race.
“How much?”
“All of it.”
Companies.
Bribes.
Politicians.
Identity fraud.
Offshore transfers.
Everything.
If Northstar existed, it could destroy Voss's entire network.
And apparently, someone believed I had access to it.
My phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
A text:
Bring the drive to Warehouse 17. Alone.
Then another:
Claire is alive.
I stared at the message.
My attorney grabbed my arm.
“Don't go.”
But I had no choice.
Not if Claire was alive.
Not if she knew something.
We went to Warehouse 17 with police surveillance.
The building was abandoned.
Broken windows.
Rusting doors.
Darkness.
Inside, we found a chair.
A camera.
A table.
And Claire.
She was tied to the chair.
Bruised.
Alive.
I rushed forward.
Police stopped me.
“Stay back.”
A speaker crackled.
Marcus's voice.
“You wanted your wife.”
I stared at the camera.
“Let her go.”
“Not yet.”
“Why?”
“Because she still has something.”
Claire looked at me.
Her eyes were full of tears.
“Daniel…”
Marcus continued.
“Your father hid Northstar somewhere only you can access.”
“What do you want?”
“Bring it.”
“I don't have it.”
“You do.”
“How?”
“Your father made sure you'd find it.”
The speaker went silent.
Then Claire screamed.
The lights cut out.
Gunfire erupted outside.
Police shouted.
I grabbed Claire as officers stormed the room.
But Marcus was gone.
And in the chaos, Claire whispered something into my ear.
“I know where Northstar is.”
I stared at her.
“Where?”
She looked toward the darkness.
“Inside the one thing your father left you.”
“What?”
May you like
She swallowed.
“Your blood.”
