Chapter 10 - The Second BoxThe house looked exactly as we had left it.
Dark.
Silent.
Waiting.
I walked into the study.
Removed the rug.
Opened the first compartment.
Empty.
The steel box was gone.
I almost laughed.
Cole had taken the bait.
Daniel looked at me.
"You expected that."
"Of course."
"You left the box?"
"A decoy."
I reached beneath the floor.
A second compartment opened.
Inside was a small black case.
Daniel stared.
"You never told me about that."
"I never told anyone."
I opened it.
Inside was a handwritten journal.
My wife's journal.
I hadn't known it existed.
My hands shook.
I turned the first page.
The first sentence was dated three months before her death.
Michael thinks he's protecting us. He doesn't know he's already been marked.
I read faster.
Page after page.
Names.
Meetings.
Financial accounts.
And photographs.
Then I saw something that made my heart stop.
A photograph of Sarah.
Taken fifteen years earlier.
Sarah was standing beside Nathan Cole.
But I knew the date.
Sarah had told everyone she had never met him.
She had lied.
I turned the page.
There was another photograph.
Claire.
Cole.
Sarah.
All together.
But this photo was older.
Much older.
"This can't be."
Daniel leaned over my shoulder.
"They knew each other."
"Before I ever met my wife."
"Yes."
I kept reading.
Then I found the final entry.
The handwriting was hurried.
If Michael finds this, tell him the truth. The operation was compromised from inside. The man responsible is not Daniel. It is someone much closer.
I stopped.
Much closer.
My eyes moved down the page.
One name had been partially torn away.
Only the final letters remained.
...RA.
Sarah?
Maybe.
But then I realized something.
There was another person whose name ended that way.
Clara.
Sandra.
Laura.
I needed the original page.
Then I saw the hidden photograph tucked behind the final entry.
My wife's face was bruised.
Someone stood behind her.
A shadow.
But the reflection in the window was clear.
It wasn't Sarah.
It wasn't Cole.
It wasn't Daniel.
It was me.
I stared at the image.
The man behind my wife looked exactly like me.
Same height.
Same haircut.
Same military posture.
Impossible.
Daniel looked at the photograph.
Then he whispered:
"That's not you."
"Then who is it?"
He turned pale.
"My brother."
I stared.
"You told me you were an only child."
"I lied."
"Why?"
"Because my brother worked for Black Harbor."
Before I could respond, every light in the house turned on.
A voice came through the speakers.
"Excellent."
Cole.
He was watching us.
"You finally found it."
The television switched on.
Cole appeared on screen.
Sarah was beside him.
Her face was bruised.
Lucas stood behind her.
Cole smiled.
"Now you understand the game."
I stepped toward the television.
"You want the journal?"
"No."
"What do you want?"
Cole looked at Sophia.
"I want the girl."
I pulled Sophia behind me.
Cole continued.
"Because your daughter knows something she shouldn't."
I felt my blood run cold.
"What?"
Cole smiled.
Then Sarah screamed:
"Michael, don't let him take her!"
May you like
The screen went black.
A second later, every window in the house shattered.
