Chapter 13 - ChicagoChicago was where everything started.
I had always believed that.
Now I knew it was true.
Claire had taken her trip there because Black Harbor used the city as a financial hub.
Daniel and I entered through a private warehouse.
Sarah stayed behind with Sophia and Lucas under protection.
The journal was in my possession.
So was the second box.
The warehouse contained rows of old filing cabinets.
Daniel opened one.
Inside were personnel files.
Mine.
His.
My wife's.
And Sarah's.
I opened Sarah's first.
There it was.
A photograph from sixteen years ago.
Sarah had been working for a financial company.
The company had been a Black Harbor front.
She hadn't known.
At least initially.
Then I opened my wife's.
One line stood out:
SUBJECT DISCOVERED IDENTITY OF INTERNAL ASSET.
Internal asset.
"Who?"
Daniel searched the file.
Then froze.
"Michael."
"What?"
He handed me a document.
The internal asset was listed as:
ANDREW MERCER.
I stared at him.
"You knew?"
"I suspected."
"You lied to me."
"I was trying to protect you."
"You let me believe you were dead."
"They would have killed you."
I pushed the document into his chest.
"They killed my wife."
Daniel looked devastated.
"Not your wife."
I stared.
"What?"
"Her death was staged."
My entire body went cold.
"You don't understand."
Daniel pointed to the journal.
"Read page forty-three."
I opened it.
A letter.
My wife's handwriting.
Michael, by the time you read this, I will no longer be the woman you think I am.
I couldn't breathe.
I had to disappear because they discovered I was an Echo operative.
I read the next line.
I never told you because loving you was the one thing they could use against me.
My hands trembled.
Then:
Sophia is the key.
I looked at the date.
Written eleven years ago.
A year after Sophia's birth.
The final sentence was only four words.
Protect her from Andrew.
The warehouse lights suddenly went dark.
A voice echoed through the room.
"Too late."
Andrew Mercer stepped into the light.
He looked almost exactly like me.
For one terrifying second, it felt like looking at my own reflection from another life.
Daniel raised his weapon.
Andrew smiled.
"Hello, brother."
Daniel whispered:
"Andrew."
Andrew looked at me.
"You should have stayed retired."
I stepped forward.
"Where is my wife?"
Andrew smiled.
"Closer than you think."
My phone rang.
I answered.
A woman's voice whispered:
"Michael?"
I froze.
It was her.
My wife's voice.
After twelve years.
"Michael, don't trust Andrew."
The line went dead.
Andrew laughed.
"Now you finally understand."
He raised a photograph.
It showed my wife.
May you like
Alive.
And standing beside Sophia.
