Chapter 5 - The Man Who Should Have Been DeadI moved through the house without turning on the lights.
The front door was open.
No wind.
No broken lock.
Someone had a key.
I entered the hallway.
Nothing.
Kitchen.
Empty.
Living room.
Empty.
Then I saw the envelope on the table.
My name was written on it.
No stamp.
No fingerprints.
Inside was a photograph.
Sophia.
Taken that afternoon at the hospital.
She was asleep.
The second photograph showed the hallway outside her room.
The third showed me standing beside her bed.
The fourth made my stomach twist.
It showed Sarah entering the hospital.
She wasn't supposed to know the room number.
I had never told her.
On the back of the photograph were six words.
YOU NEVER ASKED WHY SARAH WAS HERE.
I heard a noise upstairs.
I reached the staircase.
A shadow moved.
I followed it.
The bedroom door opened.
Empty.
But the window was raised.
On the floor sat a phone.
Not mine.
I picked it up.
The screen displayed a live feed.
Sophia's hospital room.
I nearly crushed the device.
My secure team had sealed the area.
Yet someone was watching her.
I called the hospital.
"Get security to Sophia's room now."
The nurse sounded confused.
"We already have security."
"Then double it."
I ended the call.
A second message arrived.
YOUR FAMILY IS THE WEAPON.
Then:
YOU ARE THE TARGET.
I looked down at the phone.
That was when I realized something.
They weren't trying to kill me.
They were trying to control me.
Which meant the box contained something they desperately needed.
I returned to the study.
The box was still there.
I removed the encrypted drive.
There was one file I hadn't opened.
A video.
I clicked it.
Static.
Then Daniel appeared.
He was sitting in a dark room.
Older.
A scar ran along his jaw.
"Michael," he said.
I stared at the screen.
"If you're watching this, then things have gone badly."
I whispered:
"You're alive."
Daniel leaned toward the camera.
"I need you to understand something."
He looked exhausted.
"I never betrayed you."
The image flickered.
"I was betrayed by someone who wore the same uniform."
My heartbeat accelerated.
"Who?"
Daniel looked directly into the camera.
"Look at Sarah."
The screen went black.
I replayed it.
Nothing else.
Then the secure phone rang.
It was my team leader.
"Colonel."
"What?"
"We found Sarah."
"Where?"
"Outside the hospital."
My blood ran cold.
"Alone?"
"No."
"What does she have?"
A pause.
"Your daughter."
I stood so quickly the chair fell backward.
"What?"
"Colonel, listen."
His voice changed.
"Sarah isn't taking Sophia."
"Then who is?"
Another pause.
"We don't know."
I grabbed my keys.
Then I saw something through the study window.
A black car parked across the street.
The driver's door opened.
A man stepped out.
He looked directly at my house.
May you like
Even from that distance, I recognized him.
Daniel Mercer.
