Chapter 5 - The House at Mercer RidgeThe footsteps stopped outside the steel door.
No one spoke.
Jake pressed himself against my side.
I lifted one finger to my lips.
Silence.
Then the door unlocked.
Not forced.
Unlocked.
Someone knew the code.
The handle turned.
Christine whispered, "My father."
I shook my head.
"No."
The door opened.
A woman stepped inside.
Late fifties.
Short gray hair.
Dark coat.
I recognized her immediately.
My former handler.
Mara Voss.
The woman who had told me to disappear twelve years ago.
She looked at me.
Then at Jake.
Then at Christine.
"I see you've finally run out of places to hide."
I stepped between her and my son.
"You're not taking him."
Mara smiled faintly.
"I didn't come for him."
"Then why are you here?"
She looked at the ledger.
"Because you found it."
Christine stared.
"You know my father?"
Mara laughed.
"I knew him before you were born."
That wasn't possible.
Christine looked at me.
"Who is she?"
"Someone I used to work for."
Mara corrected me.
"Someone you used to work under."
I ignored her.
"What is Project Harrow?"
Mara's expression hardened.
"It was supposed to disappear."
"So was I."
"It did."
"Apparently not."
She stepped closer.
"The ledger isn't a list of payments."
"What is it?"
"Names of people who survived Harrow."
I looked down.
"Then why is mine there?"
"Because Harrow was never designed to kill you."
My stomach tightened.
"What?"
"It was designed to make you disappear."
"Why?"
Mara looked at Christine.
"Ask your wife."
Christine went pale.
I turned.
"Christine."
She shook her head.
"I didn't know."
"You knew enough."
"I knew your identity was protected."
"By whom?"
She started crying.
"By my father."
I looked at Mara.
"Why would Walter protect me?"
"He didn't."
Mara opened the ledger.
She turned to a page near the middle.
There was a photograph.
A young woman.
Christine.
Beside her, a little boy.
Jake.
My throat tightened.
The photograph was dated eight years ago.
The day Jake was born.
I stared.
"This was taken in the hospital."
Christine whispered, "No."
Mara pointed to the bottom corner.
A handwritten note.
Asset confirmed.
"What asset?"
Mara answered quietly.
"Jake."
The room went silent.
I felt something cold move through my chest.
"Why would my son be an asset?"
Mara looked at me.
"Because he was born with something they needed."
"What?"
She didn't answer.
Christine did.
"Your blood."
I stared at her.
"My blood?"
"Your biological markers."
I laughed once because the alternative was screaming.
"My son is eight years old. What could my blood possibly have to do with this?"
Mara's face became grim.
"Everything."
She turned to Jake.
"His mother wasn't chosen because she loved you."
Christine flinched.
I looked at my wife.
"What does that mean?"
Mara continued.
"Christine was assigned to you."
The words didn't make sense.
Then they did.
Our first meeting.
The coffee shop.
The conversation.
The sudden friendship.
The perfect timing.
The way she seemed to understand everything about me.
The way she never asked about the years I couldn't explain.
The way she had always insisted that I was safe.
I took a step back.
"Was any of it real?"
Christine started sobbing.
"At first, no."
I closed my eyes.
Then Jake spoke.
"Dad?"
I looked at him.
He was shaking.
"Am I the reason everybody is hurting us?"
I knelt beside him.
"No."
Mara interrupted.
"Not yet."
I turned.
"What does that mean?"
Mara looked at the door.
"Because the people hunting you don't actually want the ledger."
She pointed to Jake.
"They want what's inside him."
I felt my blood run cold.
Then the building shook.
An explosion rocked the upper floor.
Dust fell from the ceiling.
Mara looked at me.
"They found us."
And then she said the words that changed everything.
May you like
"Your son was never the target."
"He was the key."
