CHAPTER 4: THE MAN I WAS SUPPOSED TO PROTECT
For several seconds, I couldn't breathe.
I stared at the photograph in my hand.
Me.
Charles Prescott.
And a promise I couldn't remember making.
YOU PROMISED TO PROTECT MY SON.
My eyes moved from the photograph to Daniel Cross.
“Which son?”
Daniel didn't answer.
“Ethan?”
He shook his head.
“No.”
“Brandon?”
Again, he shook his head.
“Then who?”
Daniel glanced toward Emily.
She looked confused.
“I don't understand,” she whispered.
Neither did I.
Daniel stepped closer.
“The Prescott family has spent years making sure one name disappeared from every record.”
“What name?”
He looked directly at me.
“Michael Prescott.”
The name hit me strangely.
Not because I remembered it.
Because I didn't.
And that was exactly what frightened me.
“Who is Michael?”
Daniel reached into his jacket and pulled out a second photograph.
A boy stood beside Charles Prescott.
Maybe twelve years old.
Dark hair.
Thin face.
Serious eyes.
I stared at him.
There was something familiar about his expression.
Something I couldn't place.
“Charles had three sons,” Daniel said. “Ethan was the youngest. Brandon was the oldest.”
“And Michael?”
“The middle son.”
“What happened to him?”
Daniel's face became cold.
“According to the official story, he died in a boating accident when he was seventeen.”
I looked at the photograph.
“When?”
“Four years ago.”
My pulse changed.
Four years.
The same year as the photograph of me and Charles.
The same year I had received the classified briefing I could barely remember.
I looked at Daniel.
“Michael didn't die.”
“No.”
“Where is he?”
Daniel didn't answer.
I stepped forward.
“Where is he?”
“You're asking the wrong question.”
My patience snapped.
“Then give me the right one.”
Daniel looked at Emily.
“The right question is why Charles Prescott needed you to protect him.”
Emily suddenly spoke.
“Mom…”
I turned.
She was staring at the photograph.
“I've seen him.”
My heart stopped.
“What?”
Emily pointed at Michael.
“I've seen that man.”
“Where?”
“At the Prescott estate.”
Daniel went completely still.
“When?”
Emily thought.
“Before my wedding.”
“Where?”
“In the west wing.”
I looked at her.
“You told me the west wing was closed.”
“It was.”
“Then how did you see him?”
Emily's face turned pale.
“I heard someone arguing.”
“Who?”
“Ethan.”
“And?”
She swallowed.
“Another man.”
“Did you see his face?”
“Only for a second.”
She looked at the photograph again.
“It was him.”
Daniel's expression hardened.
“That's impossible.”
Emily shook her head.
“I know what I saw.”
Daniel turned away.
I noticed his hand trembling.
That was the first time I saw fear on his face.
“Daniel.”
He didn't respond.
“Where is Michael?”
“He's dead.”
Emily interrupted.
“No.”
Everyone looked at her.
She was crying.
“He isn't.”
“Emily?”
She looked at me.
“I remember what Ethan said that night.”
“What?”
She closed her eyes.
“He said, ‘If Michael ever comes back, we're all finished.’”
Silence.
Daniel slowly turned toward her.
“You heard that?”
Emily nodded.
“When?”
“Two weeks before my wedding.”
Daniel looked at me.
“Then they've made a mistake.”
“What mistake?”
“They let her hear too much.”
A gunshot exploded outside.
Daniel immediately pushed us behind a concrete pillar.
Another shot.
Then another.
Emily screamed.
“Stay down!”
Daniel pulled a handgun.
I reached for mine.
“Who are they?”
“Prescott security.”
“How many?”
“Enough.”
Bullets struck the warehouse walls.
Concrete dust filled the air.
I moved toward the side entrance.
Daniel grabbed my arm.
“Don't.”
“Why?”
“Because they're waiting for you.”
I looked at him.
“How do you know?”
“Because I helped design the security operation.”
I stared.
“You worked for them.”
“I did.”
“And now?”
“I betrayed them.”
Another burst of gunfire.
Daniel checked his weapon.
“There's a tunnel underneath this building.”
“Where does it lead?”
“To the old rail line.”
“Then we're leaving.”
We moved.
Emily stayed between us.
We reached a metal staircase.
Daniel opened a hidden panel beneath the lowest step.
A narrow passage appeared.
Emily looked at me.
“Mom, how did you know all this?”
“I didn't.”
She frowned.
“Then why aren't you surprised?”
I looked at her.
“Because the Army taught me something.”
“What?”
“When people spend years hiding something, the truth usually isn't buried in the place they're protecting.”
I looked toward the gunfire.
“It's buried somewhere else.”
We entered the tunnel.
Daniel closed the panel.
Darkness swallowed us.
For several minutes, we walked without speaking.
Then Emily whispered:
“Mom?”
“Yes?”
“There's something I haven't told you.”
I stopped.
Daniel stopped too.
“What?”
Emily looked terrified.
“The night before Ethan hurt me…”
She hesitated.
“He asked me if you still remembered Operation Black Lantern.”
Every muscle in my body froze.
Daniel slowly turned.
“What did she say?”
“I told him I didn't know what he meant.”
I stared at Emily.
“What else?”
“He said…”
She wiped her tears.
“He said, ‘Your mother knows exactly what happened to Michael.’”
I felt the tunnel close around me.
Operation Black Lantern.
I knew that name.
I hadn't thought about it in years.
A classified operation.
A missing intelligence officer.
A convoy that disappeared.
And one civilian witness.
Charles Prescott.
I turned toward Daniel.
“You knew.”
He nodded.
“Everyone involved knew.”
“Then why was the operation erased?”
“Because it wasn't an operation.”
“What was it?”
Daniel hesitated.
“A transaction.”
My stomach tightened.
“Between whom?”
“The Prescott family and people inside the government.”
Emily looked at us.
“What were they trading?”
Daniel answered quietly.
“Information.”
“What kind?”
“Military intelligence.”
I stopped walking.
“That's why Charles needed protection.”
“No.”
Daniel looked at me.
“Charles didn't need protection.”
“Then why did he contact me?”
“Because Michael had discovered the truth.”
I stared at him.
“What truth?”
“His father wasn't selling information.”
I waited.
“Someone was buying it.”
“Who?”
Daniel's face hardened.
“We never identified the buyer.”
I looked at him.
“But you know.”
He said nothing.
“Daniel.”
He finally spoke.
“It's someone with access to military intelligence.”
“That could mean hundreds of people.”
“Not this person.”
“Why?”
“Because they knew about Black Lantern before the Army did.”
My blood ran cold.
“That means…”
“Yes.”
“They were inside.”
Daniel nodded.
“Someone in the military was helping them.”
I looked at Emily.
She was pale.
Then she whispered:
“Mom…”
“What?”
“Ethan knew about Black Lantern.”
I turned.
“How could he?”
“I don't know.”
Daniel suddenly raised his gun.
“Stop.”
We froze.
He was looking behind us.
“What?”
“Listen.”
At first, I heard nothing.
Then footsteps.
Someone was walking through the tunnel.
Slowly.
Not running.
Not hiding.
Walking.
Daniel raised his weapon.
“Back up.”
We moved.
A silhouette appeared in the distance.
A man stepped into the weak emergency light.
I recognized him immediately.
Ethan Prescott.
His suit was torn.
His face was bruised.
Blood ran down the side of his forehead.
He raised both hands.
“Don't shoot.”
Emily gasped.
“Ethan?”
He looked at her.
Then at me.
“Victoria…”
I stepped forward.
“Where is your family?”
Ethan laughed bitterly.
“They're trying to kill me.”
I didn't lower my weapon.
“Why should I believe you?”
“Because they killed Brandon.”
Emily covered her mouth.
“What?”
Ethan's eyes filled with fear.
“Brandon found out about Michael.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“When?”
“Tonight.”
“What happened?”
“They took him.”
“Who?”
Ethan looked behind him.
“Margaret.”
Silence.
His own mother.
I stared at him.
“You're saying Margaret ordered Brandon's death?”
Ethan nodded.
“She told me I was next.”
Daniel looked at me.
“She's cleaning house.”
I looked at Ethan.
“Then why are you here?”
His eyes met mine.
“Because I need your help.”
“You threatened my daughter.”
“I know.”
“You lied to her.”
“I know.”
“You let your family hurt her.”
Ethan's voice broke.
“I was trying to keep her alive.”
I almost laughed.
“You call that keeping her alive?”
He looked at Emily.
“I knew they were watching her.”
“So you did nothing.”
“I couldn't.”
“Why?”
Ethan looked at Daniel.
Then at me.
“Because Michael is alive.”
Emily gasped.
“I knew it.”
Ethan continued.
“And he's coming back.”
Daniel stepped forward.
“Where?”
Ethan looked toward the darkness behind him.
“He's already here.”
The tunnel went silent.
Then we heard footsteps.
Not one person.
Several.
Ethan's face went white.
“They found us.”
I raised my weapon.
Daniel moved beside me.
Emily stepped behind us.
Then the lights suddenly came on.
Every bulb in the tunnel illuminated at once.
And at the far end stood a man.
Tall.
Gray coat.
Dark hair.
A scar across his left cheek.
He looked directly at me.
I had never met him.
Yet somehow, I knew exactly who he was.
Michael Prescott.
The son I had supposedly promised to protect.
He slowly raised his hand.
Not holding a weapon.
Holding something else.
A small black flash drive.
He smiled.
“Colonel Hart.”
My heart stopped.
He looked at Emily.
Then back at me.
“I'm sorry you had to find out this way.”
I tightened my grip.
“Find out what?”
Michael's smile vanished.
“That your daughter was never their target.”
He held up the flash drive.
“You were.”
May you like
Then every light in the tunnel went out.
And somewhere in the darkness, a gunshot exploded.
