Chapter 21 - THE FATHER'S LAST LIEThomas contacted Mara forty-eight hours later.
No location.
No video.
Only voice.
“Mara.”
She recorded everything.
“Where are you?”
“With Keene.”
Nathan grabbed the table.
Mara remained still.
“Prisoner?”
A long silence.
“No.”
Nathan's face emptied.
Thomas continued.
“Keene offered me my old position.”
“Harbormaster.”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“I accepted.”
Nathan walked out.
Mara stayed.
“Why?”
“Because he trusts ambition more than repentance.”
She understood.
“You're inside.”
“For now.”
Thomas revealed the council would meet in seventy-two hours.
Not in Washington.
On a retired aircraft carrier scheduled for dismantling in Baltimore.
Keene planned to transfer control of NIGHTGLASS to three private military corporations.
After that, Black Tide would no longer be one conspiracy.
It would become a business model.
“Give me the location.”
“I just did.”
“No. Give me your location.”
Thomas laughed quietly.
“You still think you can bring me home.”
“You are coming home.”
“Mara, there are things I did before Rourke took control—”
“You can confess in court.”
“I deserve worse.”
“That isn't your decision.”
Silence.
Then Thomas said something she had waited fifteen years to hear.
“I was wrong to leave you.”
Mara's jaw tightened.
“Yes.”
“I thought disappearing would protect you.”
“It protected you from watching what it did to us.”
Thomas breathed shakily.
Then the transmission abruptly changed.
Another voice entered the line.
Admiral Keene.
“Commander Vance.”
Mara froze.
Keene sounded amused.
“Your father has always been terrible at choosing between family and duty.”
May you like
A gunshot sounded.
The connection died.
