Chapter 14 - The Last Christmas Box
Oliver was moved before sunset.
Federal agents transported Emily, Oliver, and Nathan to a protected medical facility outside the city.
Nathan went because agents wanted his server.
Emily went because she had no choice.
She hated leaving St. Joseph's.
It was where Dr. Bennett had saved Oliver.
Where the truth had started.
But it was also compromised.
Someone pretending to be a nurse had reached the same floor as her son.
Oliver slept through most of the drive.
Nathan sat across from them in the armored vehicle.
No one spoke.
At the new facility, Quinn met Emily privately.
"Rachel is being interviewed."
"Can I see her?"
"Not yet."
"Why?"
"Because we don't know whether she's a victim, witness, or participant."
Emily stared.
"She raised me for thirty-two years."
"That doesn't answer what happened thirty-two years ago."
Emily hated the agent again.
Because she was right.
Quinn opened a folder.
"Rachel says Marcus did not kidnap her."
Emily's chest tightened.
"Why did she go with him?"
"She says he contacted her after you called."
"Why?"
"To warn her Helen had been arrested."
"Marcus works with Helen."
"Rachel says he used to."
"Used to?"
"According to her, Marcus has been secretly collecting evidence against the network."
Emily laughed in disbelief.
"The corrupt detective is actually a hero?"
"I didn't say that."
"What did Rachel say about Caroline?"
Quinn paused.
"That Caroline Webb gave birth to a girl in 1994."
Emily could barely breathe.
"Me?"
"Rachel wouldn't confirm."
"Why?"
"She says the identity of that child is the reason people are still being killed."
Emily stood.
"I am tired of people protecting me by refusing to tell me who I am."
Quinn nodded.
"I understand."
"No, you don't."
"Probably not."
At least she did not pretend.
Emily looked through the window.
Oliver sat at a table with Nathan drawing again.
"What does Marcus want with Oliver?"
"Rachel believes he doesn't want to hurt him."
"Helen said someone was supposed to take him from the restaurant."
"Yes."
"Was that Marcus?"
"We don't know."
Emily watched her son.
"Then find him first."
Quinn's phone rang.
She answered.
Her expression tightened.
"Where?"
She listened.
"Nobody touches it."
She ended the call.
"What?"
"They found something inside Helen's house."
"The hidden room?"
Quinn nodded.
"Behind the closet."
Emily followed her to the operations room.
Live photographs appeared on a large screen.
Agents had removed a shelving unit from Helen's closet.
Behind it was a steel door.
Inside was a narrow office.
Computers.
Hard drives.
Boxes.
A wall of photographs.
Emily's childhood.
Oliver's childhood.
Nathan.
Rachel.
James Harlow.
Richard.
Caroline Webb.
Marcus Vale.
More than fifty faces.
Some crossed out in red.
Emily moved closer.
"Why does she have pictures of my entire life?"
Quinn said nothing.
One photograph stood out.
Emily at age fourteen.
Walking home from school.
Taken from across the street.
Another at eighteen.
College graduation.
Twenty-four.
Wedding day.
Twenty-six.
Holding newborn Oliver.
Someone had followed her for decades.
Emily felt sick.
An agent at Helen's house opened a cabinet.
Inside were twelve black envelopes.
Each labeled with dates.
The most recent:
DECEMBER 24.
The restaurant.
"Open it," Quinn ordered.
The agent carefully cut the envelope.
Inside was a typed page.
QUINN read silently.
"What does it say?"
She handed it to Emily.
TRANSFER SUBJECT: OLIVER MOORE.
SECONDARY SUBJECT: EMILY MOORE.
LOCATION: HARTWELL HOUSE.
PRIMARY EXTRACTION: 19:20.
Emily looked at the clock.
7:20 p.m.
She had found Oliver at approximately 7:23.
Three minutes after the planned extraction.
Helen had not intended Oliver to remain outside.
Someone was supposed to take him.
"Who?" Emily whispered.
Quinn pointed toward the bottom.
A code.
GRAY-7.
Nathan stood.
"Mr. Gray."
Emily turned.
"Richard?"
Nathan looked at the paper.
"If Gray was Dad's password..."
Quinn finished.
"It may also have been his operational identity."
Oliver looked up from his drawing.
"Daddy?"
Everyone went quiet.
He held up the picture.
A red door.
A gray-haired man.
A little boy.
"What is that?" Emily asked.
Oliver smiled.
"Grandpa said we'd go there."
Nathan crouched.
"Where?"
Oliver added a blue shape beside the house.
A lake.
"When did Grandpa say that?"
"Yesterday."
Emily's heart hammered.
"At the hospital?"
Oliver shook his head.
"Restaurant."
Nathan stood sharply.
"You saw him at Hartwell House?"
Oliver nodded.
"He told me to wait outside."
Emily's legs nearly failed.
"What?"
"He said he would come get me."
"Did Grandma know?"
Oliver thought.
"Grandma was mad."
"What did she say?"
Oliver imitated Helen's angry whisper.
"You weren't supposed to come yourself."
Nathan looked at Quinn.
Richard had been at the restaurant.
Alive.
And Helen had been expecting someone else.
The operation had gone wrong.
Oliver was not abandoned by accident.
He had been placed outside as part of an extraction.
But the person arriving to take him may have been his supposedly dead grandfather.
Quinn issued an immediate search order.
Then another agent rushed into the room.
"We have movement on Nathan's server."
Nathan froze.
"What movement?"
"Remote login."
"Impossible."
"The system is being accessed right now."
"From where?"
The agent typed rapidly.
Then looked up.
"St. Joseph's Hospital."
The hospital they had just left.
Emily whispered, "Who is still there?"
The agent turned the monitor.
Security footage showed a man entering the server access room.
Gray hair.
Dark coat.
The same walk.
Richard Moore.
He looked directly into the camera.
Then removed his glasses.
Nathan gripped the desk.
"Dad."
Richard reached toward the camera.
Before the feed died, his lips moved.
There was no sound.
May you like
But Emily could read the words.
Bring Oliver to the red door.
