Chapter 9 - The Man James Never Mentioned
James finally told Emily the name.
“Daniel Reed.”
Emily repeated it.
“Daniel Reed.”
James nodded.
“Who is he?”
“A soldier.”
“Where is he?”
James didn't answer.
“Dad.”
“He died.”
“When?”
“Twenty years ago.”
“Before I was born?”
“Yes.”
Emily looked confused.
“Then how could he be my father?”
James sat down.
“Because the dates don't make sense.”
She stared at him.
“What dates?”
“Daniel disappeared six months before you were born.”
Emily felt a chill.
“Disappeared?”
James nodded.
“He was declared dead later.”
“Was there a body?”
“No.”
“So you don't know if he died.”
“No.”
Emily looked toward the window.
Someone had been watching her.
The feeling suddenly returned.
“Dad.”
“What?”
“Is someone outside?”
James looked.
Nothing.
Then he saw the curtain move.
He immediately stood.
Emily stepped backward.
James moved toward the window.
A car sped away from the curb.
James memorized the license plate.
His phone rang.
It was the general.
“James, listen carefully.”
“What?”
“Do not trust anyone.”
James frowned.
“Who?”
“Your daughter.”
James froze.
Emily stared at him.
“What did he say?”
James lowered the phone.
The general continued.
“She was never supposed to survive.”
The call ended.
Emily's face went pale.
“Dad?”
James looked at her.
He didn't know what frightened him more.
The message.
The general's warning.
May you like
Or the realization that the secret he had spent twenty years protecting might not have been about Emily's past.
It might have been about why someone wanted her alive.
