Chapter 8 - The Man on the Ridge
Naomi raised her weapon but had no clear shot. Cole kept Samuel between himself and the tree line. Two masked gunmen stood above them on the ridge.
Mara could hear Daniel whispering coordinates into his radio, but the storm had weakened the signal. Reinforcements might be minutes away or never hear him at all.
"Do not come out," Samuel called.
Cole struck him behind the knee. Samuel fell.
"Your family has wasted enough of my time," Cole said.
Mara felt the baby move. Not a kick this time, but a slow turning pressure that reminded her she was responsible for more than her own fear.
She looked at Naomi.
"Can you hit him?"
"Not without risking Samuel."
"Then create another target."
Before Naomi could stop her, Mara stood behind the fallen tree.
Cole smiled. "There she is."
"Let him go."
"Bring the drive."
"You already copied it."
"The map is incomplete. Your father removed a sequence before we arrived."
Mara looked at Samuel. He gave the smallest shake of his head.
Cole noticed. He pressed the barrel against Samuel's temple.
"Walk toward me."
Mara stepped onto the road.
One step.
Two.
Naomi's hand tightened around her weapon.
At the fourth step, every clock in Mara's memory seemed to begin ticking at once. Her mother had taught her that fear narrowed the world until only one path remained. Courage was not walking that path. Courage was searching for the path fear had hidden.
Mara stopped.
"Cole, Kessler is going to kill you."
His smile faded.
"He sent you to retrieve the ledgers. You failed. Now you have exposed him by calling his office. Do you really think Meridian forgives mistakes?"
One of the masked gunmen shifted on the ridge.
Cole glanced upward.
That was enough.
Naomi fired. The bullet struck Cole's shoulder. Samuel dropped sideways. Daniel fired toward the ridge while Mara ran.
The road erupted in noise.
A gunman fled into the trees. The other fell behind a rock. Cole disappeared down the embankment, leaving a trail of blood but no body.
Mara reached Samuel. He was breathing, though his face was gray.
"The sequence," she said. "Did you remove it?"
He pressed something into her hand.
A strip of paper contained six numbers and a handwritten word: HARBORLIGHT.
"Do not give it to Naomi yet," he whispered.
Mara looked toward Naomi, who was directing agents around the burning SUV.
"Why?"
"Because Kessler is not the guardian."
Samuel coughed and gripped her wrist.
"The guardian is the person Kessler fears."
An ambulance reached them at dawn. Samuel was taken to a rural hospital under guard. Naomi insisted that Mara enter protective custody immediately.
Mara agreed, but she hid the paper inside the sole of her shoe.
The safe house near Larkspur was not federal property. It belonged to a retired judge who owed Naomi a favor. The building sat alone in a valley with one road in and one road out.
For three days, nothing happened.
Daniel decrypted the map. Naomi interviewed Samuel at the hospital. Lena sent Mara a coded message confirming she was safe. Cole remained missing.
On the fourth night, Mara woke to the sound of someone moving in the kitchen.
She took the lamp from her bedside table and stepped into the hall.
A man stood at the counter with his back to her.
"Do not turn around," Mara said.
The man slowly raised his hands.
"I am not here to hurt you."
She recognized the voice.
Adrian Kessler turned.
The deputy director looked exhausted. There was dried blood on his collar.
May you like
And the black ring was missing from his hand.
"Naomi is going to kill me," he said. "Then she is going to take your child."
