Chapter 9 - The Man Who Refused to Stay Dead
Charles woke the next morning under police guard.
Nathan stood beside his bed.
For eleven years, he had mourned this man.
Now he could barely look at him.
Charles whispered, "Son."
Nathan shook his head.
"Don't."
"Nathan."
"You let me bury you."
Charles closed his eyes.
"It was necessary."
"Necessary?"
Nathan laughed, then cried.
"My mother stood beside me at your funeral."
"She had no choice."
"Everyone keeps saying that."
Richard watched from the doorway.
It sounded familiar.
Charles eventually agreed to speak.
Claire recorded everything.
He had worked in hospital administration systems during the late 1990s.
Michael Mercer recruited him to create identities for intelligence assets.
At first, it was legitimate.
Then the identities began being sold.
Criminals.
Smugglers.
Politicians.
Witnesses who wanted to disappear.
People who needed new lives.
And people who wanted old lives erased.
Daniel managed finances.
Evelyn managed medical documentation.
Charles built the identity architecture.
Michael controlled everything.
"Why fake your death?" Claire asked.
"Because I tried to leave."
"And Evelyn?"
"She stayed."
Nathan looked sick.
"My mother kept working for them?"
Charles shook his head.
"Not exactly."
"What does that mean?"
"She became their jailer."
Richard frowned.
Charles explained that Evelyn maintained the list of compromised identities.
If Michael killed her, information would automatically be released.
It kept her alive.
And trapped.
"Where is she now?" Nathan asked.
Charles looked toward Richard.
"Michael has her."
"How do you know?"
"He told me."
"When?"
"Yesterday."
Richard stepped closer.
"Why was Emily attacked?"
Charles closed his eyes.
"Because she found the financial chain."
"Why carve a message into her?"
"Michael wanted you angry."
"Why?"
"Because angry men stop thinking."
Richard stared.
Charles continued.
"He expected you to attack Daniel."
"Why would he want Daniel dead?"
Charles looked at him.
"Because Daniel is preparing to testify."
Silence.
Richard frowned.
"Against Michael?"
Charles nodded.
Nathan whispered, "Then the initials were bait."
"Yes."
Richard remembered Emily gripping the torn cloth.
Daniel's initials.
Planted.
Michael wanted him to hunt Daniel.
Richard asked, "Where is Daniel?"
Charles said one word.
"Chicago."
"Where?"
"I don't know."
Claire leaned forward.
"You expect us to believe that?"
"He contacted Evelyn. Said he wanted immunity."
"From whom?"
"Federal prosecutors."
"Why not go directly to them?"
"Because Michael owns people inside the government."
Richard thought of Colonel Samuel Reed.
"Names?"
Charles looked exhausted.
"I know some."
"Give them."
Charles looked at Richard.
"Samuel Reed."
Richard showed no reaction.
But something inside him hardened.
Charles listed five others.
Two federal investigators.
A judge.
A hospital executive.
And finally a retired major general.
Richard knew every name.
Claire stopped the recording.
"This is bigger than Chicago."
Charles laughed weakly.
"It was never about Chicago."
Then he looked at Richard.
"Michael's network has spent twenty-five years selling people second lives."
"What does that mean?"
"New names. New histories. New passports."
"We understand that."
"No."
Charles stared at him.
"You don't."
Richard waited.
Charles's next words changed everything.
"They don't only create identities for living people."
May you like
"What else?"
"They create living people for dead identities."
