Chapter 11 - The Dead Woman's Tape)
The cassette player in the cabin belonged to Thomas Bennett.
It still worked.
Mark inserted the tape.
Static filled the room.
Then a woman's voice.
"My name is Elena Cross."
Everyone froze.
"If Thomas is playing this for his sons, then the Vale group has resumed acquisition activity."
Mark looked at Daniel.
The note claimed Elena was dead.
But the tape had obviously been recorded years earlier.
Elena continued.
"Richard Vale is not interested in land. He is interested in the Meridian Archive."
Samantha sat beside Caitlyn.
Both listened.
"The archive contains proof that private contractors illegally accessed protected communication routes beginning in the late 1990s. Thomas Bennett attempted to expose the program."
Mark glanced toward the dark windows.
"He came to me because people inside my agency were compromised."
Elena named five officials.
Three were dead.
One had retired.
One still held a senior federal position.
Deputy Director Malcolm Reed.
Daniel searched the name on his phone before remembering there was no signal.
Elena continued.
"If Reed remains in authority, do not deliver the archive to federal headquarters."
Mark's skin prickled.
The tape clicked.
Then Thomas spoke.
"Mark, if you're listening with Caitlyn, I'm sorry."
Caitlyn looked up.
Thomas's voice softened.
"I hoped none of this would reach you, sweetheart."
Mark clenched his jaw.
"You were always better at remembering songs than your father."
Caitlyn smiled faintly.
Mark did not.
Thomas continued.
"The song is only one part. Never say it to anyone unless Mark gives you the phrase 'blue lantern.'"
Caitlyn looked at her father.
"What's blue lantern?"
Mark shook his head.
"I don't know."
The tape ended.
Daniel exhaled.
"Dad built a verbal two-factor authentication system with a preschooler."
Mark stared at the cassette.
"He made my daughter a target."
"He probably thought he was protecting the archive."
"I don't care what he thought."
A sound came from outside.
Everyone went silent.
A car.
Headlights moved through the trees.
Mark turned off the lights.
Daniel reached for a baseball bat.
Samantha pulled Caitlyn behind the stone fireplace.
A vehicle stopped.
One door opened.
Then another.
Mark watched through a narrow curtain gap.
Detective Moreno stepped out.
Behind her came an elderly woman wearing a dark blue coat.
Mark opened the door but kept the chain latched.
"Lisa?"
Moreno looked exhausted.
"You were right about the safe house."
Mark stared at the older woman.
"Who's she?"
The woman stepped into the porch light.
"Elena Cross."
Daniel whispered, "The note said you were dead."
Elena smiled.
"That's usually the safest thing for people to believe."
They let them inside.
Elena was seventy-two.
Sharp-eyed.
Calm.
She looked at Caitlyn and immediately seemed saddened.
"So Thomas used the song."
Mark crossed his arms.
"You knew?"
"I told him not to."
"Good advice."
"He rarely took it."
Caitlyn studied her.
"Did you know Grandpa?"
"Very well."
"Did you like him?"
Elena thought.
"Most days."
That earned a tiny smile.
Elena explained that Thomas had discovered the Meridian network while overseeing infrastructure projects.
The illegal system began as corporate espionage.
Then government officials realized its usefulness.
Soon both sides protected it.
Thomas's archive could expose all of them.
"Why hasn't Vale killed everyone?" Daniel asked.
"Because he doesn't know where the archive is."
"He tried to kill Caitlyn."
Elena looked at Mark.
"Did he?"
Mark explained the fire.
Elena listened.
Then shook her head.
"Richard Vale doesn't improvise."
"What does that mean?"
"If he wanted Caitlyn dead, she would be dead."
Mark bristled.
Elena held up a hand.
"I'm not minimizing what happened. I'm telling you the fire doesn't fit Vale's method."
"Victor said it wasn't him."
"Victor lies for a living."
"Margaret thought Vale ordered it."
"Margaret knows only what Victor wanted her to know."
Mark sat.
"Then who started the fire?"
Elena looked toward Moreno.
Moreno removed a folder from her bag.
"The ignition component had a serial trace."
"To who?"
"Not Vale Meridian."
She laid down a photograph.
The logo belonged to a security contractor.
Northstar Federal Systems.
Elena's face hardened.
Daniel asked, "Who runs Northstar?"
Elena answered.
"Malcolm Reed's son."
The compromised federal official.
Mark suddenly understood.
Two groups were competing.
Vale wanted the archive.
Reed wanted it destroyed.
If Caitlyn could unlock part of it, one side needed her alive.
The other needed her dead.
Samantha whispered, "So there are two sets of bad guys?"
Elena looked at her.
"At least."
Silence.
Then Elena reached into her coat.
Mark instinctively moved in front of Caitlyn.
Elena withdrew a small brass object.
A key.
Identical in shape to the one from Thomas's safe.
Daniel stared.
"What is that?"
"The second trustee key."
"You had it?"
"For twenty years."
"Why come now?"
Elena looked at Caitlyn.
"Because someone activated the Meridian Archive yesterday."
Mark's pulse stopped.
"We didn't."
"I know."
"Then who?"
Elena placed the key on the table.
"That's what frightens me."
She looked at Mark.
"The system accepted Caitlyn's beneficiary code."
Caitlyn shook her head.
"I didn't tell anybody the song."
Elena believed her.
"So somebody already knows it."
Mark looked at Samantha.
Samantha looked at Daniel.
Then Caitlyn whispered something.
"I sang it before."
Mark turned.
"When?"
"At Grandpa's funeral."
"To who?"
Caitlyn frowned, trying to remember.
May you like
Then her eyes widened.
"Mom recorded me."
