Chapter 9 - THE FALSE FEDERAL AGENT
The glass held.
Agent Cross accelerated as a black SUV emerged from a side street.
Caroline ducked.
A second shot struck the trunk.
Cross turned sharply through an intersection, forcing the SUV to overshoot the corner.
“Who are they?” Caroline shouted.
“I don’t know.”
“You’re a federal agent.”
“That does not mean every armed criminal sends me a schedule.”
He pressed a button on the dashboard.
“Reed, we are under attack. Eastbound on Franklin.”
Static answered.
Cross tried again.
“Reed?”
No response.
Caroline looked behind them.
The SUV had returned.
It closed the distance rapidly.
Cross pulled a handgun from beneath his jacket.
“Take the wheel.”
“What?”
“Take the wheel.”
Caroline leaned over the console and gripped it.
Cross lowered his window.
Before he could fire, a delivery truck entered the intersection between them and the SUV.
Cross seized the wheel again and turned into an underground parking garage.
He drove down two levels, shut off the headlights, and parked between concrete pillars.
The SUV passed the entrance without seeing them.
For several seconds, neither spoke.
Then Caroline noticed blood on Cross’s sleeve.
“You’re hurt.”
“Glass.”
“Let me see.”
“It’s nothing.”
She pulled back his torn sleeve.
The injury was not from glass.
It was a recent needle mark.
Caroline stepped away.
“What is that?”
Cross looked at his arm.
His face changed.
“Caroline, listen to me.”
“You were injected.”
“During the drive.”
“No. The mark is older.”
“It happened this morning.”
“With what?”
“I don’t know.”
She reached for the door.
Cross locked it.
“Do not get out.”
“Unlock the door.”
“The people chasing us may be outside.”
“Or they may be protecting me from you.”
Cross looked genuinely shocked.
“What are you talking about?”
“Henry called Mother and told her not to trust the federal agents.”
“Henry was frightened.”
“He said you were not investigating Richard.”
“He was wrong.”
“Show me your identification.”
“You’ve seen it.”
“Show me again.”
Cross slowly reached into his jacket.
Instead of a badge, he removed a folded paper.
Caroline recognized the seal of the Department of Justice.
The document ordered Daniel Cross to surrender his credentials eleven months earlier.
She stared at him.
“You’re not an active agent.”
“Not officially.”
“You lied to us.”
“I was suspended.”
“For what?”
“Investigating this case.”
“That makes no sense.”
“I discovered that someone inside the agency was protecting the Mercer accounts.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
“You installed equipment in our house without authority.”
“Yes.”
“You convinced my mother you were federal law enforcement.”
“I was federal law enforcement for sixteen years.”
“You are not now.”
“No.”
Caroline’s hand trembled as she reached for the door again.
“Unlock it.”
“If you leave, Richard will find you.”
“Maybe Richard is not the only person I should fear.”
Cross unlocked the door.
Caroline did not move immediately.
He handed her the photograph.
“The infant is connected to a witness protection case from 1985.”
“Who was the witness?”
“Thomas Mercer.”
Caroline stared at him.
“Thomas entered witness protection?”
“That is what the identifier suggests.”
“Then why did he return to work for my family?”
“I don’t know.”
“Why was a baby included?”
“I don’t know that either.”
She looked at the old image.
“Could the baby be Richard’s sibling?”
“Possibly.”
“Could it be someone else?”
“Yes.”
“Could the child still be alive?”
Cross nodded.
Caroline remembered the words written on the letter.
What lies behind it belongs to you by blood.
“Take me home.”
“That is the most dangerous place you can go.”
“My mother is there.”
“Reed is watching the house.”
“Reed is not answering.”
Cross tried the radio again.
Static.
Then a voice broke through.
Not Reed.
Richard.
“Daniel, you should have stayed suspended.”
Cross froze.
Richard continued.
“You have something that belongs to my family.”
Caroline looked around the garage.
The car’s communication system had been compromised.
Richard could hear them.
“You attacked us?” Cross asked.
“I sent someone to recover my wife.”
“With bullets?”
“The shooters were not mine.”
Cross and Caroline exchanged a glance.
Richard’s voice became quieter.
“There are people involved in this who make me look merciful.”
Caroline leaned toward the dashboard.
“Where is my mother?”
“At home.”
“Let me speak to her.”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
“She disappeared.”
Caroline’s breath caught.
“What did you do?”
“Nothing.”
“You locked her in the house.”
“I came back and found her room empty.”
“What about Marian?”
“Gone.”
Richard paused.
“And Agent Reed is unconscious in the garden.”
Cross gripped the steering wheel.
“Call emergency services.”
“I already did.”
“Why are you telling us?”
“Because whoever took Eleanor left a message.”
“What message?”
May you like
Richard breathed slowly.
“They painted Thomas Mercer’s name across her bedroom wall.”
