Chapter 12 - Room 214)
Finding The Harbor took five days.
Mason finally gave them the location.
An abandoned rehabilitation hospital on the coast.
Officially it had closed nine years earlier after hurricane damage.
In reality, a private company purchased the land through three shell corporations.
One of those companies appeared in Northstar's database.
Federal agents entered before sunrise.
Room 214 was on the second floor.
The key opened it.
Grant waited behind the operation line until agents cleared the building.
When Ortiz finally allowed him inside, Grant expected another cell.
Instead, Room 214 looked like an office.
Dust covered everything.
A desk.
Two filing cabinets.
A small safe.
And a wall covered in photographs.
Grant stepped closer.
Every photograph showed his family.
Amelia holding newborn Sophie.
Ben riding a bicycle.
Grant leaving the office.
Margaret shopping.
Dozens of images.
Years of surveillance.
One photograph was different.
It showed Vanessa standing outside Grant's villa eighteen months before Amelia died.
Grant felt sick.
Vanessa had been watching them long before the crash.
Inside the safe were passports and cash.
One passport belonged to Amelia.
Different name.
SARAH COLLIER.
The photograph was hers.
Issue date: three months after the crash.
Grant gripped the passport.
"She had another identity."
Ortiz nodded.
"Looks that way."
Another passport contained a photograph of Daniel.
Another alias.
Grant almost smiled bitterly.
Of course.
Then an agent opened a locked cabinet.
Inside were videotapes.
One label read A.M. INTERVIEW.
Grant stared.
"Play it."
Ortiz hesitated.
"Grant."
"Play it."
They found an old monitor.
The video began.
Amelia sat in a chair.
Alive.
No restraints.
A bruise marked her forehead.
She looked directly toward the camera.
A man's voice spoke from off-screen.
"State your name."
"Amelia Mercer."
"Do you understand why you're here?"
"Because Adrian Vale is afraid."
Grant felt his chest tighten.
The unseen man laughed.
"Afraid of you?"
"Afraid of what I copied."
"Where are the files?"
"Somewhere you'll never find them."
"What happens if something happens to your family?"
Amelia's expression changed.
"You leave them alone."
"That's not an answer."
"If you touch my children, everything is released."
Grant whispered, "She built a dead-man switch."
Ortiz nodded.
The video continued.
The man asked, "Who else has copies?"
Amelia looked straight into the lens.
Then smiled.
"You already know."
The tape cut.
Another tape.
Six weeks later.
Amelia looked thinner.
The unseen interrogator was angry.
"You contacted Evelyn Cross."
Amelia said nothing.
"Why?"
"Because she still has a conscience."
"She belongs to us."
"No one belongs to you."
The video ended.
Third tape.
Date: seven months after the crash.
Amelia sat calmly.
"You're letting me leave."
The unseen man replied, "You think so?"
"I know so."
"Why?"
"Because Vale has lost control."
Grant leaned closer.
Amelia continued.
"Someone inside Northstar is dismantling his operation."
"Who?"
Amelia smiled.
"The same person who helped me copy everything."
The video ended.
Grant looked at Ortiz.
"Someone inside helped her."
"Apparently."
The next tape was the last.
Amelia stood near the door.
No one spoke off-camera.
She approached the camera.
For several seconds she stared directly into it.
Then she said:
"Grant, if you ever see this, don't come looking for me."
Grant stopped breathing.
Amelia continued.
"If I'm alive, there is a reason I'm not home."
His eyes filled.
"Tell Ben I never forgot the first time he called me Mom after waking from a nightmare."
Grant covered his mouth.
"Tell Sophie I kept the yellow ribbon she put in my hair the morning I left."
His tears fell.
"And tell them I chose every day after the crash for them."
Amelia looked away.
Then back.
"Grant, you will want to save me."
A sad smile.
"But sometimes loving someone means letting them finish what they started."
The video ended.
Grant remained motionless.
Ortiz quietly stepped away.
For three years Grant had wanted one thing.
Proof that Amelia had loved them until the end.
Now he had it.
But the end was no longer clear.
An agent entered.
"Detective, we found a basement archive."
Ortiz followed.
Grant almost stayed behind.
Then he saw something beneath the video monitor.
A folded note.
His name.
He opened it.
Only one sentence.
If Vale is dead, find Mason before they do.
Grant looked toward Ortiz.
"Mason."
Ortiz turned.
"What?"
Grant held up the note.
Ortiz immediately grabbed his phone.
May you like
But before he could call anyone, his radio erupted.
Mason Rourke had vanished from protective custody.
