Chapter 13 - Mason's Last Bargain)
Mason did not escape on his own.
Security footage showed a nurse entering his hospital room at 2:14 a.m.
She remained inside for four minutes.
At 2:19, Mason walked out wearing medical scrubs.
The nurse was later found unconscious in a supply room.
Her identification badge was missing.
By sunrise, Mason had disappeared.
Federal agents searched airports.
Bus terminals.
Properties connected to his family.
Nothing.
Then Grant received an email.
Not from Mason's known account.
Subject line:
FOR AMELIA.
The message contained a location and one sentence.
Come with police if you want. Just come.
The location was an unfinished office tower downtown.
Ortiz prepared an entire tactical response.
This time Grant did not argue.
They found Mason on the twenty-third floor.
He stood beside the open concrete edge overlooking the city.
No weapon.
No attempt to run.
He looked exhausted.
Grant approached.
"You disappeared from protective custody."
Mason laughed softly.
"Protection from whom?"
"Who are you afraid of?"
"Everyone."
Grant held Amelia's note.
"She said to find you."
Mason's face changed.
"Where did you get that?"
"Room 214."
Mason looked away.
"So you found The Harbor."
"Why did Amelia tell me to find you?"
Mason sat on a concrete block.
"Because I owe her."
"You owe all of us."
"I know."
Grant remained standing.
Mason looked toward the city.
"Amelia saved my daughter."
Grant frowned.
"You don't have a daughter."
Mason smiled sadly.
"Exactly."
Grant stared.
Mason continued.
"Her name is Lucy. She lives with her mother in Oregon under another surname."
"Why?"
"Vale threatened her when I tried to stop cooperating."
Grant slowly understood.
"Amelia found out."
"Yes."
"What did she do?"
"She used the same network Daniel built to hide witnesses. She got Lucy and her mother new identities."
Grant sat opposite him.
"Then why did you keep working for Northstar?"
"Because leaving isn't a door. It's a cliff."
"Amelia left."
Mason looked at him.
"Did she?"
Grant said nothing.
Mason leaned forward.
"Amelia didn't just collect evidence. She recruited people."
"Inside Northstar."
"Yes."
"Who?"
"I don't know all of them."
"Give me the ones you do know."
Mason reached inside his jacket slowly.
Agents raised weapons.
He froze.
"Paper."
Ortiz nodded.
Mason removed a small notebook.
"Accounts. Contacts. Three remaining operational cells."
Grant took it.
"Is this enough to end it?"
"No."
"Why?"
"Because Northstar isn't one organization."
Grant felt frustration rise.
"Then what is it?"
"A service."
"For who?"
"Anyone powerful enough to pay."
Grant stared.
Mason continued.
"Money laundering. Identity creation. coercion. extraction. Disappearing witnesses. Protecting people who shouldn't be protected."
"Who created it?"
"I don't know."
"Vale?"
"He was middle management."
Grant laughed bitterly.
"That's comforting."
Mason looked toward the unfinished edge.
"Vale was going to kill Amelia."
"You helped him."
"I did."
Grant waited.
Mason lowered his head.
"I also helped her escape."
Grant froze.
"What?"
"Not from the crash."
"From The Harbor?"
Mason nodded.
Grant stood.
"You knew she survived."
"Yes."
"Three years."
"Yes."
Grant grabbed Mason by the shirt.
Agents moved.
Ortiz held up a hand.
Grant's voice shook.
"You watched me bury her."
"I know."
"You stood beside my children."
"I know."
"You let Sophie cry in your arms at the funeral."
Mason's eyes filled.
"I know."
Grant released him in disgust.
"Where is she?"
"I don't know."
"Stop saying that."
"It's true."
"Where did you send her?"
"I gave her documents and access to an account."
"What name?"
"Sarah Collier."
Grant remembered the passport.
"When?"
"Eight months after the crash."
"Where did she go?"
"She told me she was going after the people above Vale."
"Alone?"
"She said she had help."
"From whom?"
Mason hesitated.
Grant saw it.
"Daniel?"
"No."
"Vanessa?"
"No."
"Then who?"
Mason looked genuinely frightened.
"Someone called Shepherd."
Grant frowned.
"Real name?"
"No idea."
"Man or woman?"
"I never met them."
Grant sat again.
"Why did Amelia trust them?"
"They fed her Northstar records for almost a year before the crash."
"Then Shepherd was the insider."
Mason nodded.
"Amelia believed Shepherd wanted to destroy Northstar."
"Do you?"
Mason looked toward him.
"No."
"Why?"
"Because Vale wasn't afraid of Amelia."
Grant waited.
"He was afraid of Shepherd."
Silence.
Ortiz stepped closer.
"What makes you think Shepherd isn't an ally?"
Mason looked at the detective.
"Because every person who ever learned Shepherd's identity disappeared."
Grant felt cold.
"Did Amelia know?"
"I think she eventually did."
"Then why work with them?"
Mason shook his head.
"Maybe she didn't have a choice."
A sound echoed from the stairwell.
Agents immediately moved.
A man appeared with hands raised.
It was Daniel.
Grant stared.
"What are you doing here?"
Daniel looked at Mason.
"Stopping him from telling you the wrong version."
Mason stood.
"You."
Grant looked between them.
"You two know each other."
Daniel nodded.
"Better than I'd like."
Mason laughed without humor.
"Ask your brother who created the escape network Amelia used."
Grant turned.
Daniel said nothing.
Mason pointed.
"He did."
Grant waited.
"Daniel?"
His brother sighed.
"Yes."
Mason continued.
"Now ask him who gave him the money."
Grant's face hardened.
Daniel looked toward the floor.
Grant understood there was only one answer that mattered.
"Shepherd?"
May you like
Daniel looked up.
"Yes."
