Chapter 7 - The Night Without Power)
Margaret screamed when the house went dark.
Grant switched on his phone flashlight.
"Ben. Sophie."
He ran upstairs.
Security guards shouted outside.
Grant reached the children's room.
Ben was already awake.
Sophie sat up crying.
"Dad?"
"It's okay."
He lifted Sophie.
Ben followed.
A crash came from downstairs.
Grant's heart hammered.
Margaret appeared in the hallway with another flashlight.
"What is happening?"
"Stay behind me."
A guard's voice called from below.
"Mr. Mercer?"
Grant recognized him.
"Caleb?"
"Everything's clear."
Grant descended carefully.
The back door stood open.
One pane of glass was broken.
Caleb pointed outside.
"Someone cut power at the exterior box."
"Did they enter?"
"We don't think so."
Grant looked at the floor.
A white envelope lay beneath the broken glass.
His name was written on it.
Caleb stopped him.
"Don't touch it."
Police arrived ten minutes later.
The envelope contained one photograph.
Ben and Sophie leaving school two weeks earlier.
On the back:
AMELIA SHOULD HAVE STOPPED.
Grant stared at it until the words blurred.
This was no longer history.
The threat was current.
Ortiz ordered the entire Mercer family moved to a secure location.
By sunrise they were inside a private residence owned by the state for protected witnesses.
Grant sat with his children at a plain wooden kitchen table.
No marble.
No glass walls.
No manicured lawn.
Sophie ate cereal.
Ben stared at his phone.
Grant realized it was the first breakfast in years where no one had anywhere to rush.
"Are we in trouble?" Sophie asked.
Grant put down his coffee.
"No."
"Then why are police outside?"
"Because some adults made dangerous choices."
"Vanessa?"
"Yes."
Sophie looked at her cereal.
"Did you love her?"
Grant had not expected the question.
"I thought I did."
"Did she love us?"
Grant looked at his daughter.
He refused to lie.
"I don't know."
Sophie nodded as if she had expected that.
Ben finally spoke.
"Mom knew she was bad."
Grant looked at him.
"Your mom knew she was dangerous."
"Why didn't she tell you?"
Grant felt the question like a blade.
"Because I wasn't listening carefully enough."
Ben frowned.
"Was that your fault?"
Grant thought of every argument with Amelia.
Every time he defended Mason.
Every moment grief had rewritten afterward.
"Partly."
Ben seemed surprised by the answer.
Grant continued.
"Adults can love someone and still fail them."
Sophie reached across the table and took his hand.
It nearly broke him.
Later that morning, Ortiz arrived carrying a laptop.
"We opened the Northstar folder."
Grant looked toward the children.
"Not here."
They moved into the front room.
Ortiz closed the door.
"What was inside?"
"A database."
"Names?"
"More than names."
Ortiz opened the computer.
There were photographs, passport numbers, company registrations, transaction histories and notes.
"Your wife documented forty-three individuals connected to Northstar."
Grant scrolled.
Politicians.
Executives.
Lawyers.
Financial brokers.
Unknown middlemen.
Then he saw Vanessa.
EVELYN CROSS.
STATUS: OPERATIONS.
Grant clicked.
Several aliases appeared.
Vanessa Reed.
Clara Voss.
Emily Dane.
Rachel Porter.
"How many identities did she have?"
"At least four."
Another line caught Grant's attention.
FIELD SUPERVISOR: ADRIAN VALE.
"Who's Adrian Vale?"
Ortiz shook his head.
"We don't know yet."
Grant scrolled farther.
Then stopped.
DANIEL MERCER.
His brother's name was there.
Grant looked at Ortiz.
"You said this was a list of people connected to Northstar."
"It appears to be."
"Daniel told me he was investigating them."
"Maybe he was."
"Or maybe he lied."
Ortiz said nothing.
Grant opened Daniel's file.
STATUS: COMPROMISED.
A note beneath it:
SUBJECT ATTEMPTED EXTRACTION OF A. MERCER.
Grant pointed.
"Extraction."
"That supports Daniel's story."
Then another note.
LOCATION OF SUBJECT UNKNOWN.
Grant leaned back.
"Amelia wrote this?"
"Most of the database appears compiled by her."
"How did she get access?"
"We don't know."
Grant looked at the folder tree.
One subfolder was encrypted.
Its label:
A.M. CONTINGENCY.
"Can you open that?"
"We're working on it."
Grant stared.
A.M.
Amelia Mercer.
Then Ortiz's phone buzzed.
He read a message.
His expression changed.
"We found Vanessa."
Grant stood.
"Where?"
"Train station."
"Did you arrest her?"
"No."
"Why?"
"Because she wasn't there when officers arrived."
Grant frowned.
Ortiz placed a photograph on the table.
Security footage showed Vanessa walking through the station beside a tall man in a gray coat.
Grant stared.
"Who is he?"
Ortiz zoomed in.
May you like
Grant's blood ran cold.
The man was Daniel.
