Chapter 3 - The Second Name)
"Say that again."
Daniel pressed the phone harder against his ear.
Briggs repeated it.
"Dr. Nathan Caldwell."
Daniel stared at the bedroom wall.
Maya noticed his expression.
"What?"
Daniel raised one finger.
"Why would Caldwell request my deployment verification?"
"I was about to ask you that."
Dr. Nathan Caldwell had been Daniel's family physician for nearly eight years.
He had treated Maya for pneumonia.
He had performed Daniel's annual physicals.
He had attended Daniel's father's funeral.
And Nathan Caldwell's signature appeared on the medical documents declaring Maya psychologically unstable.
Daniel hadn't seen the connection until now.
"Did Caldwell give a reason?"
"Insurance verification."
"That's bullshit."
"I figured."
"Can you send me the request?"
"Not officially."
"I didn't ask officially."
Briggs sighed.
"I'll see what I can do."
"Thank you."
"Daniel."
"Sir?"
"If this involves what I think it involves, don't confront anyone."
Daniel looked toward the patio.
Too late.
"I'll call you."
He ended the call.
Maya stared at him.
"Who was it?"
"Caldwell."
Her face changed.
"What about him?"
"He requested proof that I was deployed four days after I left."
"Why?"
Daniel showed her the false medical document.
At the bottom was Caldwell's signature.
Maya covered her mouth.
"No."
"You never saw him?"
"Not once."
"Then he fabricated this."
Daniel photographed every page.
He uploaded copies to an encrypted cloud account.
Then he sent them to Briggs.
Maya watched him.
"What are you doing?"
"Making sure nobody can destroy the evidence."
A door slammed downstairs.
Julian shouted something.
Daniel looked toward the hallway.
"They're leaving."
He went downstairs.
Victoria stood near the foyer carrying her purse.
Julian was behind her.
"Where are you going?" Daniel asked.
Victoria glared at him.
"Home."
"You've been living here."
"Not anymore."
Daniel smiled slightly.
"Good."
Julian pushed past him.
Daniel caught his arm.
Julian froze.
"Don't touch me."
Daniel looked at him.
"Storage unit."
Julian's face twitched.
"What?"
"Ashford Storage Center."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
Daniel released him.
"Sure."
Julian walked outside.
Victoria lingered.
"You are making a serious mistake."
Daniel laughed.
"I came home and found my wife covered in bruises."
"Maya is lying."
"Then you have nothing to worry about."
Victoria's eyes narrowed.
"You think wearing that uniform makes you untouchable?"
Daniel stepped closer.
"No."
He looked directly into her eyes.
"It taught me patience."
For the first time, Victoria took a step backward.
Then she left.
Daniel locked the door.
He returned upstairs.
Maya was standing beside the closet.
"What are you doing?"
"Packing."
"Good."
She looked surprised.
"We're leaving?"
"Tonight."
"This is our house."
"Right now it's compromised."
Daniel checked the window.
The gray SUV was gone.
He made three calls.
The first was to Colonel Briggs.
The second was to Rebecca.
The third was to a man named Marcus Reed.
Marcus had served with Daniel for nine years before leaving the Army and starting a corporate security firm.
He arrived forty-five minutes later.
Six feet four.
Gray T-shirt.
Jeans.
Expressionless.
Marcus walked into the bedroom, saw Maya's bruises, and stopped joking.
"Who?"
Daniel answered.
"My mother and brother."
Marcus nodded once.
"What do you need?"
"Safe place."
"Done."
"And surveillance."
Marcus looked toward the window.
"Already saw the cameras."
Daniel turned.
"What cameras?"
Marcus pointed toward a smoke detector in the hallway.
Daniel stared.
Marcus pulled out a compact electronic scanner.
The device began blinking.
"That isn't a smoke detector."
Maya stepped backward.
Marcus climbed onto a chair.
He twisted the device loose.
Behind the plastic housing was a tiny lens.
Daniel felt something dark rising inside him.
Marcus examined it.
"Wireless."
"Where does it transmit?"
"Give me a minute."
They searched the house.
Bedroom hallway.
Kitchen.
Office.
Living room.
Six cameras.
Then Marcus found the seventh.
Inside Daniel and Maya's bedroom.
Maya began crying.
Daniel had to leave the room.
He stood in the hallway, fists clenched.
Marcus followed.
"Don't do anything stupid."
Daniel looked at him.
"I want to break every bone in Julian's body."
"I know."
"Tell me why I shouldn't."
"Because prison would make your mother very happy."
Daniel looked away.
Marcus handed him a small receiver.
"The cameras connect through a private network."
"Can you trace it?"
"Probably."
"Do it."
Marcus worked for twenty minutes.
Then his laptop displayed an address.
Daniel recognized it.
Ashford Storage Center.
Unit 117.
The same facility whose stamp had been on Julian's wrist.
Daniel stared at the screen.
"Can they see us now?"
"Not anymore."
Marcus had rerouted the feed.
"What are they seeing?"
Marcus smiled.
"An empty bedroom loop."
Daniel looked toward Maya.
"Get her somewhere safe."
"You?"
"I'm visiting a storage unit."
"No."
"Marcus."
"If this is organized fraud, that unit may be watched."
Daniel knew he was right.
Marcus continued.
"We don't walk into their trap."
"Then what?"
"We make them walk into ours."
Twenty minutes later, Daniel, Maya, and Marcus left through the rear garage.
A second vehicle collected them two streets away.
Marcus's safe property was a modest farmhouse thirty miles west.
No obvious security.
No visible cameras.
But Daniel knew Marcus.
The place was probably harder to enter than a military installation.
Maya fell asleep almost immediately.
Daniel sat at the kitchen table with Marcus.
Marcus opened his laptop.
"I cloned the camera network before disconnecting it."
"And?"
"Someone logged in."
Daniel leaned closer.
A username appeared.
JHAYES.
Julian.
Daniel wasn't surprised.
Then another user appeared.
VCORP01.
Victoria.
Then a third.
NCALD.
Caldwell.
Daniel's jaw tightened.
And then a fourth username appeared.
Neither man recognized it.
ARCHITECT.
Marcus frowned.
"That's interesting."
"What?"
"Highest administrator privileges."
Daniel stared at the screen.
"So Julian isn't running this."
"No."
"Victoria?"
"No."
"Caldwell?"
"No."
Marcus turned the laptop.
"Whoever Architect is controls all of them."
Daniel sat back.
For the first time, he understood the real scale of what had happened.
His mother hadn't simply tried to steal his company.
His brother hadn't simply abused Maya.
They were pieces of something larger.
Then Marcus clicked another directory.
A list of camera networks appeared.
Not one house.
Not ten.
Forty-three addresses.
Daniel stared.
"What the hell is this?"
Marcus opened one.
A bedroom.
Another.
A home office.
Another.
A living room.
Every location appeared to be a private residence.
Marcus's face became serious.
"This isn't just your family."
Daniel looked at the list.
Beside each address was a surname.
Some were familiar.
Business owners.
A judge.
A retired senator.
Two defense contractors.
And one name made Daniel stop.
BRIGGS.
Daniel pointed.
"Open that."
Marcus did.
The camera feed showed Colonel Briggs's home office.
Daniel's phone rang immediately.
Briggs.
Daniel answered.
"Sir?"
Briggs didn't greet him.
"Daniel, listen carefully."
"What happened?"
"Someone accessed the request logs after our call."
Daniel looked at Marcus.
"Who?"
"I don't know."
Then Daniel heard Briggs's doorbell through the phone.
At the same moment, the camera feed on Marcus's laptop showed a figure approaching Briggs's office.
Briggs said, "Someone's at my door."
Daniel stood.
"Don't open it."
"What?"
"Sir, do not open that door."
On the laptop, the office camera suddenly went black.
The phone connection died.
Daniel stared at the screen.
Then a message appeared.
May you like
ARCHITECT:
WELCOME HOME, SERGEANT HAYES.
