Chapter 4 - The Call That Came Too Late
Nicole Turner sat inside a military command post four thousand miles from Bellhaven and stared at the words her mother had shown through the phone camera.
EVELYN IS NEXT.
Around her, analysts monitored satellite feeds and encrypted communications. None knew that the colonel directing their investigation had just discovered her missing father might be alive.
Major Samuel Reed approached.
“We have confirmation on the warehouse.”
Nicole lowered the phone.
“Show me.”
A drone image appeared on the central screen. The facility stood near an abandoned airfield outside a small European port. Intelligence suggested stolen guidance modules had been stored there before shipment.
Reed pointed to three vehicles.
“Local authorities can secure the perimeter in twenty minutes.”
“No.”
He frowned.
“They’ve been compromised.”
“Based on what?”
“The shipment route began in Bellhaven.”
“Your hometown?”
“Yes.”
Reed studied her.
“You’re making a serious accusation.”
“I’m stating a fact.”
“From a secure source?”
“From the person who designed the smuggling network’s original records.”
“Who?”
“My father.”
Reed knew Daniel Turner had been declared dead. His expression revealed that he understood the implications.
Before he could answer, an alarm sounded.
One of the analysts called out.
“Movement at the warehouse. Vehicles are leaving.”
Nicole examined the feed.
The convoy consisted of two trucks and an armored SUV.
“Track them.”
A second analyst raised his hand.
“Colonel, we intercepted a short transmission.”
The audio played.
A distorted voice said, “The library woman has the book. Activate Bellhaven.”
Nicole froze.
“Play it again.”
The phrase repeated.
Major Reed looked at her.
“Is that your mother?”
“Yes.”
Nicole called Hale.
No answer.
She called again.
The connection failed.
On the drone feed, the convoy split in three directions.
It was a diversion.
The stolen guidance modules were no longer the priority.
Her mother was.
Nicole turned to Reed.
“You have command of the operation.”
“Where are you going?”
“Home.”
“You can’t leave during an active mission.”
“I can if the active mission moved to Bellhaven.”
Reed lowered his voice.
“Your orders came directly from General Wexler. He won’t authorize this.”
“Then don’t ask him.”
“Nicole.”
She looked at him.
They had served together for eleven years. He knew she never acted recklessly. He also knew that once she made a decision, argument became a waste of time.
“I’ll hold the operation,” he said. “But you need to see something first.”
He led her into a secure communications room and locked the door.
On the table lay a sealed packet.
“It arrived yesterday,” Reed said. “Addressed to you.”
“Why didn’t I receive it?”
“General Wexler’s office flagged it for review.”
“Did you open it?”
“I copied it before they collected the original.”
He handed her a photograph.
It showed Daniel Turner standing beside a cargo aircraft.
The timestamp was fourteen months old.
Nicole’s throat tightened.
On the back, someone had written:
DO NOT COME HOME UNTIL YOU KNOW WHICH GENERAL OWNS THE ROAD.
Nicole looked at Reed.
“Where did this come from?”
“No return address. The postal stamp was from Bellhaven.”
Her phone rang.
Evelyn’s name appeared.
Nicole answered.
“Mom?”
Only breathing came through.
Then Chief Harper spoke.
“Colonel Turner.”
Nicole’s grip tightened.
“Where is my mother?”
“Safe for the moment.”
“If you hurt her—”
“I’m not the person you should fear.”
“Put her on.”
A rustling sound followed.
Evelyn spoke quietly.
“Nicole, don’t give them anything.”
“Are you injured?”
“I’m fine.”
Harper returned to the call.
“You have something we need.”
“What?”
“A military access key your father left you.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You will.”
The call ended.
Nicole immediately contacted Hale.
This time, he answered.
His breathing was strained.
“They attacked the farmhouse,” he said.
“Where is my mother?”
“Harper took her.”
“And Caleb?”
“With me. He’s alive.”
“How did they find you?”
“I don’t know.”
“Who else knew the location?”
“Three people.”
“Name them.”
“Myself, your father, and General Wexler.”
Nicole looked at Reed.
General Adrian Wexler commanded the operation in Europe.
He had personally assigned Nicole to investigate the missing modules.
He had also blocked her packet.
Hale said, “There’s more.”
“What?”
“I found a transmitter sewn into Caleb’s jacket. Someone placed it there before he reached your mother.”
“Who?”
“He remembers a police officer grabbing him near the Kane warehouse.”
Nicole closed her eyes.
The farmhouse had not been compromised by Hale.
It had been compromised by Harper.
“Where would they take Mom?”
“Victor Kane owns a hunting lodge west of town.”
“Too obvious.”
“There’s an old courthouse basement beneath the police station. Daniel believed they used it for interrogations.”
Nicole checked the departure board on the secure terminal.
A military transport was scheduled to leave in forty minutes.
“I’ll be in Bellhaven before dawn.”
Reed stared at her.
“You still need authorization.”
Nicole removed the insignia patch identifying her command assignment and placed it on the table.
“I’m taking emergency family leave.”
“That won’t protect you from a court-martial.”
“No.”
She picked up the photograph of Daniel.
“But it might protect my mother.”
Before leaving, she opened the encrypted archive Daniel had given her on her eighteenth birthday. She had tried for years to access it without success.
The password hint read:
THE DAY YOU LEARNED NOT TO FEAR THE DARK.
She remembered being trapped during a storm when she was nine. Daniel had found her beneath the library stairs and taught her to count flashes before thunder.
She entered the date.
The archive opened.
One file appeared.
Its title was:
IF EVELYN IS TAKEN
Nicole opened it.
Daniel’s recorded image filled the screen.
He looked older than she remembered.
“If you are watching this,” he said, “your mother has become leverage. Do not exchange the access key for her life.”
Nicole leaned closer.
“The key is not an object,” Daniel continued. “It is a sequence hidden in your memory. Nathaniel trained you to remember it before you were old enough to understand.”
Images appeared on the screen.
A red barn.
A silver coin.
A blue train.
Seven white stones.
Nicole remembered them from childhood games with her grandfather.
Daniel’s expression became grave.
“The sequence opens a storage site containing evidence against everyone in the network. But it also opens something else.”
The recording flickered.
A gunshot sounded in the background.
Daniel turned away from the camera.
When he faced it again, fear filled his eyes.
“Nicole, if General Hale salutes you with his left hand, run.”
The video ended.
Nicole stared at the blank screen.
May you like
In the depot photograph, Hale had been standing to Daniel’s right.
His left arm was hidden behind his back.
