Chapter 3 - THE SECRET BENEATH THE ALTAR
Evelyn Mercer did not resist when officers entered the chapel.
She placed the gun on the floor, raised both hands, and waited for them to approach.
Claire watched from the doorway beside Daniel.
Her mother looked composed.
Too composed.
The chapel’s stained-glass windows flashed with distant police lights. Candles burned along the stone walls even though no one remembered lighting them.
“Mom,” Claire said.
Evelyn turned.
Relief crossed her face for only an instant.
“You’re safe.”
“Why are you holding a gun?”
“I found it beneath the pew.”
“Why were you pointing it at the altar?”
Evelyn looked toward Daniel.
“Because your father has been hiding something from us.”
Daniel entered the chapel.
“Step away from the box.”
“It is already open.”
Behind the altar stood a narrow steel compartment concealed within the stone foundation. Its door hung slightly open.
Daniel stopped.
Rebecca stared at him.
“You said there was no archive here.”
“There isn’t.”
Evelyn laughed without humor.
“Then explain this.”
She reached into the compartment before the officers could stop her and withdrew a red leather folder.
Daniel’s face lost all color.
Claire had never seen that folder, but her father clearly had.
“What is it?” she asked.
Daniel closed the distance and took it from Evelyn.
The clasp bore the same winged-torch symbol as the silver button.
Grant, escorted into the chapel by two officers, saw the folder and whispered, “That’s what they wanted.”
Daniel turned sharply.
“How did you know it existed?”
“I didn’t. They only said you had kept the original list.”
“What list?” Claire demanded.
Daniel stared at the folder.
Rain hammered the chapel roof.
At last, he opened it.
The first page held a series of names, dates, identification numbers, and locations. Some names had been crossed out in black ink. Others carried red circles beside them.
Rebecca stepped closer.
“These are Icarus personnel.”
“Civilian contractors,” Daniel said. “At least, that is what we were told.”
He turned another page.
Claire recognized one name immediately.
ADRIAN VALE.
There was no death date beside it.
Only one word.
ACTIVE.
“You said he died,” Claire said.
“I saw the report.”
“Did you see his body?”
Daniel did not answer.
Evelyn folded her arms.
“Now tell her the rest.”
Daniel looked toward his wife.
“You were never authorized to know about Icarus.”
“I know enough. I know you spent years pretending the project had ended. I know men followed us after Claire was born. I know you moved us three times before she turned six.”
Claire stared at her parents.
Her childhood had always been explained as a consequence of Daniel’s assignments. Different cities. Different schools. Different homes guarded by men Claire thought were family friends.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“To give you a normal life,” Daniel said.
“Normal?”
Her voice echoed through the chapel.
“Someone photographed me inside a hospital. My husband moved millions of dollars and locked me inside this house. My mother was found pointing a weapon at a secret compartment beneath an altar. Which part of that is normal?”
Evelyn moved toward Claire.
“I came here tonight because Adrian contacted me.”
Daniel’s head lifted.
“You met him outside the hospital.”
“Yes.”
Claire held up the photograph.
“You lied to me.”
“I was trying to learn what he wanted.”
“What did he want?”
Evelyn looked at the red folder.
“The names of the people who betrayed him.”
Grant spoke from behind the officers.
“He believes Colonel Mercer gave the government the list.”
Daniel closed the folder.
“I did.”
Silence settled over the chapel.
Rebecca took a slow breath.
“You were the source?”
“I was twenty-nine years old,” Daniel said. “Icarus was presented as a logistics network. Then I discovered the civilian division was moving more than supplies. They moved weapons, false identities, intelligence, and people who were never entered into official records.”
Claire felt the child beneath her heart move again.
She rested her hand over her stomach.
“What happened after you reported them?”
“The project was dismantled. Arrests were made. Assets disappeared. Adrian Vale was declared dead during an attempted escape.”
“But he survived,” Evelyn said.
Daniel’s gaze remained on the name in the folder.
“So it appears.”
Grant leaned forward.
“He wants revenge against everyone involved in the shutdown. But Colonel Mercer is not his only target.”
Claire looked at him.
“Why am I involved?”
Grant closed his eyes.
“I didn’t understand that until I saw the hospital records.”
“What records?”
“You were tested during your first appointment. Not only for routine conditions. Someone ordered a full genetic comparison.”
Claire’s breath caught.
“Compared with whom?”
Before Grant could answer, Rebecca’s tablet sounded an alarm.
Every light in the chapel turned on at once.
The speakers built into the ceiling crackled.
A man’s voice filled the room.
Calm.
Educated.
Almost amused.
“Good evening, Daniel.”
Daniel looked toward the ceiling.
“Vale.”
“I have waited eighteen years to hear you say my name.”
Officers began scanning the walls for the source of the transmission.
Vale continued.
“You opened the folder. That was wise. Now you understand why silence was never an option.”
“What do you want?”
“The same thing I wanted when your wife met me.”
Daniel glanced at Evelyn.
“The list?”
“No.”
A pause.
Then Vale said, “I want my daughter.”
Claire felt everyone turn toward her.
May you like
Vale’s next words broke the room apart.
“And I believe she is carrying my grandchild.”
