Chapter 4 - The Father Who Never Ran Away
Hannah could not move.
Daniel Mercer stared at her as though twenty-seven years had disappeared.
“Hannah.”
Her name sounded broken in his mouth.
She stepped backward.
“No.”
He struggled to stand.
Dominic immediately moved between them.
“Stay there.”
Daniel raised both hands.
“I won't hurt her.”
“You already did,” Hannah said.
Her voice barely existed.
Daniel closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
Hannah wanted to strike him.
Hug him.
Run.
She did none of those things.
“You're alive.”
“Yes.”
“My mother died believing you abandoned us.”
Pain twisted Daniel's face.
“I know.”
“You knew?”
“I watched from far away.”
That made it worse.
“You watched?”
“Hannah—”
“You watched us lose the house?”
“I couldn't come back.”
“You watched Mom work two jobs?”
“I sent money.”
“She never got money.”
Daniel went still.
“What?”
“She died with twelve hundred dollars in the bank.”
“No.”
“I sent payments every month through Anthony.”
Evelyn whispered, “Oh no.”
Dominic looked at his mother.
“What?”
“Anthony handled the transfers.”
Daniel stared at Evelyn.
“Where is Anthony?”
Evelyn's face collapsed.
“Dead.”
Daniel sank back into the chair.
Hannah almost felt sorry for him.
Almost.
“What happened?”
Daniel stared at his hands.
“I discovered Walter Rourke and others were using Anthony's shipping companies to move stolen pharmaceuticals. Later they began altering death records. People disappeared through medical systems.”
“Trafficking.”
“Yes.”
“I found the ledger.”
“The black case?” Dominic asked.
Daniel nodded.
“It contains names, payments, hospitals, police contacts, judges, everything.”
Hannah thought of Caleb taking it from her car.
“He has it.”
Daniel looked alarmed.
“Who?”
“Caleb Rourke.”
Daniel stood so quickly the chair fell.
“We need to leave.”
“Why?”
“Because the case isn't complete.”
Dominic stepped closer.
“What does that mean?”
“The key.”
Evelyn held it up.
Daniel shook his head.
“That key doesn't open the case.”
“What does it open?” Hannah asked.
Daniel pointed toward the file cabinets.
“Something Caleb needs more.”
They searched cabinet seventeen.
Empty.
Cabinet eighteen.
Empty.
Then Hannah noticed scratches on the concrete floor.
She pushed one cabinet aside.
Behind it was a steel safe embedded in the wall.
Evelyn inserted the brass key.
Inside was a single flash drive.
Daniel exhaled.
“The backup.”
Hannah picked it up.
“This proves everything?”
“If it's intact.”
Dominic turned to Marco.
“Get it copied.”
Daniel grabbed his arm.
“No network.”
Marco frowned.
“Why?”
“Because once connected, it'll signal whoever has been waiting for it.”
Hannah looked around.
“You've been hiding down here?”
“For three months.”
“Why?”
“Because Caleb found me.”
“How did you survive for twenty-seven years without him finding you?”
“I changed names. Countries. Everything.”
“And then?”
Daniel looked at Hannah.
“You.”
Her stomach tightened.
“When you reported him six years ago, Caleb realized the Mercer name hadn't disappeared.”
“So he destroyed my career to get to you.”
“Yes.”
Hannah laughed without humor.
“Great.”
Daniel stepped toward her.
“I am sorry.”
“Stop saying that.”
“I don't know what else to say.”
“Try the truth.”
“I loved you every day.”
Hannah’s eyes burned.
“That isn't the truth I need.”
She turned away.
Dominic watched silently.
For a man accustomed to violence, he seemed unusually careful around this kind of pain.
They brought the flash drive back to the Vale estate.
Marco created an isolated computer.
The drive contained thousands of documents.
Financial transfers.
Hospital records.
Photographs.
Audio files.
One folder was labeled MERCER.
Hannah opened it.
There were photographs of her.
Age eleven.
Age sixteen.
Twenty-two.
Twenty-eight.
Then homeless.
Someone had been tracking her for years.
She clicked the newest image.
It had been taken four days earlier.
Hannah sleeping in her station wagon.
Dominic’s face hardened.
“They've been watching you.”
Another file contained Caleb’s voice.
“Hannah Mercer remains unaware. The father remains contained.”
Contained.
Hannah looked at Daniel.
“They knew where you were.”
Daniel paled.
“That means…”
A gunshot shattered the window.
Dominic shoved Hannah down.
Glass exploded across the room.
Marco yelled.
“Sniper!”
Security moved instantly.
Evelyn dropped behind the sofa.
Daniel crawled toward Hannah.
Another shot struck the wall.
Dominic drew a pistol but remained low.
“Everybody downstairs!”
They moved through the hall.
Alarms screamed.
Hannah helped Evelyn.
At the basement entrance, Marco received a message.
He looked at Dominic.
“It's not an attack.”
“What?”
“Diversion.”
Dominic stopped.
“For what?”
Marco's face changed.
“The flash drive.”
They rushed back upstairs.
The isolated computer was gone.
A security guard lay unconscious beside the desk.
The rear door stood open.
Daniel swore.
“They have both copies now.”
Hannah looked at him.
“Then we have nothing.”
“No.”
Daniel's breathing quickened.
“The master ledger has something the drive doesn't.”
“What?”
“A name.”
Dominic looked at him.
“Whose?”
Daniel stared at Evelyn.
“The person who ordered Anthony Vale's death.”
Evelyn went white.
Dominic stepped forward.
“My father was killed in a boating accident.”
“No.”
“Who?”
Daniel hesitated.
“You won't believe me.”
“Say it.”
Before Daniel could answer, Hannah's phone rang.
Unknown number.
She answered.
Caleb Rourke's voice came through.
“Hannah.”
Her blood froze.
“What do you want?”
“You took my mother from me.”
Hannah frowned.
“What?”
“And now I'm going to return the favor.”
A photograph arrived.
Hannah opened it.
Evelyn's bedroom.
Empty.
Then a second photograph appeared.
It showed Evelyn seated inside a white cargo van.
Her hands were tied.
Hannah looked toward the basement stairs.
The woman beside her was not Evelyn.
She slowly turned.
May you like
The woman wearing Evelyn Vale’s coat smiled.
Then she removed the silver wig.
