Chapter 4 - The Guest Who Wasn't Invited
Marcus Vale walked into the foyer smiling.
"Hope I didn't miss dessert."
Nobody answered.
He stopped.
Marcus was sixty-three.
Silver hair.
Expensive charcoal suit.
Retired Navy civilian contractor.
He looked like the kind of man who belonged in boardrooms and charity photographs.
He looked nothing like the figure in the surveillance photograph until you noticed his wrist.
Three black bars.
Thomas noticed too.
"Marcus."
Marcus looked at Ethan.
The smile disappeared.
For only a fraction of a second.
Then it returned.
"Well."
Ethan said nothing.
Marcus closed the door.
"That's unexpected."
Robert stepped forward.
"You knew he was alive?"
Marcus loosened his tie.
"I suspected."
"Answer me."
Marcus looked toward the dining room.
"Perhaps we should sit."
"No," I said.
His eyes found mine.
Recognition.
"Commander Claire Bennett."
I had never met Marcus.
At least not officially.
"How do you know my rank?"
"Robert talks about his daughter-in-law."
Robert shook his head.
"I've never told you Claire's rank."
Marcus's smile faded.
There it was.
A mistake.
Small.
Fatal.
Nathan saw it too.
"You accessed her file."
Marcus laughed.
"Don't be ridiculous."
"Using my credentials."
"I wouldn't know how."
Ethan almost smiled.
"You designed part of the credential system."
Marcus looked at him.
"Still dramatic, Cole."
Thomas stepped closer.
"Did you kill Helen?"
Everything stopped.
Marcus stared at him.
Then his expression softened.
"Tom, you're grieving."
"My wife has been dead three years."
"And grief doesn't own a calendar."
Thomas's fists tightened.
I stepped between them.
"Nobody touches anyone."
Marcus looked amused.
"You giving orders in Robert's dining room?"
"Until federal security arrives, yes."
Something flickered in his eyes.
"Federal security?"
"Twenty minutes ago."
For the first time, Marcus looked toward the front windows.
He hadn't expected that.
Good.
Ethan leaned toward me.
"He'll run."
Marcus heard him.
"I have nowhere to run from."
"Then stay."
"I intend to."
He walked calmly toward the table.
Margaret backed away.
Rebecca took Daniel's mother by the arm.
I watched Marcus carefully.
No visible weapon.
No bag.
But he carried a phone.
"Put the phone on the table," I said.
"Excuse me?"
"Now."
He smiled.
"Commander, you don't have authority over me."
Nathan spoke from behind him.
"Maybe she doesn't."
Marcus turned.
Nathan held out his hand.
"But you're in my parents' house. Give me the phone."
For the first time that evening, Nathan and I were on the same side.
Marcus considered him.
Then placed the phone on the table.
"Happy?"
"No," Nathan said.
It was the right answer.
Ethan inserted his flash drive into an offline tablet he had brought from upstairs.
Files appeared.
Transfers.
Contracts.
Dates.
Robert leaned over them.
"These authorizations have my signature."
"Are they yours?" Ethan asked.
Robert studied them.
"Some."
"And the others?"
"Copies."
Marcus shook his head.
"This proves nothing."
Ethan opened another file.
A voice recording.
Helen Mercer.
Thomas gripped the chair.
Her voice filled the dining room.
"If you're hearing this, I was right to be afraid."
Thomas covered his mouth.
Helen continued.
"Harbor was compromised from inside. Robert doesn't know. Thomas doesn't know. I found duplicate encryption keys tied to Lantern. Someone has been selling access."
Marcus's face remained calm.
Too calm.
Helen's recording continued.
"I don't know who I can trust. But Marcus has been asking questions about Claire Ward."
Ward.
My maiden name.
Daniel looked at me.
Marcus's jaw tightened.
The recording stopped.
Thomas stared at Marcus.
"You knew my wife was investigating you."
"No."
"We just heard her."
"You heard a recording."
"Her recording."
"Which Cole conveniently possesses."
Ethan looked at me.
"He's right."
Everyone turned toward him.
Ethan continued.
"A recording isn't enough."
Marcus smiled slightly.
"At least one person here understands evidence."
"But Helen left more."
Marcus's smile vanished.
Thomas looked at Ethan.
"What?"
"She told me she hid the original Harbor access ledger."
"Where?"
"She never said."
Marcus's phone buzzed on the table.
Nobody touched it.
Then Robert said, "I might know."
We looked at him.
"The retirement box."
"What retirement box?" Daniel asked.
Robert pointed toward the study.
"When I sold Bennett Strategic Systems, Helen gave me a locked wooden box. Said I should open it when I finally retired."
"Tonight," I said.
Robert nodded.
"Tonight."
Marcus moved.
Just half a step.
But I saw it.
So did Ethan.
"Don't," we said simultaneously.
Marcus stopped.
Nathan stared at him.
"You know what's inside."
"No."
"You just moved toward the stairs."
"I moved because all of you are acting insane."
Thomas looked at Robert.
"Where's the box?"
"Upstairs."
Ethan and I exchanged a glance.
The study.
Where Ethan had been hiding.
"Did you see it?" I asked him.
"No."
Robert headed toward the stairs.
I stopped him.
"I'll go."
Daniel stepped forward.
"I'm coming."
"No."
"Claire."
"If something happens, I need you down here."
"I'm your husband, not a piece of furniture."
Under any other circumstances, I might have smiled.
"Then protect your family."
He understood.
I went upstairs with Ethan.
The study door stood open.
Inside were bookshelves, naval photographs, a large desk.
Robert had said the box was in the bottom cabinet.
I knelt.
Locked.
Ethan handed me a key.
"Robert gave me this earlier."
"You were in contact with him?"
"No. Found it taped under the desk."
That was strange.
The key opened the cabinet.
Inside sat a dark wooden box.
Brass latch.
Initials carved into the top.
R.B.
I lifted it onto the desk.
"Wait."
Ethan pointed to the hinge.
A thin wire.
My stomach dropped.
"Don't touch it."
We stepped back.
Someone had tampered with the box.
Not necessarily an explosive.
Could be an alarm.
Could be a destruction mechanism.
Could be something simpler.
"Whoever wants the ledger doesn't want us opening this," Ethan said.
I examined the base.
There was another latch hidden underneath.
Helen had always been clever, apparently.
I pressed it.
A false panel slid free.
Inside was a folded sheet of paper.
No ledger.
Just coordinates.
And a handwritten message.
THOMAS KNOWS THE PLACE.
I photographed it.
Then I heard footsteps behind us.
We turned.
Nathan stood in the doorway.
"Relax."
"What are you doing upstairs?" I asked.
"Marcus disappeared."
"What?"
"We looked away for maybe ten seconds. He's gone."
Ethan swore.
"Front door?"
"Still locked."
"Back?"
"Daniel's checking."
I looked toward the hallway.
If Marcus hadn't left the house—
A crash came from downstairs.
Then Margaret screamed.
We ran.
Daniel was standing beside the dining table.
Thomas was gone.
So was Marcus.
The back door stood open.
On Thomas's chair lay his retirement ring.
Under it was a folded note.
I opened it.
One sentence.
May you like
BRING VALKYRIE TO WHERE LANTERN ENDED.
And beneath it were the same coordinates Helen had hidden inside the box.
