Chapter 3 - The Woman at the Christmas Table
Rebecca was in a government vehicle six minutes later.
Hale sat beside her.
“Don't assume Lauren is involved.”
“My daughter isn't answering.”
“We don't know why.”
Rebecca looked out the window.
“Then find out.”
At Daniel's house, federal vehicles filled the street.
Rebecca entered through the front door.
Christmas music was still playing.
Dinner plates remained on the table.
The scene looked frozen at the exact moment Christmas had stopped being Christmas.
“Mom!”
Emily ran toward her.
Rebecca caught her.
For several seconds neither spoke.
Then Rebecca pulled back.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“Why didn't you answer?”
“My phone disappeared.”
“Where's Lauren?”
Emily looked toward the stairs.
“Gone.”
Daniel entered from his office with Agent Cole.
He stopped when he saw Rebecca.
Eleven years of secrets stood between them.
Rebecca wanted to scream.
Instead she said, “Show me the box.”
Daniel led them upstairs.
A loose floorboard had been removed from beneath a bedroom cabinet.
Empty space underneath.
“I kept the prototype here,” Daniel said.
“Lauren knew?”
“I never told her.”
Emily wiped her face.
“She saw Dad open this floor once.”
“When?”
“Last month.”
Daniel turned.
“You never told me that.”
“I didn't think it mattered.”
Rebecca crouched beside the opening.
A small scrap of red fabric had caught on a nail.
Lauren had been wearing a red Christmas dress in Emily's photograph.
Cole bagged it.
Rebecca stood.
“Find her.”
Daniel caught Rebecca's arm.
“She may not be the enemy.”
Rebecca looked down at his hand.
He released her.
“Then tell me what she is.”
Daniel sat on the bed.
“Lauren contacted me two years before we started dating.”
Rebecca's eyes narrowed.
“She worked compliance for a defense contractor.”
“Which one?”
“Pike Strategic.”
Rebecca felt another piece fall into place.
General Pike's consulting company.
“She told me she was investigating old procurement irregularities,” Daniel said. “She knew about Nightglass.”
“And you married her?”
“She helped me verify that Pike was still watching me.”
Rebecca almost laughed.
“You married a woman who approached you while investigating the man who threatened our daughter?”
“I fell in love with her.”
“That doesn't make it less insane.”
“No.”
Emily looked between them.
“Did Lauren marry Dad because of this?”
Daniel looked devastated.
“I don't know.”
Rebecca's anger softened for half a second.
Whatever Daniel had done, that possibility hurt him.
Cole entered.
“We located Lauren's vehicle.”
“Where?”
“Parking garage near Alexandria.”
“Lauren?”
“No.”
They drove there.
The vehicle was unlocked.
Inside was Lauren's purse.
Her coat.
Her cellphone.
Rebecca found something else in the passenger seat.
A wrapped Christmas present.
The tag read:
REBECCA.
She stared at it.
Daniel swallowed.
“She bought you something?”
Rebecca opened the wrapping.
Inside was an old leather notebook.
General Pike's initials were embossed on the cover.
T.P.
Rebecca opened it.
Dates.
Names.
Authorization numbers.
Then she found Daniel.
VANCE — DISCOVERED ACCESS ROUTE.
Below it:
R.V. TOO CLOSE. REMOVE FROM THEATER.
Rebecca's hands tightened.
Further down:
EMILY = LEVERAGE.
Daniel turned away.
Rebecca forced herself to continue.
The final page had been torn out.
Cole's phone rang.
He answered.
His expression changed.
“We found Lauren.”
“Where?”
“Hospital.”
Daniel went pale.
They arrived twenty minutes later.
Lauren was conscious.
Bruising covered one side of her face.
Daniel rushed toward her.
She began crying.
“I'm sorry.”
“Where's the prototype?”
“They took it.”
“Who?”
Lauren looked past Daniel at Rebecca.
“Pike.”
Rebecca stepped closer.
“General Pike?”
Lauren shook her head.
“No.”
Everyone went silent.
“Then who?”
“His daughter.”
Rebecca knew Pike had one child.
Dr. Cassandra Pike.
Senior systems adviser to the National Security Council.
Lauren gripped Rebecca's wrist.
“Cassandra ran Nightglass.”
Rebecca stared.
“Her father protected her?”
“For years.”
“Why steal the prototype now?”
“Because something changed.”
“What?”
Lauren's eyes filled with fear.
“She isn't trying to hide Nightglass anymore.”
Rebecca leaned closer.
“What is she trying to do?”
Lauren whispered:
“Turn it on.”
Hale called from Washington.
Rebecca answered.
“Tell me.”
His voice sounded strained.
“Someone just attempted to authenticate an emergency navigation override.”
“Nightglass?”
“Yes.”
“Can Cassandra activate it?”
“Not without the original prototype.”
Rebecca looked at Lauren.
“She's got it.”
Silence.
Then Hale said, “Rebecca, there's something else.”
“What?”
“The override requires two authorization identities.”
“Whose?”
“Cassandra Pike's.”
Rebecca waited.
“And?”
Hale's voice lowered.
“Yours.”
Rebecca froze.
“I never authorized Nightglass.”
“No. But someone built your credentials into it eleven years ago.”
Rebecca stared through the hospital window.
“Why?”
“We don't know.”
A nurse approached carrying an envelope.
“Colonel Vance?”
“Yes?”
“This was left for you at reception.”
Rebecca took it.
No return address.
Inside was a photograph.
Rebecca and General Pike stood together at her promotion ceremony twelve years earlier.
On the back someone had written:
HE DIDN'T CHOOSE YOU BECAUSE YOU WERE HIS BEST OFFICER.
Below it was an address.
And a time.
2:00 A.M.
Rebecca checked the clock.
1:41.
Daniel looked at her.
“What does it say?”
Rebecca turned the photograph over so he could see.
Then she noticed another sentence along the bottom.
COME ALONE IF YOU WANT TO KNOW WHY YOUR NAME OPENS NIGHTGLASS.
Rebecca looked toward the hospital corridor.
At the far end, an elevator opened.
A silver-haired man stepped out.
May you like
Rebecca recognized him immediately.
General Warren Pike had come to find her.
