Chapter 5 - The General Who Wasn't Dead
Thomas Calder smiled when he saw me.
That frightened me more than a weapon would have.
"Jackson Carter."
I moved Emma behind me.
"Stay there."
"Dad—"
"Please."
She heard something in my voice and obeyed.
Calder was eighty if he was a day.
Thin.
White hair.
Dark suit.
No military insignia.
But some men carried rank long after removing the uniform.
Two younger men stood behind him.
Neither looked like family.
Mercer's hand moved near his jacket.
Calder noticed.
"Daniel, if I wanted anyone dead, I wouldn't have driven here personally."
Mercer stared.
"You're supposed to be dead."
Calder sighed.
"Retirement became complicated."
"You had a funeral."
"An empty coffin can solve many problems."
My patience broke.
"Where's Holloway?"
Calder looked at me.
"Still direct."
"Where is he?"
"Safe."
"From you?"
His smile vanished.
"Mostly."
I stepped forward.
Mercer caught my arm.
Calder watched the gesture.
"Still protecting each other after all these years. How touching."
"What happened on Iron Lantern?" Emma demanded.
Calder looked at her.
"And this must be the new lieutenant."
"Answer her."
He studied me.
"Your daughter has your eyes."
"Don't talk about my family."
"Your family is why you're alive."
Silence.
I felt Emma shift behind me.
"What does that mean?"
Calder glanced toward the barn.
"Inside."
"No."
"Then we can discuss classified treason where every federal microphone within two miles can hear."
Mercer said, "Those are my people."
Calder almost laughed.
"Daniel, that sentence is the reason men like Voss prospered."
We went inside.
Federal agents remained outside.
Calder's two men did too.
Inside, he stared at the wall of photographs.
His expression darkened.
"Voss."
"You knew about this place?" I asked.
"No."
"Convenient."
"I've had twenty-five years to regret convenient assumptions."
Calder sat slowly.
"My role in Iron Lantern was real."
Emma folded her arms.
"You ordered it."
"I authorized it."
"Difference?"
"A significant one."
"Not to the people who died."
Calder looked at her with something close to respect.
"No. Not to them."
He turned to me.
"Dr. Samuel Pierce uncovered a covert network moving American weapons into unauthorized hands. Voss was part of it."
"And you?"
"No."
"You expect me to believe that?"
"No. I expect you to verify it."
"Why alter the route?"
"I didn't."
"Your authorization code was attached."
"My code was stolen."
Mercer said, "You disappeared instead of clearing your name."
Calder nodded.
"Because by 2011, three witnesses investigating the network were dead."
"Voss too."
"Voss faked his loyalty better than anyone."
"He died in 2011."
Calder looked at me.
"Did he?"
I felt cold.
Mercer said, "We have a death certificate."
Calder gave him a tired look.
"So do I."
Fair point.
"Where is Voss?"
"I don't know."
"Is he alive?"
"I believe so."
Emma asked, "And Holloway?"
Calder's face changed.
"Henry has been helping me find him."
My anger surged.
"You had contact with Henry?"
"Since 2008."
"You knew he was alive."
"Yes."
I crossed the space before Mercer could stop me and grabbed Calder's jacket.
The old man's guards rushed in.
He raised one hand.
They stopped.
"You let me believe he was dead."
"I didn't know where you were."
"Everybody says that."
Calder looked directly at me.
"Henry asked me not to find you."
I released him.
"What?"
"He had learned Voss knew about Sarah."
My blood froze.
Emma whispered, "Mom?"
Calder continued carefully.
"Voss discovered you had married. Henry believed contacting you would expose your family."
"Sarah died of cancer."
"Yes."
"Did Voss have anything to do with it?"
"No."
The answer came without hesitation.
"Her medical records confirm natural disease. Henry checked repeatedly."
My knees almost weakened.
I hadn't realized until then how badly I'd needed that answer.
Emma wiped at one eye.
"Then why watch us?"
"Voss wanted leverage."
"What for?"
"Because Carter possessed something he didn't know he had."
I stared.
"The band?"
Calder nodded.
I looked at my wrist.
"It's leather."
"Look inside the metal plate."
"I have."
"Not deeply enough."
Mercer found a small multitool.
I removed the wristband for the first time in years.
The metal identification plate had always seemed solid.
Calder showed me a hairline seam.
Mercer pried carefully.
The plate separated.
Inside was a tiny strip of microfilm.
Emma whispered, "You've carried that for twenty-seven years?"
Apparently.
I almost laughed from disbelief.
Calder said, "Henry hid evidence before the extraction."
"What's on it?"
"Names."
"Whose?"
"Everyone involved in the weapons network."
Mercer said, "Then why does Voss want the ledger too?"
"The microfilm identifies people. The ledger identifies money."
Together, they could prove everything.
I stared at the tiny strip.
"Where's Henry?"
Calder checked his watch.
"He was supposed to meet Rebecca at noon."
"At the motel?"
"No."
"Then where?"
"Pierce's hospital."
Everything clicked.
The attack.
"Voss."
Calder nodded.
"If Pierce dies, Holloway and your microfilm become the last direct links."
Mercer immediately called his team.
We headed for the hospital.
I refused to leave Emma behind.
This time nobody argued.
Vanderbilt University Medical Center had police at three entrances by the time we arrived.
Pierce was in intensive care.
He had survived the attack but remained unconscious.
Rebecca was there.
I recognized her before anyone introduced us.
Henry's eyes.
She stood when I entered.
For several seconds we stared at each other.
Then she hugged me.
I froze.
"I'm sorry," she whispered.
"For what?"
"For everything my father couldn't say."
I stepped back.
"Where is he?"
Her expression changed.
"He left twenty minutes ago."
"Why?"
"He got a call."
"From who?"
"He wouldn't tell me."
"Rebecca."
She looked terrified.
"He said Voss finally agreed to meet."
I swore.
"Where?"
"I don't know."
I took out my phone.
One unread message.
Different number.
JACK.
COME FINISH WHAT WE STARTED.
Attached coordinates.
An industrial warehouse near the Cumberland River.
Mercer read it.
"It's a trap."
"Obviously."
"You aren't going."
"Also obviously wrong."
Emma grabbed my arm.
"I'm coming."
"No."
She started to argue.
I turned to her.
"Emma. I have spent twenty-five years trying to keep the ugliest part of my life away from you. Maybe I did that wrong. Maybe I should've trusted you sooner. But if I'm walking into a trap, I'm not bringing my daughter."
Her eyes filled.
"I'm an officer."
"Today you're my kid."
She looked furious.
Scared.
Then she hugged me.
Hard.
"Come back."
"I will."
"You don't know that."
"No."
I looked at her.
"But I'll fight like hell."
Mercer and I left with a tactical team.
Calder stayed with Emma and Rebecca.
The warehouse stood dark beside the river.
One door was open.
Someone was waiting.
Mercer's team surrounded the building.
I entered with him.
Inside, a single overhead light burned.
Henry Holloway sat in a chair.
Alive.
Older.
Scarred.
But alive.
For twenty-seven years I'd imagined this moment.
I had imagined anger.
Relief.
Maybe punching him.
Instead I just stood there.
Henry looked up.
"Hey, Ghost."
My eyes burned.
"You look terrible."
He smiled.
"So do you."
Then a gun cocked somewhere behind him.
A man stepped from the darkness.
Gray hair.
Cold eyes.
A face I hadn't seen since 1999.
Arthur Voss.
He pressed a pistol against Henry's head.
"Touching reunion," Voss said.
May you like
Then he looked at my wrist.
"Now give me the band."
