Chapter 4 - Eight Years of Lies
The panda mug shattered on the pavement.
Jessi screamed Fiona's name.
The vehicle accelerated away.
I ran after it.
Nathan grabbed me.
"Daniel!"
I fought him.
"Let go!"
"You can't catch a car!"
My daughter was somewhere inside it.
Logic meant nothing.
Then my phone rang.
Fiona's tablet.
I answered.
"Baby?"
No voice.
Only sound.
An engine.
A turn signal.
Then Fiona whispered:
"Daddy, I hid my tablet."
Every adult around me froze.
"Good girl."
"Under the seat."
"Can you see outside?"
"A little."
"Don't move. Don't let them know you're talking."
"I'm scared."
"I know."
"I want Mommy."
Jessi covered her mouth.
"I'm here," she whispered.
"Mommy?"
"I'm right here."
Fiona began crying.
The sound nearly destroyed me.
Then she whispered:
"The lady said we're going where Grandpa's airplane fell."
Blackwater.
I looked at Charles.
He nodded.
"Fiona, listen to me. Keep the tablet hidden. We're coming."
"Okay."
"You're doing perfectly."
A woman's voice sounded in the distance.
Fiona immediately became silent.
The call remained connected.
We moved.
Two cars.
Charles drove with Nathan.
I drove Wendy and Jessi.
Nobody spoke for the first five minutes.
Then I said:
"Rebecca."
Wendy stared ahead.
"Rebecca Crane."
"Elliot's wife?"
"Sister."
"Who is she?"
Jessi answered.
"My godmother."
I looked at her.
"You told me your godmother died when you were a teenager."
"That's what I believed."
Of course.
Another dead person.
Wendy finally spoke.
"Rebecca created the network."
"What network?"
"Shell companies. Foundations. Private trusts. She moved money for people who wanted ownership hidden."
"And Nathan found out."
"He helped build the auditing system she used."
Nathan had been an accountant.
That much I knew.
"He discovered she was manipulating it?"
"Yes."
"Charles?"
"Your father financed some of the companies without understanding what they were."
I gripped the steering wheel.
"When he discovered the truth, he tried to pull out."
"And Rebecca tried to kill him?"
Wendy looked at me.
"She tried to erase him."
The phrase chilled me.
"Why disappear instead of going to police?"
"Because Rebecca had people everywhere."
"That's convenient."
"I know how it sounds."
"It sounds like everyone lied."
"Because everyone did."
At least she admitted it.
We drove faster.
Fiona's connection remained open.
Occasionally we heard voices.
Then something unexpected.
Fiona began humming.
Jessi stared at the phone.
"What is she doing?"
I knew.
"When she was five, I taught her what to do if she got lost."
Jessi looked at me.
"The humming game."
Exactly.
Different songs represented different things.
Twinkle meant she could see lights.
Row Your Boat meant water.
Old MacDonald meant animals.
Fiona hummed Row Your Boat.
"Water," I said.
Charles's voice came through the hands-free connection from the other car.
"Blackwater sits beside the reservoir."
Ten minutes later, Fiona changed songs.
Twinkle.
"Lights."
Charles said, "Airfield perimeter."
We were close.
Then the call disconnected.
Blackwater Airfield had once serviced private cargo aircraft.
After Charles's crash, the property closed.
Most buildings were demolished.
One hangar remained.
We approached without headlights.
A vehicle stood outside.
I saw Elliot.
Then Rebecca.
She was older than Wendy.
Silver hair.
Long black coat.
And Fiona.
Alive.
Standing beside her.
I stopped breathing.
Rebecca held Fiona's shoulder.
Not violently.
But possessively.
I got out.
"Let her go."
Rebecca smiled.
"You look like Charles."
"Let my daughter go."
"Give me the drive."
Jessi stepped forward.
"I have it."
I turned.
She was holding the portable drive.
Rebecca smiled.
"Jessica. Always the obedient one."
"Let Fiona walk to me."
"Drive first."
"No."
Rebecca's smile faded.
For the first time, I saw what everyone feared.
Not violence.
Control.
She believed people were pieces on a board.
"You've all made this much more complicated than necessary."
Charles stepped from the second car.
Rebecca stared at him.
"Charlie."
He looked disgusted.
"Rebecca."
"You should have stayed dead."
"So should Nathan?"
Nathan appeared.
Rebecca laughed.
"Look at us. A reunion."
Wendy stepped forward.
"Fiona has nothing to do with this."
"Neither did Jessica when you put accounts in her name."
Jessi turned to her mother.
"What?"
Wendy closed her eyes.
There it was.
Another lie.
Rebecca continued.
"Your mother signed the documents."
Jessi stared at Wendy.
"You said you didn't know."
"I didn't understand what they were."
"But you signed them?"
"I was trying to protect your father."
Nathan looked at Wendy.
"You never told me."
"I was ashamed."
Rebecca smiled.
"Families are built on shame."
I looked at Fiona.
Her eyes met mine.
I gave the smallest nod.
Our lost-child game had one final rule.
When I touched my watch, run to me.
I lifted my wrist.
Rebecca noticed.
"What are you doing?"
"Checking the time."
Then I touched the watch.
Fiona ran.
Rebecca reached for her.
Wendy stepped between them.
Fiona crossed the pavement.
I caught her.
Jessi wrapped around both of us.
For the first time all day, I could breathe.
Rebecca didn't chase her.
She only looked at the drive.
"You still don't understand what you have."
I stood.
"Then explain."
"Project Harbor isn't evidence against me."
"What is it?"
"Evidence against Charles."
I looked at my father.
He didn't deny it.
Rebecca continued.
"Your father wasn't investigating us, Daniel."
She smiled.
"He was one of us."
Silence.
I looked at Charles.
"Tell me she's lying."
He stared at the ground.
"At first," he said.
Two words.
Enough.
Rebecca laughed.
Charles continued.
"I helped finance the network before I knew how far it went."
"How far?"
"Political favors. Corporate theft. Fraud. Bribery."
"You profited?"
"Yes."
I felt sick.
"And when you were caught?"
"I tried to expose it."
"After you got rich."
"Yes."
At least he wasn't pretending.
Rebecca held out her hand.
"The drive."
Jessi looked at me.
I shook my head.
Rebecca's expression changed.
"You think that drive saves you?"
She reached into her coat.
I moved Fiona behind me.
But Rebecca didn't produce a weapon.
She produced a phone.
She tapped the screen.
Every light in the hangar came on.
Along the far wall were dozens of boxes.
Records.
Files.
Hard drives.
"The archive you found is a copy," Rebecca said. "This is the original."
Nathan stared.
"You kept everything."
"Insurance."
Against the wall was an old server rack.
One monitor glowed.
A countdown appeared.
09:58.
09:57.
"What is that?" Jessi asked.
Rebecca smiled.
"The amount of time you have before every account connected to Jessica's identity becomes public."
Jessi went pale.
"They'll think she did it," Wendy whispered.
Rebecca nodded.
"Exactly."
I looked at Charles.
"Can we stop it?"
He ran toward the terminal.
Nathan followed.
I kept Fiona behind me.
Jessi plugged in the portable drive.
Charles typed.
"Daniel, I need your token."
I pulled it out.
The device Fiona had returned.
The object that started everything.
I handed it to him.
He inserted it.
The screen changed.
AUTHORIZATION REQUIRED.
My fingerprint.
I pressed my thumb to the reader.
ACCESS GRANTED.
Files began moving.
Rebecca watched calmly.
Too calmly.
I realized why.
"Stop."
Charles looked at me.
"What?"
"She's letting us do this."
Rebecca smiled.
I stepped toward the terminal.
"What happens when we open Harbor?"
Nobody answered.
Then Fiona spoke.
"Daddy."
She pointed toward the bottom of the monitor.
Tiny letters appeared beneath the transfer bar.
EXTERNAL MIRROR ACTIVE.
Someone else was downloading everything.
"Disconnect it!" I shouted.
Charles reached for the cable.
The screen went black.
Then returned.
A single file appeared.
MERCER_DANIEL_FINAL.
My name.
Jessi looked at me.
"What is that?"
I didn't know.
The file opened automatically.
A video began.
My father appeared on screen.
Not the older man standing beside me.
The younger Charles Mercer.
Twelve years ago.
He looked directly into the camera.
"If Daniel is watching this, then Rebecca found him."
My father beside me stopped breathing.
On the recording, Charles continued:
"Son, there is one thing I never told you about the night your mother died."
I stared at him.
My mother had died when I was nine.
A car accident.
Or so I had been told.
The recorded Charles leaned closer.
"Your mother didn't die in that car."
The screen suddenly froze.
A password box appeared.
QUESTION: WHAT WAS HER REAL NAME?
I turned toward my father.
He looked terrified.
"Daniel."
"What was Mom's real name?"
Charles whispered:
"That's the one secret I swore I'd take to my grave."
Behind us, a door slammed.
Rebecca was gone.
So was Elliot.
Then the lights went out.
May you like
And somewhere in the darkness, Fiona whispered:
"Daddy... someone's still in here."
