Chapter 5 - What Happened in Kandahar
“Marco Bellini.”
Claire stared.
“No.”
Adrian replayed the tape.
The voice repeated it.
Marco Bellini.
Adrian's closest lieutenant.
His friend.
The man currently guarding the apartment door.
Claire whispered, “Does he know we're listening?”
“No.”
“What are you going to do?”
Adrian looked toward the hallway.
“Nothing yet.”
Claire couldn't believe him.
“Your dead teammate just named him.”
“Daniel said there was another survivor. He didn't say Marco betrayed us.”
“Then who survived?”
Adrian finally told her.
Fifteen years earlier, Adrian's SEAL unit had been sent on an unauthorized extraction.
The target was an American intelligence officer carrying evidence of illegal weapons sales.
Their helicopter never arrived.
Their coordinates had been leaked.
Daniel died during the escape.
Adrian survived.
So did one unidentified man.
Adrian had always assumed the survivor was an enemy.
Now he wasn't sure.
“What was Keene's role?”
“He gave the orders.”
“And Marco?”
“He wasn't in my unit.”
Claire frowned.
“Then why would Dad name him?”
“I met Marco two years after Daniel died.”
That was worse.
Someone had deliberately placed Marco in Adrian's life.
A floorboard creaked outside.
Adrian raised his weapon.
Marco entered.
He saw the cassette.
Then Adrian's gun.
Understanding crossed his face.
“You heard it.”
Claire stepped back.
Adrian aimed.
“Start talking.”
Marco slowly removed his weapon and placed it down.
“My name isn't Marco Bellini.”
Claire's blood ran cold.
Adrian's voice remained steady.
“Who are you?”
“Michael Keene.”
Adrian stared.
Thomas Keene's son.
Marco explained.
His father had recruited him into covert intelligence.
After the Kandahar operation collapsed, Michael discovered evidence that Thomas had deliberately sacrificed Adrian's team.
He changed identities.
Found Adrian.
Stayed close.
“Why?”
“To keep you alive.”
Adrian's gun did not lower.
“You lied to me for thirteen years.”
“Yes.”
“Every day.”
“Yes.”
“Did you know Daniel?”
Marco looked at Claire.
“Yes.”
Her eyes filled.
“Did you see him die?”
Marco hesitated.
“No.”
Adrian froze.
“What?”
“Daniel was alive when I reached the site.”
Claire stopped breathing.
Adrian's voice broke.
“I held him while he died.”
“You held someone.”
“What does that mean?”
“The body was switched.”
Adrian's weapon lowered an inch.
Marco continued.
“Daniel survived the initial attack.”
Claire whispered, “Then where did he go?”
“My father took him.”
“Why?”
“Because Daniel had evidence.”
Claire grabbed Marco's sleeve.
“How long did he live?”
“I don't know.”
“You're lying.”
“I'm not.”
“Was my father alive after 2009?”
Marco looked at her.
“Yes.”
Claire stumbled backward.
Adrian caught her hand.
Twenty years of grief changed shape in one second.
Her father had not died when she was told.
Someone had taken him.
Hidden him.
Maybe tortured him.
Maybe—
“Is he alive now?” she asked.
Marco looked away.
“I don't know.”
Adrian's phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
A distorted voice spoke.
“Bring Claire Donovan to Pier Seventeen.”
Adrian's face hardened.
“Who is this?”
“You want the rest of Daniel's story?”
A pause.
“Bring his daughter.”
The call ended.
Claire looked at Adrian.
“We're going.”
“No.”
“Adrian—”
“No.”
She stepped closer.
“If my father might be alive—”
“This is bait.”
“Then they already know I'll take it.”
Adrian looked at her.
He knew that expression.
Daniel had worn the same one.
Marco walked toward the window.
Then stopped.
A red laser dot appeared on his chest.
Adrian shouted.
“DOWN!”
Glass exploded.
Claire hit the floor.
Adrian's wheelchair overturned.
Another bullet tore through the wall.
Marco crawled toward them.
Then Claire saw blood spreading beneath Adrian.
“Adrian!”
His eyes remained open.
May you like
He reached for her.
But before Claire could reach him, the apartment door burst inward.
