Chapter 4 - My Father’s Secret
I stared at the screen.
My father stood at Black Ridge.
The date was unmistakable.
Six hours before my team entered the compound.
“No.”
I replayed it.
Same result.
My father.
Daniel Vale.
Retired Army intelligence analyst.
The man who had told me he spent the week of Black Ridge recovering from surgery in Maryland.
Mercer said nothing.
Chloe whispered, “Dad?”
Marcus backed away.
I turned toward Mercer.
“Did you know?”
“No.”
“Don't lie to me.”
“I didn't.”
I believed him.
That made it worse.
I downloaded everything onto an encrypted drive.
Then I went looking for my father.
He was in the library with my mother.
Security had closed the curtains.
Dad stood when I entered.
He saw my face.
Then the drive in my hand.
And he knew.
“Zariah.”
“You were there.”
My mother frowned.
“Where?”
“Black Ridge.”
Dad closed his eyes.
Mom looked at him.
“Daniel?”
“Tell me I'm wrong.”
He didn't.
My mother sat down.
I felt twelve years old again.
Not because I was afraid.
Because suddenly I didn't know my father.
“Why?”
“I was trying to stop it.”
“Stop what?”
“Your mission.”
I laughed once.
There was no humor in it.
“You had six hours.”
“I tried.”
“Nine people died.”
“I know.”
“Elias died.”
“I know.”
“You let me walk into that compound.”
“No!”
His voice cracked.
“I tried to get the operation canceled.”
“Then explain.”
Dad looked toward the door.
“Richard Thorne was laundering money through defense contracts.”
“For Hale?”
“For several people.”
“What was Black Ridge?”
“A cleanup.”
Mercer entered behind me.
Dad recognized him.
“Nathaniel.”
Mercer looked stunned.
“You knew I treated Ward?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you come forward?”
“Because they threatened my family.”
I stepped closer.
“They already came for your family.”
Dad looked at me.
“I know.”
He explained.
Black Ridge had begun as an illegal weapons-transfer operation.
Thorne Strategic moved equipment through legitimate military supply routes.
General Hale redirected inventory.
Someone discovered it.
An intelligence officer collected evidence.
My father.
“I was working with Internal Affairs,” Dad said.
“You were undercover?”
“Yes.”
“Why was my team sent?”
His eyes filled with something I had never seen before.
Shame.
“Hale discovered I was investigating him.”
I understood before he said it.
“He chose my unit.”
Dad nodded.
“To punish you.”
“To control me.”
My mother stood.
“You told me Zariah's mission was unrelated.”
“I lied.”
She slapped him.
Dad accepted it.
“I thought I could fix it.”
“You thought?”
Her voice broke.
“Our daughter almost died.”
“I know.”
I couldn't listen anymore.
“What happened to Elias?”
Dad looked at Mercer.
“I don't know.”
Mercer said, “He knew about 7319.”
Dad's face changed.
“How?”
“He kept repeating it before surgery.”
Dad sat down.
“That number wasn't just the project.”
“What was it?”
“A vault.”
“Where?”
He looked at me.
“Thorne Strategic headquarters.”
Marcus spoke from the doorway.
“There is no vault.”
Dad looked at him.
“Yes, there is.”
Marcus entered.
“Where?”
“Sublevel three.”
“My father told me that floor contains mechanical systems.”
“Your father lies.”
Marcus didn't argue.
Chloe remained several feet away from him.
“What is inside?”
Dad answered.
“The originals.”
“Of what?”
“Everything.”
Contracts.
Bank transfers.
Orders.
Names.
Enough evidence to destroy the network.
“Why didn't you retrieve it?”
“I couldn't.”
“Why?”
“Two keys.”
Dad looked at my identification tags.
“One belonged to me.”
I touched them.
“And the other?”
“Elias.”
My heart stopped.
Dad pointed toward the tags.
“The metal isn't ordinary.”
Mercer understood first.
“The tags are keys.”
Dad nodded.
I removed them.
For years I had carried them.
I had slept with them beside my bed.
I had taken them on every deployment.
One edge contained a tiny magnetic strip hidden beneath the scorched metal.
I had never noticed.
“Which one?”
“Both.”
Dad looked at me.
“When Elias realized he wouldn't survive, he must have made sure they reached you.”
My throat tightened.
Even dying, Elias had completed the mission.
Marcus suddenly looked toward the hallway.
“What?”
He listened.
Footsteps.
Security.
Then shouting.
A gunshot.
Everyone froze.
The library doors burst open.
A security guard stumbled inside.
Blood covered his shoulder.
“They breached the west gate.”
I moved immediately.
“How many?”
“Six. Maybe eight.”
“Police?”
“Seven minutes out.”
Too long.
I looked at Marcus.
“Safe room?”
“Upstairs.”
“Take Chloe and my parents.”
Chloe grabbed my arm.
“What about you?”
I looked toward Mercer.
“We finish what Elias started.”
Dad shook his head.
“No.”
“Where is Thorne headquarters?”
“Arlington.”
Marcus answered.
“Twenty minutes.”
I checked the window.
Armed men moved through the garden.
The attack wasn't random.
They wanted the tags.
I handed one to Mercer.
“Keep this.”
Dad stared.
“What are you doing?”
“Making sure nobody gets both.”
Another shot.
Glass shattered.
I pushed everyone toward the service corridor.
Then my phone vibrated.
A message.
One photograph.
Richard Thorne standing inside a steel room.
Behind him was a vault.
His message contained only one sentence.
BRING BOTH TAGS, OR YOUR SISTER DIES.
I looked up.
“Where's Chloe?”
Marcus turned.
May you like
The hallway behind us was empty.
My sister was gone.
