Chapter 2 - Three Stars at the Door
Nobody spoke while the bell rang a third time.
Richard looked at me.
“Were you expecting someone?”
“No.”
That answer frightened him more than yes would have.
Daniel walked toward the foyer.
I followed.
Behind us, Brent muttered something about calling the police.
I stopped.
“You’re welcome to.”
His mouth closed.
When Daniel opened the front door, two uniformed officers stood beneath the porch light.
Behind them waited three black government vehicles.
The taller officer was Major General Evelyn Hart.
She was sixty-one, silver-haired, and one of the few people on earth who could make a crowded room quieter simply by entering it.
She looked at Daniel.
Then at me.
Then at the coffee stain on my white jacket.
Her expression became cold.
“Admiral Mercer.”
The room behind me inhaled collectively.
Brent actually laughed.
Not because something was funny.
Because his brain had rejected what he heard.
“Admiral?”
General Hart stepped inside.
She extended her hand.
“Happy Thanksgiving, Caroline.”
I shook it.
“Ma’am.”
Daniel stared at me.
He knew I held senior rank.
He did not know how senior.
I saw surprise in his face.
And hurt.
That hurt mattered more than anything else in the room.
General Hart glanced toward the dining room.
“What happened?”
“Family disagreement.”
Brent appeared behind us.
“She attacked me.”
Hart looked at him.
Slowly.
I had seen enemy officers receive kinder looks.
“Who are you?”
“Brent Carter.”
“And you are accusing Admiral Mercer of assault?”
Brent opened his mouth.
Richard stepped between them.
“No one is accusing anyone of anything.”
Brent turned.
“Dad!”
“Enough.”
It was the first time in two years I heard Richard speak to his oldest son that way.
Hart looked toward me again.
“We have a situation.”
That changed everything.
My body straightened automatically.
“What kind?”
“Secure discussion.”
I nodded.
Daniel noticed.
“Caroline?”
“I need a few minutes.”
His expression hardened.
“Of course.”
The words were quiet.
But I heard what he meant.
Another secret.
Another door he could not walk through.
I wanted to explain.
I couldn’t.
Not yet.
Hart and I entered Richard’s study.
Colonel Hayes, the second officer, closed the door behind us.
Hart handed me a secure phone.
“There’s been a breach.”
I felt the Thanksgiving dinner disappear from my mind.
“Where?”
“Joint Strategic Communications.”
My blood cooled.
“How bad?”
“Unknown. Someone accessed restricted personnel records linked to the Artemis network.”
Artemis.
That single word turned a humiliating family dinner into something insignificant.
Artemis was a compartmented program I had overseen for eighteen months.
Its purpose was defensive.
Its existence was classified.
Very few people knew the personnel structure.
“External actor?”
“We don’t know.”
“When?”
“Forty-seven minutes ago.”
I looked toward the closed study door.
Forty-seven minutes.
That meant the breach happened while Brent was telling everyone I operated a copier.
Hart continued.
“Your cover file was accessed.”
My attention snapped back to her.
“What exactly?”
“Your public employment record. Residential links. Spousal information.”
Daniel.
“Was anything extracted?”
“We’re determining that now.”
The secure phone vibrated.
A message appeared.
PERSONAL ADDRESS FLAGGED.
My stomach tightened.
Hart saw it.
“That is why we came personally.”
“Evacuation?”
“Precautionary relocation.”
“My family?”
Hart hesitated.
“Your husband, yes.”
I looked at her.
“And everyone inside this house?”
“They are not cleared.”
“They may already be exposed.”
“We don’t know that.”
“I do.”
“How?”
“Because someone called Richard before you arrived.”
Hart’s eyes sharpened.
“What call?”
I described it.
Richard had said “General.”
Hart exchanged a look with Hayes.
“We didn’t call the residence.”
The room went very still.
I walked to the study door.
Opened it.
Everyone looked up.
“Richard.”
He stood.
“Who called you?”
“I told you. A general.”
“Name?”
“He didn’t give one.”
“What exactly did he say?”
Richard looked confused.
“He asked whether you were here.”
Hart emerged behind me.
“What else?”
Richard’s face tightened.
“He said government vehicles would arrive.”
Hart glanced at Hayes.
That information had not been public.
Brent folded his arms.
“This is getting insane.”
I ignored him.
“Did the caller say anything else?”
Richard hesitated.
That hesitation was enough.
“Richard.”
“He said…”
“What?”
“He said I should ask you what happened in Norfolk.”
My pulse slowed.
Daniel frowned.
“What happened in Norfolk?”
I kept my eyes on Richard.
“Exact words.”
“He said, ‘Ask Admiral Mercer why seven people disappeared in Norfolk.’”
Margaret gasped.
Brent’s expression changed to triumph.
“There. I knew something was wrong with her.”
Daniel turned sharply.
“Shut up.”
Brent pointed at me.
“You don’t even know who you married.”
The sentence landed harder than he knew.
Because Daniel was thinking the same thing.
Not with contempt.
With pain.
Hart stepped forward.
“This conversation ends now.”
Brent laughed.
“You people walk into my parents’ house and expect us to—”
The lights went out.
Everything stopped.
Margaret screamed.
Glass broke somewhere in the dining room.
Hayes immediately drew a flashlight.
Hart moved toward the window.
I grabbed Daniel’s wrist.
“Stay close.”
Emergency lighting flickered on several seconds later.
Dim amber strips illuminated the hallway.
Daniel looked at me.
“What is happening?”
Before I could answer, Colonel Hayes’s radio crackled.
“Perimeter breach. Rear entrance.”
I turned toward the kitchen.
A door slammed.
Footsteps.
Then silence.
Hayes moved ahead.
Hart ordered Richard and Margaret into the study.
Brent protested until Daniel physically shoved him inside.
I reached beneath my jacket and removed the compact secure sidearm I had been carrying since the ceremony.
Daniel stared.
“Caroline.”
“Later.”
We moved toward the kitchen.
The back door stood open.
Cold air rushed through.
Nothing outside.
No intruder.
No vehicle.
No movement.
Then Daniel noticed something on the counter.
An envelope.
White.
No stamp.
No handwriting except my name.
ADMIRAL CAROLINE MERCER.
Hart approached.
“Don’t touch it.”
Hayes photographed it.
Then opened it with gloved hands.
Inside was one sheet of paper.
One sentence.
I read it.
My chest tightened.
Daniel saw my face.
“What does it say?”
I didn’t answer.
He took one step closer.
Hart tried to fold the page.
Too late.
Daniel saw the words.
TELL YOUR HUSBAND WHAT YOU DID IN NORFOLK BEFORE WE DO.
His eyes lifted toward mine.
“Caroline.”
Before I could speak, my secure phone vibrated.
A photograph appeared.
Seven people standing beside a military aircraft.
I was in the center.
May you like
Six faces were marked with red Xs.
The seventh was Daniel’s older brother Brent.
