The first agent reached the steel hatch and drove his shoulder into it.<\/p>\n
Nothing moved.<\/p>\n
A second agent joined him. Together they pushed until the muscles in their necks stood out beneath their collars.<\/p>\n
The hatch did not lift a fraction.<\/p>\n
Agent Vance stood beneath the emergency light, phone in one hand, radio in the other.<\/p>\n
"Surface team, respond."<\/p>\n
Static.<\/p>\n
He changed frequencies.<\/p>\n
"Team One, status."<\/p>\n
Nothing.<\/p>\n
My father stared upward.<\/p>\n
"They knew exactly when to lock us in."<\/p>\n
Clara looked at me.<\/p>\n
"And exactly who was coming."<\/p>\n
The message on my phone remained open.<\/p>\n
BRING ARTHUR MILLER'S KEY TO UNIT 318. MIDNIGHT.<\/p>\n
OR THE WOMAN WHO SENT YOU HERE DIES.<\/p>\n
The video had ended, but I could still see Eleanor's bruised face.<\/p>\n
Don't come.<\/p>\n
Easy advice from the person tied to the chair.<\/p>\n
I turned the brass compass over in my hand.<\/p>\n
"If they want this, there has to be something inside it beyond that map."<\/p>\n
Vance crouched beside the steel desk.<\/p>\n
"Maybe."<\/p>\n
"We already found the microfilm."<\/p>\n
"That doesn't mean you found everything."<\/p>\n
Dad reached for the compass.<\/p>\n
I handed it to him.<\/p>\n
He examined the hinge, pivot, arms and tiny knurled adjustment screw.<\/p>\n
"I watched your grandfather use this thousands of times."<\/p>\n
"Anything strange?"<\/p>\n
"He'd clean it himself."<\/p>\n
"People clean tools."<\/p>\n
"Arthur cleaned everything himself."<\/p>\n
Dad frowned.<\/p>\n
"But he never let me take this one apart."<\/p>\n
Clara moved closer.<\/p>\n
"Even when it broke?"<\/p>\n
"It never broke."<\/p>\n
I pointed at the bent leg.<\/p>\n
"This happened today."<\/p>\n
Dad studied it.<\/p>\n
"Maybe that's why we're seeing what he didn't want us to see."<\/p>\n
One of the agents called from across the room.<\/p>\n
"Found conduit."<\/p>\n
A bundle of old electrical lines disappeared behind a cabinet.<\/p>\n
The agent tugged the steel shelving unit away from the wall.<\/p>\n
Behind it was a narrow maintenance access panel.<\/p>\n
Vance knelt.<\/p>\n
"Could lead to the utility crawlspace."<\/p>\n
"Or nowhere," Clara said.<\/p>\n
"Either is better than sitting here."<\/p>\n
Two agents worked on the screws.<\/p>\n
While they did, Dad twisted the compass adjustment wheel.<\/p>\n
The arms opened.<\/p>\n
Then stopped halfway.<\/p>\n
"That's wrong."<\/p>\n
"What?"<\/p>\n
"It used to open wider."<\/p>\n
I knelt beside him.<\/p>\n
He tried again.<\/p>\n
Metal clicked inside the hinge.<\/p>\n
Dad froze.<\/p>\n
"That sound wasn't there before."<\/p>\n
Using the screwdriver from his tackle box, he removed the second faceplate.<\/p>\n
Beneath it was a cavity so small I almost missed the object inside.<\/p>\n
A black wafer.<\/p>\n
Not much larger than a fingernail.<\/p>\n
Vance leaned over.<\/p>\n
"Don't touch it."<\/p>\n
Dad withdrew his hand.<\/p>\n
One of the agents brought an evidence light.<\/p>\n
The wafer reflected a faint metallic pattern.<\/p>\n
"Data storage?" I asked.<\/p>\n
"Could be."<\/p>\n
"From twenty years ago?"<\/p>\n
Vance frowned.<\/p>\n
"Not this format."<\/p>\n
That made the room go silent.<\/p>\n
Clara understood first.<\/p>\n
"Someone modified the compass after Sebastian's grandfather died."<\/p>\n
Dad shook his head.<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
"You said this technology wasn't from twenty years ago."<\/p>\n
"I heard him."<\/p>\n
"Then somebody opened it."<\/p>\n
Dad looked genuinely sick.<\/p>\n
"I kept that compass in my house after Dad died."<\/p>\n
"Until when?"<\/p>\n
"Sebastian took it when we cleared the workshop."<\/p>\n
"About twelve years ago," I said.<\/p>\n
Vance looked at me.<\/p>\n
"And since then?"<\/p>\n
"My desk drawer at home for years. Then Vanguard."<\/p>\n
"Accessible?"<\/p>\n
"Of course."<\/p>\n
The answer disgusted me.<\/p>\n
My grandfather's supposedly private key had spent years in an unlocked drawer inside the very company Arthur's people had been watching.<\/p>\n
Vance photographed the wafer in place.<\/p>\n
An agent extracted it with tweezers and sealed it.<\/p>\n
"If Helen knows this is here," I said, "she may not want the compass. She wants the storage device."<\/p>\n
"Or she thinks the two are inseparable."<\/p>\n
Dad stared at the empty cavity.<\/p>\n
"Who could have installed it?"<\/p>\n
A thought arrived.<\/p>\n
"Nick."<\/p>\n
Clara looked at me.<\/p>\n
"He knew the compass mattered."<\/p>\n
"Enough to send you back for it."<\/p>\n
Vance shook his head.<\/p>\n
"That doesn't prove he opened it."<\/p>\n
"No. But he had access."<\/p>\n
"So did Marcus," Clara said.<\/p>\n
I looked at her.<\/p>\n
"Marcus Lee?"<\/p>\n
"He worked beside you."<\/p>\n
"He wouldn't\u2014"<\/p>\n
I stopped.<\/p>\n
That sentence had become dangerous.<\/p>\n
He wouldn't.<\/p>\n
Nick wouldn't lie.<\/p>\n
Eleanor wouldn't manipulate me.<\/p>\n
Dad wouldn't hide anything.<\/p>\n
Every assumption had been punished.<\/p>\n
Clara's voice softened.<\/p>\n
"I'm not accusing him."<\/p>\n
"I know."<\/p>\n
The maintenance panel came free.<\/p>\n
Cold air flowed through the opening.<\/p>\n
The agent shone a light inside.<\/p>\n
"Passage."<\/p>\n
"How wide?" Vance asked.<\/p>\n
"Wide enough."<\/p>\n
"Where?"<\/p>\n
"Slopes upward."<\/p>\n
Vance looked at the group.<\/p>\n
"We move."<\/p>\n
The crawlspace smelled like dirt and iron.<\/p>\n
We went single file.<\/p>\n
One agent first.<\/p>\n
Then Vance.<\/p>\n
Then Clara.<\/p>\n
I followed with Dad behind me.<\/p>\n
The ceiling dropped so low in places that we crawled on our elbows.<\/p>\n
My phone lost all signal.<\/p>\n
Twenty yards in, the passage split.<\/p>\n
The map hidden in the compass showed nothing beneath the building.<\/p>\n
Vance chose the tunnel angled toward the hillside.<\/p>\n
It ended at another steel panel.<\/p>\n
This one opened.<\/p>\n
Cool night air hit my face.<\/p>\n
We emerged fifty yards behind the survey station beneath a cluster of scrub oak.<\/p>\n
Two federal SUVs sat near the road.<\/p>\n
One driver's door stood open.<\/p>\n
No agents.<\/p>\n
Vance drew his weapon.<\/p>\n
"Stay here."<\/p>\n
He and two agents moved downslope.<\/p>\n
A minute later his radio crackled.<\/p>\n
"Found them."<\/p>\n
The surface team had not been killed.<\/p>\n
Three agents were lying behind the vehicles, conscious but disoriented.<\/p>\n
Chemical exposure.<\/p>\n
One had a bleeding scalp.<\/p>\n
Another could barely focus his eyes.<\/p>\n
"Gas?" I asked.<\/p>\n
Vance shook his head.<\/p>\n
"Injection."<\/p>\n
"They got close enough to inject federal agents?"<\/p>\n
"Or the agents let someone close."<\/p>\n
He didn't say the rest.<\/p>\n
Someone they trusted.<\/p>\n
My phone recovered signal.<\/p>\n
Three messages arrived at once.<\/p>\n
11:02.<\/p>\n
UNIT 318.<\/p>\n
11:03.<\/p>\n
COME ALONE.<\/p>\n
11:05.<\/p>\n
YOU HAVE FIFTY-FIVE MINUTES.<\/p>\n
I showed Vance.<\/p>\n
He looked toward the injured agents.<\/p>\n
"We're not sending you alone."<\/p>\n
"If Helen sees a federal convoy, Eleanor dies."<\/p>\n
"She may die anyway."<\/p>\n
Clara flinched.<\/p>\n
Vance saw.<\/p>\n
"I'm not being cruel."<\/p>\n
"Then don't sound like you are," I said.<\/p>\n
He lowered his voice.<\/p>\n
"A hostage-taker who controls the meeting site, knows our movements, incapacitates agents, and has been collecting intelligence for years is not making a good-faith exchange."<\/p>\n
"I know."<\/p>\n
"So understand the difference between going and surrendering."<\/p>\n
Dad was staring at the survey building.<\/p>\n
"She didn't take the archive."<\/p>\n
We looked at him.<\/p>\n
"What?"<\/p>\n
"The shelves were empty before she trapped us."<\/p>\n
"Meaning?"<\/p>\n
"Whoever cleared this place didn't do it tonight."<\/p>\n
Vance nodded slowly.<\/p>\n
"The warm lantern was theater."<\/p>\n
"To make us think we'd just missed them."<\/p>\n
Clara crossed her arms.<\/p>\n
"And to get us underground."<\/p>\n
"Why?" I asked.<\/p>\n
Vance looked at the black wafer now sealed in evidence plastic.<\/p>\n
"To make sure you found that."<\/p>\n
I stared.<\/p>\n
"She wanted us to find it."<\/p>\n
"Possibly."<\/p>\n
"Then she wants federal agents involved."<\/p>\n
"Or wants us following whatever is on that device."<\/p>\n
A vehicle approached.<\/p>\n
Every agent reacted.<\/p>\n
Headlights swung through the trees.<\/p>\n
Then stopped.<\/p>\n
A black sedan.<\/p>\n
The driver's door opened.<\/p>\n
Marcus Lee stepped out.<\/p>\n
I stared.<\/p>\n
"What the hell are you doing here?"<\/p>\n
He raised both hands.<\/p>\n
"Nick called me."<\/p>\n
Vance moved toward him.<\/p>\n
"Stop there."<\/p>\n
Marcus stopped.<\/p>\n
"Nick called you from federal custody?" I asked.<\/p>\n
"From his lawyer's phone."<\/p>\n
"Why?"<\/p>\n
"He told me Sebastian was in trouble."<\/p>\n
"When?"<\/p>\n
"About forty minutes ago."<\/p>\n
Vance looked at me.<\/p>\n
"That timing doesn't work."<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
Marcus's face changed.<\/p>\n
"What?"<\/p>\n
"We've been underground longer than that."<\/p>\n
He pulled out his phone.<\/p>\n
"I got the call."<\/p>\n
Vance held out a hand.<\/p>\n
Marcus gave him the device.<\/p>\n
The call log showed an incoming call from a number saved as NICK STERLING.<\/p>\n
11:01 p.m.<\/p>\n
Vance's expression hardened.<\/p>\n
"That's not Nick's lawyer."<\/p>\n
Marcus looked at me.<\/p>\n
"Then who called me?"<\/p>\n
My phone rang.<\/p>\n
The same unknown number used by Helen.<\/p>\n
I answered.<\/p>\n
"Where's Eleanor?"<\/p>\n
Helen's voice was calm.<\/p>\n
"Safe enough."<\/p>\n
"You sent Marcus."<\/p>\n
A pause.<\/p>\n
"So he arrived."<\/p>\n
Marcus went pale.<\/p>\n
"How do you know him?" I asked.<\/p>\n
"I know everyone who matters around you."<\/p>\n
"What do you want?"<\/p>\n
"I already told you."<\/p>\n
"The compass."<\/p>\n
"Arthur Miller's key."<\/p>\n
"Why?"<\/p>\n
"Because your grandfather trusted the wrong woman."<\/p>\n
I looked toward Vance.<\/p>\n
"Eleanor?"<\/p>\n
Helen laughed softly.<\/p>\n
"Ask Eleanor who I am."<\/p>\n
"She's tied to a chair."<\/p>\n
"Then perhaps you should hurry."<\/p>\n
"Tell me."<\/p>\n
Helen's voice changed.<\/p>\n
The cool control remained, but something sharper lived underneath.<\/p>\n
"My name isn't Helen Ward."<\/p>\n
Clara moved closer to the phone.<\/p>\n
"Then what is it?"<\/p>\n
Helen heard her.<\/p>\n
"Hello, Clara."<\/p>\n
Clara's jaw tightened.<\/p>\n
"You stayed in my hotel room hallway while my children were being photographed."<\/p>\n
"I know."<\/p>\n
"You threatened them."<\/p>\n
"Not me."<\/p>\n
"Your people."<\/p>\n
"Arthur's people."<\/p>\n
"You worked for Arthur."<\/p>\n
"I worked near Arthur."<\/p>\n
"That's not a distinction I care about."<\/p>\n
Helen went silent.<\/p>\n
I returned to the point.<\/p>\n
"Who are you?"<\/p>\n
"My mother was Margaret Mercer-Sterling."<\/p>\n
Dad inhaled sharply.<\/p>\n
I looked at him.<\/p>\n
"Who?"<\/p>\n
His face had gone white.<\/p>\n
"My aunt."<\/p>\n
The night seemed to contract around us.<\/p>\n
Dad continued.<\/p>\n
"Grandpa's sister."<\/p>\n
I looked at the phone.<\/p>\n
"So you're family."<\/p>\n
Helen's voice remained flat.<\/p>\n
"Unfortunately."<\/p>\n
Dad stepped closer.<\/p>\n
"Margaret had a daughter?"<\/p>\n
"One she was instructed to forget."<\/p>\n
Dad shook his head.<\/p>\n
"I never knew."<\/p>\n
"That was the intention."<\/p>\n
I closed my eyes briefly.<\/p>\n
Another hidden relative.<\/p>\n
Another person erased from the family tree.<\/p>\n
"What happened to your mother?"<\/p>\n
Helen answered without hesitation.<\/p>\n
"Eleanor."<\/p>\n
The word landed like a stone.<\/p>\n
"What about her?"<\/p>\n
"She signed the papers."<\/p>\n
"What papers?"<\/p>\n
"The agreement that removed my mother from the trust and sent her overseas."<\/p>\n
"Why?"<\/p>\n
"Because Margaret discovered the same kind of theft your grandfather discovered."<\/p>\n
Dad whispered, "No."<\/p>\n
Helen continued.<\/p>\n
"Arthur walked away. Margaret tried to expose them."<\/p>\n
"And Eleanor?"<\/p>\n
"Chose the family."<\/p>\n
My grandfather's letter flashed in my memory.<\/p>\n
Eleanor knows part of the truth, but not all of it. She chose the family once when it mattered most.<\/p>\n
Helen knew.<\/p>\n
Or believed she knew.<\/p>\n
"What does this have to do with the compass?"<\/p>\n
"Your grandfather kept evidence for Margaret."<\/p>\n
"The archive."<\/p>\n
"Part of it."<\/p>\n
"And the wafer?"<\/p>\n
Silence.<\/p>\n
So she knew about it.<\/p>\n
"What's on the wafer?"<\/p>\n
"Come to Unit 318."<\/p>\n
"You tell me first."<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
"If you want the compass, you explain."<\/p>\n
"You think you're negotiating."<\/p>\n
"I am."<\/p>\n
"For another forty-three minutes."<\/p>\n
My anger sharpened.<\/p>\n
"If Eleanor dies, you lose the only person who can verify your story."<\/p>\n
Helen's response came instantly.<\/p>\n
"I don't need Eleanor alive to prove what she did."<\/p>\n
"Then why take her?"<\/p>\n
This time the pause lasted longer.<\/p>\n
"Because I wanted her to see who came for her."<\/p>\n
The answer unsettled me.<\/p>\n
"Me."<\/p>\n
"Yes."<\/p>\n
"Why?"<\/p>\n
"So she would finally understand what Arthur understood years ago."<\/p>\n
"What?"<\/p>\n
"Your grandfather didn't abandon the family."<\/p>\n
Helen's voice lowered.<\/p>\n
"He was building a case against them until the day he died."<\/p>\n
The line went dead.<\/p>\n
Dad stared at me.<\/p>\n
"He died of a heart attack."<\/p>\n
"Are you sure?" Clara asked.<\/p>\n
Dad looked wounded by the question.<\/p>\n
Then afraid.<\/p>\n
Vance handed Marcus's phone to an agent.<\/p>\n
"Trace both numbers."<\/p>\n
I turned toward him.<\/p>\n
"I'm going to Unit 318."<\/p>\n
"So are we."<\/p>\n
"No visible teams."<\/p>\n
"Agreed."<\/p>\n
That surprised me.<\/p>\n
Vance looked at the clock on his phone.<\/p>\n
"Because we're no longer treating this as a simple hostage exchange."<\/p>\n
"What are we treating it as?"<\/p>\n
He glanced at the black wafer.<\/p>\n
"An operation designed by someone who has been waiting years for you, Eleanor, the compass and federal investigators to be in the same place."<\/p>\n
Marcus looked between us.<\/p>\n
"And me?"<\/p>\n
Vance's eyes settled on him.<\/p>\n
"That's what I'm trying to determine."<\/p>\n
The drive back toward Golden took twenty minutes.<\/p>\n
I sat in the rear with Clara.<\/p>\n
Dad rode in another vehicle.<\/p>\n
Marcus was separated from us.<\/p>\n
Vance refused to tell Helen we were coming.<\/p>\n
No confirmation.<\/p>\n
No message.<\/p>\n
At 11:39, the storage facility appeared beyond a strip mall.<\/p>\n
Unit 318 sat in the last row.<\/p>\n
The metal door was closed.<\/p>\n
One light glowed through the narrow office window near the entrance.<\/p>\n
No cars moved.<\/p>\n
Vance parked two blocks away.<\/p>\n
"Eleven minutes."<\/p>\n
I opened my door.<\/p>\n
Clara grabbed my wrist.<\/p>\n
"You're not going in alone."<\/p>\n
"I have to make it look that way."<\/p>\n
"That is not the same thing."<\/p>\n
"I know."<\/p>\n
She pulled me closer.<\/p>\n
"If Eleanor is lying, if Helen is lying, if everybody in this family is lying, I don't care."<\/p>\n
Her voice shook.<\/p>\n
"You come back."<\/p>\n
I nodded.<\/p>\n
"That's the plan."<\/p>\n
"No heroic improvising."<\/p>\n
"You married the wrong man."<\/p>\n
Her eyes filled with anger.<\/p>\n
"Not funny."<\/p>\n
"I know."<\/p>\n
I kissed her forehead.<\/p>\n
Then I walked toward Unit 318 carrying the brass compass.<\/p>\n
Nothing else.<\/p>\n
At 11:48, the unit door opened six inches.<\/p>\n
Helen stood inside.<\/p>\n
No glasses this time.<\/p>\n
No disguise except the name she'd worn for years.<\/p>\n
She looked almost exactly like her photograph in the Mercer Archive.<\/p>\n
"You're early."<\/p>\n
"I hate being late."<\/p>\n
A strange expression passed over her face.<\/p>\n
"You lost your job for being late."<\/p>\n
"Information travels."<\/p>\n
"In this family, information is the family."<\/p>\n
She opened the door wider.<\/p>\n
Eleanor sat in the center of the unit.<\/p>\n
Alive.<\/p>\n
Hands bound.<\/p>\n
Blood dried above her eyebrow.<\/p>\n
Her eyes widened when she saw me.<\/p>\n
"I told you not to come."<\/p>\n
"I've had a day full of people telling me what to do."<\/p>\n
Helen shut the door behind me.<\/p>\n
A pistol rested in her right hand.<\/p>\n
Not aimed at me.<\/p>\n
Yet.<\/p>\n
"Give me the compass."<\/p>\n
"First tell me whether my grandfather died naturally."<\/p>\n
Eleanor turned sharply toward Helen.<\/p>\n
"Helen."<\/p>\n
"That's not my name."<\/p>\n
"What is it?" Eleanor whispered.<\/p>\n
For the first time, Helen's composure cracked.<\/p>\n
"You really don't know."<\/p>\n
Eleanor stared at her.<\/p>\n
Helen took one step closer.<\/p>\n
"My mother was Margaret."<\/p>\n
Every trace of color vanished from Eleanor's face.<\/p>\n
"Margaret."<\/p>\n
"Yes."<\/p>\n
"Oh, God."<\/p>\n
Helen laughed bitterly.<\/p>\n
"You don't get to say that."<\/p>\n
Eleanor looked like she had been struck.<\/p>\n
"What's your name?"<\/p>\n
Helen's eyes shone.<\/p>\n
"Rebecca Mercer."<\/p>\n
Eleanor closed her eyes.<\/p>\n
I understood then.<\/p>\n
Not a random investigator.<\/p>\n
Not merely a surviving cousin.<\/p>\n
Eleanor knew exactly who Rebecca should have been.<\/p>\n
When she opened her eyes, they were wet.<\/p>\n
"Your mother told me you died."<\/p>\n
Rebecca went absolutely still.<\/p>\n
"What?"<\/p>\n
"She said the baby didn't survive."<\/p>\n
A tremor passed through Rebecca's gun hand.<\/p>\n
"You're lying."<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
"You signed her exile agreement."<\/p>\n
"I did."<\/p>\n
"Then don't pretend ignorance."<\/p>\n
"I signed it because Arthur threatened to prosecute her for theft and fraud."<\/p>\n
"She had evidence."<\/p>\n
"I know."<\/p>\n
"You chose the family."<\/p>\n
"Yes."<\/p>\n
The word landed with brutal simplicity.<\/p>\n
Eleanor did not excuse it.<\/p>\n
"I did."<\/p>\n
Rebecca stared.<\/p>\n
"I have hated you for thirty-two years."<\/p>\n
"You had reason."<\/p>\n
"Don't."<\/p>\n
"Rebecca\u2014"<\/p>\n
"Don't use my name like you earned it."<\/p>\n
I looked between them.<\/p>\n
"What happened to Margaret?"<\/p>\n
Rebecca's eyes stayed on Eleanor.<\/p>\n
"She spent the rest of her life proving what they did."<\/p>\n
Eleanor whispered, "Is she alive?"<\/p>\n
Rebecca didn't answer.<\/p>\n
That told us enough.<\/p>\n
Eleanor bowed her head.<\/p>\n
A sound escaped her.<\/p>\n
Small.<\/p>\n
Human.<\/p>\n
Rebecca's face hardened again.<\/p>\n
"Compass."<\/p>\n
I held it up.<\/p>\n
"You want what's inside."<\/p>\n
"I want what Arthur Miller intended my mother to have."<\/p>\n
"The wafer."<\/p>\n
Rebecca's gaze sharpened.<\/p>\n
So that was it.<\/p>\n
"What does it contain?"<\/p>\n
"The original beneficiary registry."<\/p>\n
Eleanor lifted her head.<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
Rebecca smiled without warmth.<\/p>\n
"You know."<\/p>\n
Eleanor stared at the compass.<\/p>\n
"Arthur preserved it."<\/p>\n
"Yes."<\/p>\n
"What beneficiary registry?" I asked.<\/p>\n
Neither answered.<\/p>\n
"One of you talks."<\/p>\n
Eleanor spoke first.<\/p>\n
"The original Sterling trust had more beneficiaries than the current records show."<\/p>\n
"How many?"<\/p>\n
"At least nine family branches."<\/p>\n
"Current trust?"<\/p>\n
"Four."<\/p>\n
Rebecca looked at me.<\/p>\n
"They erased people."<\/p>\n
"Legally?"<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
"Then the eighty million\u2014"<\/p>\n
"Is not owned by the people currently controlling it."<\/p>\n
I finally understood the scale.<\/p>\n
This wasn't merely evidence of criminal transactions.<\/p>\n
It could dismantle the entire structure.<\/p>\n
"Who was erased?"<\/p>\n
Rebecca answered.<\/p>\n
"Margaret. Your grandfather. Their descendants."<\/p>\n
My mouth went dry.<\/p>\n
"Me."<\/p>\n
"Yes."<\/p>\n
"And you."<\/p>\n
"Yes."<\/p>\n
Eleanor added softly, "Others."<\/p>\n
Rebecca raised the gun.<\/p>\n
"Now give me the compass."<\/p>\n
I shook my head.<\/p>\n
"If the registry proves you're a beneficiary, why threaten me?"<\/p>\n
"Because Eleanor's people will bury it."<\/p>\n
"Federal investigators already have the wafer."<\/p>\n
Rebecca froze.<\/p>\n
Eleanor looked at me.<\/p>\n
"You found it?"<\/p>\n
"Yes."<\/p>\n
Rebecca's gun came up.<\/p>\n
Directly at my chest.<\/p>\n
"You brought them."<\/p>\n
"They were already there."<\/p>\n
"You gave Vance the data?"<\/p>\n
"He has it."<\/p>\n
Her breathing changed.<\/p>\n
For the first time, she looked frightened.<\/p>\n
Not angry.<\/p>\n
Frightened.<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
"Rebecca."<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
She stepped backward.<\/p>\n
"You don't understand."<\/p>\n
"Then explain."<\/p>\n
"If Vance opens that wafer\u2014"<\/p>\n
A sound came from behind the storage wall.<\/p>\n
Metal striking metal.<\/p>\n
Rebecca's face changed.<\/p>\n
She turned toward the back.<\/p>\n
Too late.<\/p>\n
The rear partition exploded inward.<\/p>\n
A man in black tactical gear came through.<\/p>\n
Not federal.<\/p>\n
He fired once.<\/p>\n
Rebecca dropped.<\/p>\n
Eleanor screamed.<\/p>\n
I hit the floor.<\/p>\n
A second shot tore into the concrete above my head.<\/p>\n
The man moved toward the compass lying beside my hand.<\/p>\n
He wasn't here for Rebecca.<\/p>\n
He wasn't here for Eleanor.<\/p>\n
He was here for the key.<\/p>\n
The first agent reached the steel hatch and drove his shoulder into it. Nothing moved. A second agent joined him. Together they pushed until the muscles in their necks stood … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7373,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chapter-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7382"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7382\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7402,"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7382\/revisions\/7402"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}