Chapter 7 - THE AGENT’S ORDER
Every federal agent in the room went still.
Deputy Director Kane repeated the command.
“Terminate every witness and secure the Harper asset.”
Ross looked toward the ceiling speaker.
“Authentication code.”
Kane gave one.
Ross’s face hardened.
The code was valid.
Agent Hayes raised his weapon.
Not toward me.
Toward the hallway.
“Someone is coming.”
Footsteps approached from both directions.
Ross cut my father’s restraints.
“How many exits?”
“One service tunnel behind the imaging wall,” my father said.
Jason sat against the floor clutching his bleeding shoulder.
“Take me with you.”
Hayes looked at him.
“You tortured a pregnant woman.”
Jason’s face twisted.
“I can identify Kane’s people.”
“You can identify them from prison.”
Automatic gunfire struck the corridor doors.
The agents returned fire.
My father pulled a wall panel open.
A narrow passage appeared.
Ross moved me inside first.
Jason tried to follow.
Hayes stopped him.
Jason looked at me.
“Emily.”
I did not answer.
“Tell them I helped you.”
“You helped yourself.”
The steel door began closing.
He grabbed the edge.
“Kane will kill me.”
I met his eyes.
For years, he had used fear as a leash.
Now he expected me to protect him from it.
“You should’ve kept your mouth shut.”
His own words.
The door sealed between us.
We moved through the tunnel while gunfire echoed behind the wall.
My father supported one side of me.
Ross supported the other.
The sedative made every step feel distant.
“Where is Mom?” I asked.
My father’s grip tightened.
“She survived the fire.”
I stopped walking.
“What?”
“Kane took her.”
“Is she alive?”
“I don’t know.”
The baby monitor played another fragment.
My mother’s voice said,
“Thomas, if they take me, use the cemetery key.”
My father froze.
“That message was recorded after the fire.”
Ross looked at him.
“What cemetery?”
“The family plot.”
We reached the tunnel exit beneath an old parking garage.
A black SUV waited.
No driver.
Ross checked it for explosives.
Clear.
We climbed inside.
A tactical team sealed the area behind us.
Jason was captured alive.
Leonard died before reaching surgery.
Three attacking gunmen were killed.
Two escaped.
Deputy Director Kane publicly denied issuing the order.
He claimed the voice had been synthesized.
Ross did not believe him.
Neither did I.
My father opened the baby monitor casing.
The red blinking light projected a tiny map onto the dashboard.
A cross marked my parents’ graves.
Beneath it were three words:
EVELYN IS BELOW.
We drove to Greenfield Cemetery before dawn.
Rain had softened the earth.
My mother’s grave marker looked untouched.
My father found a hidden latch beneath the stone.
The entire base shifted.
Concrete steps descended into darkness.
Ross drew his weapon.
We went down.
At the bottom stood a reinforced door.
A woman’s voice came through the intercom.
“Thomas?”
My father stopped breathing.
May you like
Then my mother said,
“Do not bring Emily inside.”
