Chapter 3 - THE FILE SHE WAS NEVER SUPPOSED TO FINDMy stepmother's name was Vivian Cross.
For years, I'd thought her greatest talent was making people feel small.
I was wrong.
Her greatest talent was collecting secrets.
She knew which relatives were fighting.
Which neighbors were divorcing.
Which officer owed money.
Which politician had cheated.
She collected weaknesses the way other people collected jewelry.
And apparently, she'd been collecting information about me.
General Hayes took me into a private conference room.
The door closed.
My father remained outside.
Ethan stayed with him.
“Why would Vivian investigate Afghanistan?” I asked.
General Hayes placed the black folder on the table.
“She wasn't investigating Afghanistan.”
He opened it.
“She was investigating you.”
Inside were photographs.
My house.
My military base.
My office.
Even photographs of me entering the hospital after an operation.
I stared at them.
“When were these taken?”
“Over the last fourteen months.”
My blood ran cold.
“Why?”
Hayes slid another document toward me.
It was a financial record.
Transfers.
Shell companies.
Offshore accounts.
Millions of dollars.
I recognized one name.
Ethan.
I looked up.
“My brother?”
“Not directly.”
He tapped the page.
“His business partner.”
The room suddenly felt smaller.
“What does this have to do with me?”
Hayes leaned back.
“Seven years ago, the classified intelligence drive you recovered contained more than evidence of a military leak.”
“What else was on it?”
“A list.”
“Of what?”
“People.”
He paused.
“People who were being paid to manipulate defense contracts.”
My heart began pounding.
“Contractors?”
“Yes.”
“Politicians?”
“Yes.”
“Military officers?”
“Some.”
I stared at the folder.
“And my family?”
Hayes didn't answer immediately.
That silence was answer enough.
“My father?”
“Not directly.”
“Vivian?”
“Her name wasn't on the original list.”
I exhaled.
“Then why?”
“Because someone removed several names before the drive reached investigators.”
My skin prickled.
“Who?”
Hayes closed the folder.
“That's what we're trying to find out.”
The door opened.
My father stepped inside.
“General.”
Hayes turned.
“Mr. Mercer.”
My father looked at me.
“I need to explain something.”
I crossed my arms.
“Go ahead.”
He hesitated.
“I knew Vivian was angry with you.”
I almost smiled.
“That's your explanation?”
“No.”
He looked ashamed.
“I knew she had been asking questions about your military service.”
“How long?”
“About a year.”
“A year?”
“I thought she was trying to protect Ethan.”
I stared at him.
“You let her spy on me because you thought she was protecting your son?”
“She said you were dangerous.”
The words hit harder than the chair.
“Dangerous?”
“She said you were hiding something.”
“I was.”
My father blinked.
“But not what she thought.”
“No.”
I stepped closer.
“I was hiding the fact that I saved people.”
His eyes filled with tears.
For years I'd imagined my father crying over me.
I'd imagined him realizing he'd been wrong.
But now that it was happening, I felt nothing.
Because the apology had arrived too late.
General Hayes interrupted.
“There is one more issue.”
“What?” I asked.
He handed me another photograph.
It showed Vivian speaking with a man outside a private club.
The man wore civilian clothes.
But I recognized him.
Colonel Marcus Vane.
The officer whose name had disappeared from the original investigation.
The officer who had supposedly retired after Afghanistan.
I looked at Hayes.
“He's alive?”
“Yes.”
“Why is Vivian meeting him?”
Hayes's jaw tightened.
“Because Vane believes you still have something he needs.”
I shook my head.
“I don't have anything.”
Hayes stared at me.
“Yes, you do.”
He pointed to my Purple Heart.
“You kept the one thing they couldn't destroy.”
I touched the medal.
“What?”
“The original intelligence drive.”
My breath caught.
“I turned it over.”
“No.”
Hayes's voice became quiet.
“You turned over a copy.”
I remembered.
Seven years earlier.
A decision I'd made without telling anyone.
I'd copied one file before surrendering the drive.
I had kept it on an encrypted device.
Hidden.
Forgotten.
Or so I'd thought.
Hayes looked at me.
“Where is it?”
I suddenly knew.
My old house.
The place I hadn't visited in seven years.
The place my father had sold.
The place Vivian now owned.
And if she had found the device…
May you like
She hadn't attacked me because she hated me.
She had attacked me because she was afraid.
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