Chapter 5: What Dad Was Protecting
We didn't leave through the front door.
Daniel took us through the garage and into a black SUV parked behind the house.
I sat in the back with Mom.
Officer Harris drove.
Daniel sat in the passenger seat, watching the mirrors.
No one spoke for the first five minutes.
I stared at the photograph in my lap.
Me.
At school.
That afternoon.
Someone had been watching me before I ever came home.
“Mom.””
She looked at me.
“What?””
“Why me?””
She swallowed.
“I don't know.””
Daniel turned around.
“Yes, you do.””
Mom glared at him.
“Don't.””
“You can't keep doing this.””
“She is my daughter.””
“And she's already in danger.””
Mom's eyes flashed.
“You weren't there when she was born.””
Daniel's jaw tightened.
“No. But I was there when Rebecca disappeared.””
Silence.
I looked between them.
“What happened to Rebecca?””
Daniel turned around fully.
“Fifteen years ago, your mother gave the FBI evidence against your father's organization.””
I frowned.
“Then why wasn't Dad arrested?””
“Because the evidence was incomplete.””
Mom stared at the floor.
“Rebecca had the missing piece.””
“What piece?””
“A ledger.””
Daniel nodded.
“Names. Payments. Locations. Safe houses.
Judges. Police officers. Politicians.””
My mouth went dry.
“Everyone?””
“Not everyone,” Daniel said.
“But enough people to destroy the organization.””
“What happened to the ledger?””
Mom looked at me.
“It disappeared.””
“Rebecca took it?””
“We don't know.””
“Then why are they after me?””
Daniel looked out the windshield.
“Because Rebecca may have hidden it.””
“Where?””
“No one knows.””
I stared at Mom.
“You think I know where it is?””
“No.””
“Then why are they after me?””
Mom reached for my hand.
“Because Rebecca was obsessed with protecting you.””
I frowned.
“I barely knew her.””
“You didn't know her at all.””
Mom looked down.
“But she knew you.””
A cold feeling moved through my chest.
“What does that mean?””
“She watched over you.””
“When?””
“After we entered witness protection.””
I stared at her.
“You told me nobody knew where we lived.””
“Rebecca did.””
“Then she was alive.””
Mom didn't answer.
Daniel said quietly, “Probably.””
The SUV turned onto a narrow road surrounded by trees.
I watched the darkness outside.
“What happened to Dad?””
“He's being transported to county lockup,” Officer Harris said.
“Will he get out?””
Daniel answered.
“Not tonight.””
“That isn't what I asked.””
He glanced at me.
“Your father is dangerous.””
“I know.””
“He also has people inside law enforcement.””
“So he could escape?””
“We're taking precautions.””
I looked at Mom.
“Did Dad know about Rebecca?””
Mom's silence answered for her.
I whispered, “He did.””
“Yes.””
“Did he kill her?””
Mom looked at Daniel.
Daniel said, “We don't know.””
The SUV suddenly slowed.
Officer Harris touched the brakes.
“What is it?”” Daniel asked.
A fallen tree blocked the road.
Officer Harris stared at it.
“That wasn't there when we came through.””
Daniel opened his door.
“Stay inside.””
He stepped out.
Mom grabbed my arm.
“Don't move.””
Daniel walked toward the tree.
A branch snapped behind us.
He turned.
Then everything happened at once.
Two dark figures emerged from the woods.
Officer Harris shouted.
The rear passenger window shattered.
Mom pulled me down.
Daniel fired.
The SUV lurched forward.
Officer Harris slammed the accelerator.
We crashed through the branches.
I screamed as the vehicle bounced violently over the shoulder.
A gunshot cracked behind us.
Then another.
Mom wrapped both arms around me.
“Stay down!””
We tore down the road.
Finally, after several minutes, Officer Harris pulled into an abandoned gas station.
She killed the engine.
Nobody moved.
Daniel checked the mirrors.
“We lost them.””
Mom breathed out.
I lifted my head.
“What were they?””
“Men,” Daniel said.
“Who?””
“People who don't want you alive.””
I stared at him.
“Why?””
Daniel opened the passenger door.
“Because your father wasn't protecting the organization.””
I frowned.
“What?””
He walked around and opened the back door.
“Your father was protecting someone else.””
Mom went completely still.
“Daniel.””
He looked at her.
“It's time.””
She shook her head.
“No.””
“You can't keep the secret anymore.””
“What secret?””
Daniel looked at me.
“Your father turned on the organization fifteen years ago.””
I stared at him.
“Dad?””
“Yes.””
“But Mom said he worked for them.””
“He did.””
“Then why would he turn against them?””
Daniel looked at Mom.
“Because of you.””
My heart stopped.
“What did I do?””
“You were born with a medical condition.””
Mom immediately said, “That's not the right way to explain it.””
Daniel shook his head.
“Then you explain it.””
Mom took my face between her hands.
“When you were born, the doctors discovered something unusual.””
“What?””
“A small birthmark.””
I blinked.
“A birthmark?””
Mom nodded.
“On your shoulder.””
I touched it instinctively.
The crescent-shaped mark had been there my whole life.
I'd never thought anything of it.
“What does that have to do with Dad?””
Mom's eyes filled with tears.
“Nothing.””
Daniel disagreed.
“Everything.””
He pulled an old photograph from his coat.
It showed a baby.
Me.
Wrapped in a hospital blanket.
On my shoulder was the same crescent-shaped mark.
Beside the photograph was a handwritten number.
*17.*
“What is seventeen?””
Daniel said, “Your father believed it was a code.””
“A code for what?””
He looked at Mom.
“The ledger.””
My hands went cold.
“No.””
Daniel continued.
“Rebecca believed the organization had created a system where the ledger could never be stolen because the information was divided into pieces.””
“Pieces?””
“Seventeen pieces.””
Mom shook her head.
“That's only a theory.””
Daniel pointed at my shoulder.
“Then explain the mark.””
I stared at him.
“It's a birthmark.””
“Maybe.””
“Daniel,” Mom said, “stop.””
He reached into his coat again.
This time he pulled out a tiny envelope.
He handed it to me.
My name was written across the front.
*EMILY.*
My hands shook.
“Who wrote this?””
“Rebecca.””
I opened it.
Inside was a single sentence.
*If Emily ever finds this, tell her the truth about what happened the night she was born.*
I looked up.
“What happened?””
Mom began to cry.
Daniel looked away.
I unfolded the rest of the letter.
There was another line.
*Her father saved her life, but he didn't know what he was saving her from.*
My eyes moved to the final sentence.
May you like
And everything inside me went still.
*The seventeenth piece was never in the ledger. It was in Emily.*
