Cover Those Arms, Nurse Ashworth

I got into the car because the SUV was closing too quickly, not because I trusted Daniel Mercer.

Margaret climbed into the back seat, pulling the door shut just as the other vehicle swung toward us.

Daniel threw the car into reverse.

The sedan lurched backward, tires squealing across the wet pavement. He spun the wheel, narrowly avoiding a concrete barrier, then accelerated toward the employee exit.

“Seat belts,” he ordered.

I clicked mine into place.

“Start talking.””

“Not while we're being followed.””

“Then stop being followed.””

For the first time, Daniel almost smiled.

“You sound exactly like your father.””

The words struck harder than they should have.

I turned toward him.

“Which one?””

His hands tightened on the steering wheel.

“Robert.””

The SUV appeared in the rear window.

It followed us through the exit and onto the main road, keeping a steady distance.

Daniel turned onto a side street, passed a closed gas station, and cut through a residential neighborhood. Twice, I thought we'd lost the vehicle.

Twice, its headlights reappeared.

Margaret leaned forward between the seats.

“There's an access road behind the old freight depot. It connects to Route Seventeen.””

Daniel shook his head.

“Too exposed.””

“Then the river road.””

“Too narrow.””

“Daniel,” I snapped, “you have two choices. Explain where you're taking us or let me choose the next turn.””

He glanced at me.

“There's a diner three miles east. It's open all night, has cameras, and sits directly beside a county sheriff's office. We'll stop there.””

“Why not go to the police now?””

“Because Rourke spent years cultivating relationships with people who would rather bury a scandal than investigate it. We need an independent witness and copies of the records before we hand anything over.””

“That's convenient.””

“It's experience.””

He made the turn toward the diner.

The SUV continued straight.

For the first time since leaving the hospital, I could breathe.

The diner smelled of coffee, fried onions, and old cooking oil.

A waitress looked up as we entered and pointed us toward a booth near the front windows. Daniel chose the seat facing the entrance. Margaret slid in beside me, her hands trembling around a glass of water.

I placed the archive drive on the table.

“Start with my father.””

Daniel took a long breath.

“Robert Ashworth discovered the contractor's illegal shipments when he was working maintenance at a naval logistics facility. At first, he thought the discrepancies were accounting mistakes. Equipment had vanished from inventory, then reappeared under different shipment numbers.

Some of it was medical. Some was communications hardware. Some had no legitimate destination.””

“Why would a maintenance contractor have access to that information?””

“He maintained the equipment, but he also knew the inventory systems. Robert was thorough. When something didn't add up, he kept checking.””

“That sounds like him.””

“He found a duplicate manifest linking the missing shipments to a private medical contractor. That contractor was using restricted facilities to hold witnesses and injured personnel who might expose the operation.””

“And Rourke?””

“Rourke approved the protection arrangement. He told himself he was keeping the operation secure. Eventually, he realized the same system could erase inconvenient people.””

I stared at him.

“You're describing kidnapping.””

“Yes.””

“And my father was going to expose it.””

“He had copies of the records. He planned to give them to an investigator outside the military chain of command.””

“Why didn't he?””

“Because someone told Rourke.””

My throat tightened.

“The car accident.””

Daniel nodded.

“Robert was intercepted on his way to meet the investigator. His car was forced off the road. The people who found him were supposed to report the accident and wait for emergency services.””

“But they didn't.””

“They brought him to Ashford Memorial under a false identity. Voss was still using the name Dr. Hale then. He treated Robert and secured him in the restricted unit.””

I could almost see my father in the photograph again, bruised and frightened, writing my name on a piece of paper.

“Was he conscious?””

“Yes. He managed to contact me through a staff member. By the time I got to the hospital, Robert had hidden the original drive somewhere they wouldn't find it.””

“In my field kit.””

Daniel looked at me.

“You remember.””

“I don't remember. I found out today.””

He lowered his head.

“I'm sorry.””

“Stop saying that. It doesn't undo anything.””

“No,” he said quietly.

“It doesn't.””

I looked at Margaret.

“You worked here while my father was being held?””

She nodded.

“I didn't know his real name at first. The records listed him as a restricted patient. When I realized who he was, I tried to get a message out.””

“To whom?””

“An outside investigator. I never learned whether it reached her.””

Daniel reached into his jacket and placed a small folded paper on the table.

“Her name was Helen Ward. She was a federal investigator assigned to financial crimes involving military contractors.””

“Was?””

“She disappeared three months after Robert's death.””

I leaned back.

“How many people have vanished around this operation?””

“Too many.””

“And you let me spend four years believing six sailors died?””

Daniel's eyes met mine.

“I was ordered to keep you away from the investigation.””

“By whom?””

“Robert.””

The answer stopped me.

“My father ordered you to stay away from me?””

“He ordered me to protect you.””

“That's not the same thing.””

“No. It isn't.””

Daniel rubbed a hand over his face.

“Robert knew you would try to investigate if you learned he was alive. He also knew Rourke would use you to get to the evidence. He asked me to keep you out of it until I had proof that the people responsible could no longer reach you.””

“And you agreed.””

“I did.””

“Then you disappeared.””

“I changed my name, moved between safe locations, and tried to find the others. I couldn't contact you without exposing you.””

I stared at him.

“You could have sent one letter.””

“I could have.””

“One phone call.””

“Yes.””

“Do you know how many years I spent believing my father had died without a chance to say goodbye?””

Daniel looked down.

“I know.””

“No. You don't.””

The waitress returned with coffee. She set the cups down, glanced at our faces, and wisely asked no questions.

When she left, I pulled my chair closer to the table.

“Why does my file say I have a parental connection to you?””

Daniel went completely still.

Margaret whispered, “Caroline…”

I looked at him.

“Answer the question.””

Daniel's gaze moved toward the windows.

“Your mother and I were together before you were born.””

I felt the words land before I fully understood them.

“Together?””

“We were engaged.””

I shook my head.

“My mother was married to Robert.””

“Not when we first met.””

“That's impossible.””

“Your mother was twenty-four. I was twenty-six. We met at a naval hospital in Norfolk.

I was an intelligence analyst working with the medical evacuation teams. She was a civilian radiology technician.””

I struggled to reconcile the man in front of me with the stories I had grown up hearing.

“My mother told me you died in a training accident.””

Daniel nodded.

“That was the official story.””

“Then I was born?””

“Yes.””

“And Robert raised me as his own?””

Daniel's eyes shone.

“He loved you as his own from the first day he held you.””

“Did he know?””

“Yes.””

“Did my mother tell him?””

“He knew before the wedding. Robert wasn't deceived about who you were.””

I gripped the edge of the table.

“Then why did everyone lie?””

“Your mother believed that if people knew who your biological father was, they'd use you to get to me. Robert agreed to raise you with his name. He became your father in every way that mattered.””

I thought about the man who taught me to ride a bicycle, who stayed up waiting when I came home late, who sat in silence with me after my first failed military promotion because he knew I didn't want advice.

He had never once made me feel like someone else's child.

My eyes burned.

“He could have told me.””

“He wanted to. But when the investigation began, he was afraid that telling you would put you in danger.””

“And after he died?””

Daniel's expression darkened.

“Your mother received a warning. She was told that anyone who connected you to the investigation would become a target.””

“So she kept quiet.””

“She believed silence was the only way to keep you safe.””

I laughed once, without humor.

“Silence didn't keep anyone safe. It just left me alone with a funeral and a death certificate.””

Daniel had no answer.

I stood and walked toward the diner window.

Outside, the road gleamed beneath the streetlights. Somewhere in the distance, a siren rose and faded.

I pressed my palms against the cool glass.

“Why are you here now?””

“Because Marcus survived. Because Voss moved him to Ashford. Because the archive was about to be destroyed.””

“That's what brought you here tonight. I'm asking why you came back into my life.””

Daniel joined me by the window.

“I received a message that someone had accessed Robert's file. I knew it could only mean one of two things: either Rourke had found the backup, or you had.””

“And you hoped it was me.””

“I prayed it was you.””

I turned.

“Then help me find the six men. All six. If they're alive, I want them out.””

Daniel nodded.

“That's why I came.””

My phone rang.

The caller ID displayed my mother's name.

For several seconds, I simply stared at it.

Then I answered.

“Mom?””

“Caroline.”” Her voice trembled.

“Where are you?””

“Somewhere safe.””

“Are you with Daniel?””

I looked at him.

“Yes.””

A sharp, broken breath came through the phone.

“Oh, God.””

“You know he's alive.””

Silence.

“You knew he was alive, Mom.””

“Yes.””

“You knew about the files. You knew Dad had been held at Ashford Memorial. You knew the six men might still be alive.””

“I knew some of it.””

“That's not good enough.””

“I was trying to protect you.””

“Everybody keeps saying that. Nobody seems to understand what protection is supposed to look like when you're the only person who doesn't know the truth.””

My mother began to cry.

Then she said something that made every other sound in the diner disappear.

“Caroline, listen to me. Daniel isn't the person you need to be afraid of.””

I looked at him.

“Then who?””

My mother's voice dropped to a whisper.

“The sixth man was never supposed to survive.””

I glanced at Daniel.

He had gone pale.

“Which sixth man?”” I asked.

My mother answered with a name.

A name I knew from the photograph.