Chapter 7: The Man Who Was Supposed to Be Dead
Daniel Mercer stared at the camera from inside the grainy photograph.
Older than I remembered.
Thinner.
A scar cut across his jaw, and silver had spread through his beard.
But it was him.
The same eyes.
The same flat expression.
The same man who had once stood beside my desk at Black Ridge and told me not to ask questions I wasn't cleared to know the answers to.
Tyler stared at the screen.
“That isn't possible.””
Rourke's voice was barely audible.
“Apparently it is.””
I looked again at the photograph of Lily sitting in the car.
She was frightened, but she wasn't injured.
That mattered.
“Call him.””
Tyler looked at me.
“What?””
“Call Mercer.””
“I can't.””
“You have his number.””
“No.””
“You're lying.””
He pulled out his phone.
“I don't have his number.””
Rourke stepped closer.
“Tyler.””
My brother looked at the floor.
Then he unlocked his phone and opened a contact hidden behind a password.
There was no name.
Just six numbers.
He stared at it.
“I haven't spoken to him in three years.””
“Call.””
His finger hovered over the screen.
Then pressed.
One ring.
Two.
Three.
The call connected.
No one spoke.
Tyler swallowed.
“Daniel?””
Silence.
Then a voice.
“You're late.””
Tyler's face drained of color.
“Where is she?””
“You don't get to ask that.””
“Where is Lily?””
“Safe.””
I moved closer.
“Put him on speaker.””
Tyler did.
Mercer's voice filled the corridor.
“Hello, Eleanor.””
My stomach tightened.
“You know who I am.””
“I've known who you were since the night they erased you.””
“Where's Lily?””
A pause.
“Twenty minutes from now, she'll be moved.””
“Moved where?””
“Somewhere Vale can't reach.””
I looked at Rourke.
“Is she hurt?””
“No.””
“Has anyone touched her?””
“No.””
I let out a breath.
“Then why did you take her?””
Mercer laughed softly.
“Take her?””
His tone changed.
“I saved her.””
Tyler closed his eyes.
“You were supposed to be dead.””
“I was.””
“What happened?””
“Vale happened.””
Rourke stepped forward.
“You left us at Black Ridge.””
Mercer laughed without humor.
“No, Marcus. Vale left us.””
“You disappeared.””
“I was ordered to disappear.””
“By whom?””
“By the man who just spent the afternoon trying to kill all of you.””
I tightened my grip around the phone.
“Why Lily?””
Mercer was silent for a moment.
“Because she's the only living person who can prove what happened at Black Ridge.””
I felt cold.
“She was six months old.””
“She saw it.””
“Babies don't testify.””
“She doesn't have to.””
“What does that mean?””
“You will understand when you see the file.””
Tyler's voice broke.
“Daniel, give me my daughter.””
Mercer's voice softened.
“She stopped being your daughter eight years ago.””
Tyler flinched.
“What?””
“You know exactly what I'm talking about.””
“I was her father.””
“You were a Marine following orders.””
“I didn't know!””
“You knew enough.””
Silence.
Tyler wiped his eyes.
“I came back.””
“Forty-seven minutes late.””
“I was ordered to wait.””
“You were ordered to leave.””
“No!””
The word echoed through the corridor.
Tyler's fists were shaking.
“I wanted to go back.””
Mercer's voice hardened.
“You wanted to survive.””
Tyler stared at the floor.
“I was twenty-three.””
“So was Eleanor.””
I looked at Tyler.
Neither of us spoke.
Mercer continued.
“There's a difference between making a mistake and deciding who gets to die for it.””
My brother's face collapsed.
“I've been paying for it every day.””
“No,” Mercer said.
“She has.””
I took the phone from Tyler.
“Enough.””
Mercer went quiet.
“You told me I had a niece.””
“She is your niece.””
“You knew I was alive.””
“Yes.””
“You've been watching me.””
“Yes.””
“Why?””
“Because people were watching you.””
“Who?””
“Everyone who wanted that drive.””
I looked at the black device in my hand.
“You mean the Echo program.””
There was a pause.
“You found it.””
“We found the archive.””
“Then you know the truth is bigger than Black Ridge.””
“I know.””
“You don't know enough.””
“Tell me.””
Mercer exhaled.
“You were exposed to something before the operation.””
“The sample.””
“Yes.””
“Why?””
“Because someone was testing a biological marker on military families.””
My stomach turned.
“What marker?””
“A genetic one.””
“Mine?””
“Partly.””
“And Lily?””
“Completely.””
I looked at Tyler.
He was listening now, pale and stunned.
Mercer continued.
“That is why Vale wanted Lily. That is why he wanted you.””
“What happens if he gets us?””
“He already has your blood records.””
“Then why does he need me alive?””
“Because records can be falsified.””
I looked at Rourke.
Mercer continued.
“Your body is the evidence.””
A vehicle engine started somewhere outside the building.
Rourke looked toward the entrance.
“We need to move.””
Mercer heard him.
“Marcus?””
Rourke took the phone.
“Yes.””
“Bring Eleanor.””
“Where?””
“Camp Pendleton has an old coastal tunnel beneath the eastern training grounds.””
Rourke's expression changed.
“The old range tunnel?””
“Yes.””
“It was sealed.””
“It wasn't.””
“What are you planning?””
“To show Eleanor the truth.””
Rourke looked at me.
“No.””
Mercer laughed.
“Still protective.””
“Give us a location.””
“Thirty minutes.””
“That's not a location.””
“It will be when you arrive.””
The line clicked dead.
Tyler stared at the phone.
“That's it?””
I looked at Rourke.
“We go.””
“No.””
“I need Lily.””
“And Mercer could be leading us into a trap.””
“He has my niece.””
“Exactly.””
“I don't care.””
Rourke stepped closer.
“You should.””
I looked him directly in the eyes.
“You said I shouldn't trust you.””
His expression hardened.
“I never said that.””
“The server did.””
“That message could have been planted.””
“You think Mercer planted it?””
“I think everyone is manipulating us.””
“Then let's stop letting them.””
I turned toward the corridor.
Tyler followed.
Rourke caught my arm.
“Eleanor.””
I stopped.
“I'm coming with you.””
“That wasn't in the message.””
“I don't care.””
Tyler laughed bitterly.
“She's not the only stubborn one.””
Rourke glared at him.
“Get in the car.””
We left through a service exit.
Outside, Family Day was still happening.
Children were laughing.
Parents were taking photographs beside military vehicles.
The contrast felt obscene.
Five minutes earlier, I'd been a woman collecting a dirty visitor badge from gravel.
Now I was running from a dead man who knew my name.
Tyler unlocked an unmarked SUV.
Rourke took the driver's seat.
I climbed into the back.
Tyler sat beside me.
For several miles, nobody spoke.
Then Tyler said quietly,
“I never wanted you to find out like this.””
I stared out the window.
“There was never a good way.””
“I know.””
“You lied to me.””
“I know.””
“You watched me.””
“Yes.””
“You knew about Lily.””
“I suspected.””
“You saw her?””
He nodded.
“Once.””
“When?””
“Three months ago.””
“Where?””
“Her school.””
I turned toward him.
“What did she look like?””
Tyler smiled despite himself.
“Like Mom.””
I swallowed.
“She has your eyes?””
“No.””
He shook his head.
“She has yours.””
That broke something inside me.
I looked away.
The SUV turned off the main road.
Rourke's voice came from the front.
“Tunnel entrance ahead.””
We reached an abandoned training area.
Concrete barriers blocked the road.
Rourke drove around them.
A rusted gate appeared.
Unlocked.
He stopped.
“This doesn't feel right.””
Tyler stared ahead.
“Neither does anything else today.””
We got out.
The tunnel entrance was hidden beneath a concrete structure covered with vines.
Rourke opened the gate.
Darkness waited inside.
We walked in.
Our footsteps echoed.
After fifty yards, I saw a light.
Then a folding chair.
A table.
A projector.
And a single photograph lying in the center.
I picked it up.
It showed Black Ridge.
The communications vehicle.
The six people.
Me.
Rourke.
Tyler.
Elena.
Mercer.
And the baby.
Lily.
But someone had written something on the back.
I turned it over.
Five words.
YOU WERE NEVER THE PROTECTED ONE.
I looked up.
A projector flickered to life.
A video began playing.
A younger Adrian Vale stood in a military office.
Across from him was a man I recognized immediately.
My father.
My breath stopped.
My father looked directly into the camera.
Then he said,
“Eleanor can never know that Lily is her daughter.””
I couldn't move.
Tyler stumbled backward.
Rourke whispered,
“What the hell?””
The video continued.
My father's voice was shaking.
“If Vale discovers the truth, he'll kill them both.””
I stared at the screen.
Lily wasn't Tyler's daughter.
She was mine.
May you like
And then, from the darkness behind us, someone whispered,
“Now you know why they erased your memory.””
