Chapter 6: The Boy in the Photograph
I stared at the photograph until the rainwater running down my wrist felt warm.
It wasn't Daniel.
It couldn't be.
The man standing beside the wrecked aircraft had Daniel's face, Daniel's eyes, Daniel's small scar beneath his right cheekbone.
But the Daniel I knew was thirty-four.
The photograph was dated seven years ago.
He would have been twenty-seven.
Yet the man in the photograph looked younger.
Not seven years younger.
More like a different version of him.
A stranger wearing his face.
I turned the photograph over.
The six words were still there.
*He was there before you disappeared.*
Daniel stepped closer.
“What does it say?””
I handed it to him.
His fingers tightened around the paper.
Then his face changed.
“I've never seen this.””
Keller watched him carefully.
“That is what I expected.””
Daniel looked up.
“You know me.””
“Yes.””
“How?””
Keller's eyes moved to Jonathan.
“Ask your father.””
Jonathan didn't answer.
Daniel stepped toward him.
“Dad.””
Nothing.
“Dad, look at me.””
Jonathan finally did.
Daniel held up the photograph.
“Was I there?””
Jonathan's silence answered before his mouth did.
Daniel took a step backward.
“Oh my God.””
Susan covered her mouth.
Leah whispered, “Dad?””
Jonathan's face was gray.
“I didn't know they would use him.””
Daniel looked at him.
“Use me for what?””
Jonathan shook his head.
“You were never supposed to remember.””
I felt something cold settle in my stomach.
“Remember what?””
Jonathan looked at me.
“You weren't the target.””
Keller gave a bitter smile.
“She wasn't the target.””
He pointed at Daniel.
“He was.””
Reed tightened his grip on his weapon.
“Start explaining.””
Keller ignored him.
“Seven years ago, the operation wasn't about extracting Graybird.””
He looked at me.
“It was about what Graybird knew.””
My throat tightened.
“I knew the diversion protocols.””
“You knew more than that.””
“I knew somebody had altered the mission.””
“You knew who.””
I stared at him.
“No.””
Keller smiled.
“You suspected.””
That was true.
There had been discrepancies.
Flight paths modified without authorization.
Fuel records changed.
A surveillance package removed from the mission brief.
A second aircraft scheduled but never launched.
I'd noticed.
I'd reported it.
Then the crash happened.
And Captain Ellis took the blame.
I looked at Jonathan.
“You knew.””
He didn't deny it.
“You knew the mission had been compromised.””
“Yes.””
“And you still sent us.””
“I had no choice.””
I laughed quietly.
“No choice?””
Jonathan's expression hardened.
“There were lives at stake.””
“There were always lives at stake.””
“You don't understand what was happening.””
“Then explain it.””
He looked at Daniel.
That was when I noticed his hands trembling.
“You were in the program because of him.””
Daniel frowned.
“I wasn't in any program.””
Jonathan nodded toward Keller.
“You don't remember the summer after college.””
Daniel shook his head.
“I remember.””
“No.””
Jonathan's voice softened.
“You remember what we allowed you to remember.””
Daniel stared at him.
“What does that mean?””
Keller answered.
“Your father volunteered you for a neurological conditioning study.””
Susan cried out.
“No.””
Keller looked at her.
“You signed the consent form.””
Susan's face collapsed.
“I was told it was trauma therapy.””
“It was classified memory suppression.””
Daniel backed away.
“That’s insane.””
I watched him carefully.
“You have gaps in your memory.””
He looked at me.
“Everyone does.””
“Not like yours.””
His brow furrowed.
“What gaps?””
“You told me your twenty-seventh birthday was at home.””
“It was.””
“No.””
He stared at me.
“I wasn't there, was I?””
I shook my head.
“You told me you spent that week with your father.””
Jonathan closed his eyes.
“You spent it at the naval facility.””
Daniel looked sick.
“Why?””
I answered.
“Because they needed someone who had seen the operation but wasn't officially part of it.””
Keller smiled thinly.
“Exactly.””
Daniel turned toward him.
“And what did I see?””
Keller's smile vanished.
“The crash.””
Nobody spoke.
Rain struck the leaves overhead.
A car engine idled somewhere beyond the trees.
Daniel looked at the photograph again.
Then at me.
“I was there when your aircraft went down.””
“Yes.””
“You knew?””
“No.””
“Then why does the picture exist?””
“I don't know.””
Keller said, “Because someone wanted you to know.””
Reed looked toward the road.
“More vehicles.””
We all went still.
Headlights appeared through the trees.
One.
Two.
Then four.
Keller glanced toward them.
“They found us.””
Jonathan raised his weapon.
“You said you weren't with them.””
“I said I wasn't here to kill you.””
“Who are they?””
Keller looked directly at me.
“The cleanup team.””
A vehicle accelerated toward the house.
Reed shouted.
“Everybody move!””
We ran.
Keller grabbed Daniel.
Daniel fought him.
“Let go!””
“He's coming with me.””
I raised my weapon.
“Release him.””
Keller looked at me.
“You still don't understand.””
“I understand enough.””
“No.””
He shoved Daniel behind him.
“The people coming here don't care about the recorder.””
“What do they want?””
Keller's eyes hardened.
“Your memory.””
A burst of automatic fire tore through the trees.
Branches exploded.
Everyone dropped.
Jonathan fired toward the headlights.
Reed moved in the opposite direction, forcing the attackers to split their attention.
I crawled toward Daniel.
He was face-down in the mud.
“Daniel.””
He didn't respond.
I grabbed his shoulder.
He turned.
His eyes were open, but unfocused.
“Mara…”
“Are you hurt?””
“I remember.””
Those two words stopped me.
“What?””
He pressed his fingers to his temple.
“I remember the runway.””
My heart hammered.
“What runway?””
“The photograph.””
He closed his eyes.
“I was there.””
A bullet struck the tree inches above us.
I dragged him behind a concrete drainage barrier.
“Tell me.””
“I can't.””
“Try.””
He looked at me.
“There was fire.””
“Then what?””
“You were alive.””
I froze.
“What?””
“I saw your aircraft.””
His breathing became ragged.
“You were trapped inside.””
My mouth went dry.
“They told me you were dead.””
“Who?””
“My father.””
Jonathan, crouched behind us, heard that.
His eyes closed.
Daniel continued.
“He told me not to touch the aircraft.””
I looked at Jonathan.
“Why?””
Jonathan's face was broken with something that looked like shame.
“Because the aircraft wasn't supposed to be recoverable.””
Daniel looked at him.
“You knew she was alive.””
Jonathan shook his head.
“No.””
“You knew!””
“I knew someone was alive.””
Daniel's voice cracked.
“And you left her?””
Jonathan stared at me.
“We were under orders.””
I felt something inside me break loose.
“You left me.””
Jonathan swallowed.
“I searched for you.””
“You stopped.””
“You disappeared.””
“I was hiding.””
“From them.””
“Yes.””
“Then why didn't you contact me?””
“Because I couldn't.””
Keller crouched beside the barrier.
“Because she knew what happened to the second aircraft.””
I looked at him.
“What second aircraft?””
He stared at Jonathan.
The admiral went silent.
Keller continued.
“The aircraft that was supposed to carry the evidence.””
Daniel frowned.
“What evidence?””
I knew the answer before Keller said it.
“The flight recorder.””
I looked at the photograph again.
Suddenly, something about the image bothered me.
The aircraft behind Daniel had a tail marking.
I leaned closer.
Then my pulse stopped.
“That isn't my aircraft.””
Jonathan looked at it.
“No.””
Reed crouched beside us.
“What does that mean?””
I pointed.
“My aircraft was V-221.””
The number on the photograph was *V-217*.
Reed stared.
“Then that's not you.””
Daniel shook his head.
“I told you it was me.””
I looked at him.
“No.””
His expression changed.
“What?””
“That isn't your face.””
He stared at the photograph.
“What are you talking about?””
I pointed at the man's left ear.
“Daniel's left ear has a notch.””
He instinctively touched it.
The man in the photograph didn't have one.
Then I noticed the eyes.
Wrong color.
Daniel's were green.
The man's were brown.
I looked at the image again.
Someone had altered the photograph.
Not digitally.
The old-fashioned way.
A face pasted over another face.
I whispered, “They made you look like him.””
Daniel stared at me.
“Why?””
Keller looked toward the approaching vehicles.
“Because Daniel wasn't the man in that photograph.””
Jonathan's eyes widened.
“Then who was?””
Keller pointed toward the old photograph.
“Your brother.””
Daniel went completely still.
“What brother?””
Susan began crying.
Leah whispered, “Mom?””
Daniel looked at his mother.
“You had another son?””
Susan couldn't speak.
Jonathan answered.
“His name was Michael.””
Daniel stared at him.
“Where is he?””
Jonathan said nothing.
Keller did.
“Dead.””
Daniel shook his head.
“No.””
“He died seven years ago.””
“No.””
“He was the man standing beside Graybird's aircraft.””
Daniel looked at me.
Then at his father.
Then at his mother.
A terrible realization passed over his face.
“You didn't lose one son.””
His voice was barely audible.
“You replaced one.””
Susan collapsed against Leah.
Jonathan looked at Daniel.
“I loved both of you.””
Daniel's expression hardened.
“That's not an answer.””
“It was the only way to protect you.””
“From what?””
Jonathan looked toward the driveway.
Then toward me.
“From knowing why Michael died.””
The gunfire stopped.
Too suddenly.
Reed rose slightly.
“That's not good.””
Keller checked the road.
“No.””
A loudspeaker crackled from the darkness.
A man's voice carried through the trees.
“Admiral Mercer.””
Jonathan raised his head.
“You have sixty seconds.””
The voice continued.
“Bring us Graybird.””
A pause.
“Or your remaining son dies.””
Daniel looked at his father.
Then at me.
And whispered,
“They don't know I'm the wrong son.””
The loudspeaker crackled again.
“Fifty seconds.””
Keller looked at me.
“You have one chance.””
I stared at him.
“What's that?””
He reached into his coat and pulled out a small black drive.
“The real flight recorder isn't in the house.””
He placed it in my hand.
“It was inside the man they killed.””
I looked down at the drive.
Then back at Daniel.
“Where?””
Keller's voice dropped.
“Ask Michael.””
Daniel stared at him.
“But Michael is dead.””
Keller shook his head.
“No.””
He looked toward the road.
“Michael Mercer is the man standing outside your house right now.””
May you like
The countdown began.
“Forty seconds.””
