Chapter 13

There are moments that divide your life into before and after.

My promotion had felt like one.

The traffic stop had felt like another.

Neither compared to hearing my father’s voice seventeen years after burying him.

I could not decide whether I wanted to scream, cry, or hang up.

So I said the only thing I could.

“Where are you?”

“I can’t tell you.”

I laughed once.

A terrible sound.

“Of course.”

“I need you to listen.”

“No. You listen.”

Vale stepped away.

My mother stared at the pavement.

“You let me think you were dead.”

“I know.”

“I stood beside a casket.”

“I know.”

“I watched Mom fall apart.”

“I know.”

“I spent half my life trying to become the kind of officer you would have been proud of.”

His breathing changed.

“I was always proud.”

That hurt more than anything.

“Don’t.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Sorry is not seventeen years.”

“No.”

“Why call now?”

A pause.

“Because Rainer is coming to me.”

I froze.

“What?”

“He didn’t run from you.”

“Then why disappear?”

“To protect my location.”

“Where are you?”

“I said I can’t—”

“And I said I’m tired of secrets.”

Silence.

Then he said something that changed the entire case again.

“Naomi, Hendricks was never in charge.”

I looked toward Vale.

He could see from my face that something was wrong.

“Who was?”

My father answered.

“Someone inside Carter Protocol.”

My blood went cold.

I turned slowly toward Vale.

He was twenty feet away.

Watching me.

“What do you mean?”

“The system was compromised years ago.”

“By who?”

“We never knew.”

“You’re telling me the thing protecting us was being used against us?”

“Yes.”

“How?”

“Every time Carter Protocol activated, it revealed which agencies responded, what evidence systems copied data, and who inside government had access.”

I stared at Vale.

“He was mapping investigators.”

“Exactly.”

“Who?”

“I don’t know.”

There it was again.

Those three words.

But now they came from my father.

Then I remembered something.

My secure call.

The man who answered.

Authentication.

Proceed.

Two questions.

Credential seized?

Force used?

Then Carter Protocol activated instantly.

I looked at Vale.

“Who answered my call last night?”

He frowned.

“What?”

“The secure emergency line. Who answered?”

“We’re checking.”

“You don’t know?”

“No.”

My skin prickled.

“That line goes to your office.”

“It rotates.”

“Who was on duty?”

Vale pulled out his phone.

I heard my father say, “Naomi, get away from him.”

My heart stopped.

“From Vale?”

“No.”

Behind Vale, a man walked from the warehouse.

Dark jacket.

Gray hair.

No visible weapon.

Someone I had seen earlier.

One of the federal personnel at the traffic stop.

The fourth man.

The one whose jacket had no agency letters.

Vale turned.

His expression changed instantly.

“Director Grant?”

The man smiled.

My father whispered into the phone:

“That’s him.”