Chapter 14

Director Elias Grant had stood ten feet from me on Route 17.

I remembered him.

Tall.

Gray temples.

No agency markings.

Quiet.

Watching.

I had assumed he was another senior official.

Everyone else had treated him like one.

Grant walked toward us calmly.

Vale’s hand moved beneath his coat.

“Stop there.”

Grant stopped.

“Problem?”

Vale said, “Identify yourself.”

Grant smiled.

“You know who I am.”

“Again.”

Grant reached toward his jacket.

Vale drew his weapon.

“Hands!”

Everything exploded into motion.

Agents turned.

Weapons came up.

My mother moved behind the ambulance.

I still held the phone.

My father said, “Do not let him leave.”

Grant slowly raised his hands.

“Adrian, this is unnecessary.”

Vale stepped closer.

“Where is your credential?”

“You’ve seen it.”

“Show me.”

Grant’s expression changed.

Not much.

Enough.

He ran.

He moved toward a federal SUV.

Agents shouted.

He ignored them.

Vale fired no shot because people were behind him.

Grant reached the vehicle.

Then Pike stepped from beside it.

Officer Aaron Pike.

No weapon.

No body armor.

Just Pike.

Grant slammed into him.

Pike grabbed his coat.

They fell.

Agents swarmed them.

Seconds later, Grant was face-down on the pavement.

Handcuffed.

For a moment nobody spoke.

Then Grant started laughing.

Not hysterically.

Almost happily.

He turned his head toward me.

“You have Marcus’s eyes.”

I stepped forward.

Vale blocked me.

Grant continued.

“He always underestimated how patient I could be.”

My father spoke through the phone.

“Let me hear him.”

I put the call on speaker.

Grant heard the voice.

His laughter stopped.

My father said one word.

“Elias.”

Grant’s face changed.

Seventeen years disappeared from it.

He suddenly looked afraid.

“Marcus.”

My knees weakened.

The two men had known each other.

Grant whispered, “You should have died.”

My father answered:

“That was the idea.”