Chapter 7 - THE HUSBAND WHO WASN'T A TRAITORWe found Ethan in an abandoned warehouse outside Richmond.
He was tied to a chair.
Bruised.
Barely conscious.
Melanie ran toward him.
I stopped her.
“Wait.”
Ethan opened his eyes.
“Melanie?”
She started crying.
“I thought you were working with them.”
He shook his head.
“No.”
“Then why did you have Mom's photograph?”
“I was investigating.”
“Why?”
He looked at me.
“Because my father was involved.”
I froze.
“Your father?”
Ethan nodded.
“My father worked for Black Harbor.”
Everything suddenly clicked.
His family's construction companies weren't ordinary construction companies.
They had contracts at military ports.
Shipping facilities.
Government warehouses.
Access.
Money.
Influence.
Ethan had married Melanie because he was investigating his own family.
But Carter had discovered him.
“Why didn't you tell us?”
“Because I didn't know who to trust.”
He looked at me.
“Until tonight.”
I helped untie him.
Then he gave me a flash drive.
“This is everything.”
Inside were financial records.
Names.
Payments.
Photographs.
And one document.
I opened it.
NIGHTFALL TARGET LIST
At the top was Carter.
Below him were eleven names.
One of them made my blood run cold.
My father.
Robert Bennett.
“Why is Dad on this list?”
Ethan stared.
“Because he was supposed to be killed.”
I looked at my father.
He nodded slowly.
“I knew.”
“You knew?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I didn't know who had access to the list.”
Then the warehouse lights came on.
We were surrounded.
Carter walked into the building.
He was wearing his dress uniform.
Perfectly pressed.
No weapon visible.
He smiled.
“Claire.”
I stepped forward.
“You killed my mother.”
“No.”
“You hunted her.”
“Yes.”
“You tried to kill me.”
“Yes.”
Melanie moved beside me.
Carter smiled.
“And now you've brought everyone together.”
He looked at my father.
“Robert.”
My father stepped forward.
“You're finished.”
Carter laughed.
“You've been saying that for thirty-six years.”
Then he looked at me.
“You know why your mother failed?”
“Why?”
“She trusted people.”
He pointed toward Admiral Whitaker.
“She trusted him.”
Then toward my father.
“She trusted him.”
Then toward me.
“And she trusted you.”
I frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Carter smiled.
“You were never supposed to become an admiral.”
My heart stopped.
“You were supposed to become bait.”
He explained that the entire operation had been designed around me.
Every promotion.
Every assignment.
Every deployment.
Every mentor.
Someone had been steering my career.
I stared at Carter.
“You're lying.”
“No.”
He smiled.
“Ask yourself why you always received the assignments nobody else wanted.”
Why had I?
Why had certain admirals always protected me?
Why had my career advanced so quickly?
Why had I been given access to information others couldn't obtain?
Carter stepped closer.
“You weren't escaping the network.”
He whispered:
“You were walking straight through it.”
Then a voice came from behind him.
“James.”
Carter froze.
Everyone turned.
A woman stood in the doorway.
Gray hair.
Walking cane.
Eyes I recognized instantly.
My heart stopped.
“Mom?”
The woman smiled.
“Yes, sweetheart.”
I couldn't breathe.
May you like
My mother was alive.
And she had been standing there the entire time.
