Chapter 5 - THE WOMAN IN THE DARK
I didn't move.
Neither did Ryan.
The attic was completely black.
For three seconds, there was only silence.
Then footsteps.
Slow.
Measured.
Coming up the stairs.
Ryan whispered:
“She's going to kill us.”
I looked at him.
“You first.”
He stared at me.
“What?”
“You've been lying to me for two years.”
“I know.”
“Then give me one reason I shouldn't let her find you.”
His mouth opened.
No answer came.
The footsteps stopped outside the attic.
I reached for my phone.
No signal.
Of course.
The lights flickered.
Once.
Twice.
Then came back.
Linda stood at the bottom of the stairs.
She was holding a handgun.
I had never seen her look frightened before.
Now she looked terrified.
“Don't come down,” she said.
Ryan moved toward her.
“Mom…”
“Stay there!”
She raised the weapon.
Ryan stopped.
I stepped in front of him.
“Linda.”
Her eyes locked on mine.
“You shouldn't have come back.”
“Why?”
“Because they know.”
“Who?”
She looked behind her.
Then whispered:
“Everyone.”
I kept my voice steady.
“What did my father leave?”
Her face changed.
“You found the trunk.”
“Yes.”
She looked at Ryan.
“You told her?”
He said nothing.
Linda's expression hardened.
“You stupid boy.”
I took one step down.
“Put the gun down.”
She laughed bitterly.
“You still think this is about money.”
“Then tell me what it's about.”
She lowered the weapon slightly.
“Your father.”
I waited.
“He wasn't the man you thought he was.”
I almost smiled.
“Neither are you.”
She flinched.
“Your father worked with people who should never have existed.”
“Marcus?”
She shook her head.
“Marcus was only a courier.”
That surprised me.
“Then who?”
She looked at me.
“The people behind him.”
“Names.”
“I don't know all of them.”
“Then start with one.”
Linda's eyes filled with tears.
“Evelyn Cross.”
I froze.
The name meant nothing.
But something about it felt familiar.
“Who is she?”
“A woman who has spent twenty years cleaning up other people's mistakes.”
“Military?”
“No.”
“Government?”
Linda shook her head.
“Private.”
“What does she want?”
Linda whispered:
“What your father stole.”
My mind raced.
“My father stole something?”
“He discovered a program.”
“What program?”
Linda shook her head.
“I don't know.”
“You're lying.”
“I swear.”
“Then why did you help them?”
Her eyes moved toward Ryan.
“Because your husband owed them money.”
Ryan looked down.
Linda continued.
“They told me if I didn't cooperate, they'd destroy him.”
“And you believed them?”
“I saw what they did to another family.”
Her voice cracked.
“They killed them.”
Silence.
I looked at Ryan.
He couldn't meet my eyes.
“Is that true?”
He nodded.
Linda lowered the gun.
“I wanted you to resign because they said you were becoming a problem.”
“A problem?”
“You were getting too close.”
“To what?”
She whispered:
“Your father's files.”
I remembered the hidden safe.
The envelope.
The warning.
Then I understood.
My father's journals weren't sentimental.
They were evidence.
“Where are the files?”
Linda looked at me.
“They aren't in this house.”
“Where?”
She hesitated.
Then:
“Your father's old command post.”
I knew exactly where.
A decommissioned military facility in Virginia.
It had been abandoned after a base restructuring.
My father had taken me there once when I was a teenager.
I remembered a concrete building.
A rusted gate.
A basement filled with old equipment.
“Why would the files be there?”
“Because your father trusted no one.”
I looked at her.
“And you?”
She gave a bitter smile.
“He trusted me enough to be afraid of me.”
Before I could respond, a gunshot exploded downstairs.
Linda screamed.
Ryan dropped to the floor.
I grabbed him.
“Stay down!”
Another shot.
Glass shattered.
Then footsteps.
Not one person.
Several.
Linda looked at me.
“They found us.”
“Who?”
She whispered:
“Evelyn.”
The attic window exploded.
I dragged Ryan behind the trunk.
A bullet tore through the wall.
Linda fired toward the doorway.
Then everything became noise.
Shouting.
Gunfire.
Breaking glass.
I crawled toward the attic stairs.
Ryan grabbed my arm.
“Where are you going?”
“To get us out.”
“You're crazy.”
“No.”
I looked at him.
“I'm trained.”
We moved.
Down the back staircase.
Through the laundry room.
Out the side door.
Cold night air hit my face.
A black SUV was waiting across the street.
Two figures ran toward it.
One looked back.
A woman.
Tall.
Dark coat.
Blonde hair.
She stared directly at me.
Even from fifty yards away, I knew.
That was Evelyn Cross.
She smiled.
Then disappeared into the SUV.
I memorized the license plate.
Military training had taught me to notice details under stress.
State.
Numbers.
Vehicle model.
Driver.
Passenger.
Everything.
Ryan collapsed against the house.
“What do we do now?”
I looked at him.
“You're coming with me.”
“Where?”
“To Virginia.”
“Why?”
“To find my father's secret.”
“And then?”
I looked toward the disappearing SUV.
“Then we find Evelyn.”
Ryan swallowed.
“And if she finds us first?”
I picked up my phone.
The signal had returned.
I called General Whitaker.
“Sir.”
His voice was immediate.
“Colonel?”
“I've located the connection to my father's investigation.”
“Where?”
“Virginia.”
A pause.
“Don't go alone.”
“I won't.”
“Who is with you?”
I looked at Ryan.
“My husband.”
The general was silent.
Then:
“Colonel, I need you to hear me carefully.”
“Yes, sir.”
“If your husband is involved, you cannot trust him.”
I looked at Ryan.
He looked back at me.
For the first time, I realized something.
The greatest threat in my life might not be the people chasing us.
May you like
It might be the man standing beside me.
And I had just agreed to take him straight to my father's secret.
