Chapter 8 - THE TRAP
By noon, my entire world changed again.
Ryan disappeared.
His phone was found abandoned outside a parking garage.
His car was still there.
But he was gone.
Investigators found one message on his phone.
I know what you found.
I stared at it.
“Who sent it?”
Unknown number.
I called the number.
Disconnected.
General Whitaker ordered a search.
Nothing.
Six hours passed.
Then my private phone rang.
Ryan.
I answered.
His voice was barely audible.
“Don't trust Whitaker.”
My body went still.
“Where are you?”
“I can't tell you.”
“Ryan.”
“Listen to me.”
“What happened?”
“They took me.”
“Who?”
“Evelyn.”
I closed my eyes.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“Then where are you?”
“I don't know.”
“Ryan, give me something.”
A pause.
“Remember the house.”
“What about it?”
“Your father left something under the floor.”
“What?”
“I don't know.”
“Ryan!”
The line went dead.
I immediately contacted the investigative team.
Within twenty minutes, we were back at the house.
We tore through the basement.
Nothing.
Kitchen.
Nothing.
Living room.
Nothing.
Then I remembered something.
The first night I moved into the house, my father had told me:
“Never change the floorboards in the study.”
I had assumed it was sentimental.
Now I knew better.
We removed the rug.
One floorboard was newer than the others.
We lifted it.
Underneath was a steel box.
Inside was a key.
And a photograph.
The photograph showed my father standing beside a young woman.
I stared.
It was Evelyn.
But she was much younger.
Beside her was a man I didn't recognize.
On the back was a handwritten message.
The daughter knows nothing.
I turned the photograph over again.
There was another line beneath it.
Keep it that way.
I felt a chill.
The photograph had been taken twenty-five years earlier.
Long before I met Ryan.
Long before Marcus.
Long before Northbridge.
This wasn't a new conspiracy.
It had started with my father.
I inserted the key into the steel box.
A hidden compartment opened.
Inside was a USB drive.
And one final note.
If they come for my daughter, give her this.
I took the drive.
Then my phone buzzed.
A message.
Come alone.
A location followed.
I recognized it.
An abandoned railway station.
The message continued:
Bring the drive.
I knew it was a trap.
I went anyway.
Not alone.
I brought a tactical team.
We entered the station at 11:40 p.m.
Empty.
Dark.
Silent.
Then the lights came on.
Ryan was sitting in a chair.
His hands were tied.
Evelyn stood behind him.
She looked exactly like she had in the photograph.
Older.
Colder.
But unmistakably the same woman.
“Colonel.”
I raised my weapon.
“Let him go.”
She smiled.
“You always were your father's daughter.”
“Who are you?”
“You know who I am.”
“No.”
“You know what your father called me.”
I waited.
“His biggest mistake.”
Ryan looked at me.
“Don't listen to her.”
Evelyn laughed.
“Your husband has finally developed a conscience.”
I looked at Ryan.
“Why did you betray me?”
He looked down.
“I was scared.”
“You've said that.”
“I know.”
Evelyn stepped closer.
“Your father discovered the network.”
“What network?”
“The one that decides who gets promoted.”
My eyes narrowed.
“That makes no sense.”
“Oh, it does.”
She smiled.
“Your promotion was never supposed to happen.”
I felt the room change.
“Why?”
“Because they had already chosen someone else.”
“Who?”
She looked at Ryan.
Then back at me.
“Your husband.”
I laughed.
“That is impossible.”
“Not for the right price.”
Ryan began shaking his head.
“No.”
Evelyn continued.
“He was supposed to become the public face of Northbridge.”
“He's not military.”
“He didn't need to be.”
She stepped closer.
“Your career made him valuable.”
I looked at Ryan.
“Is that true?”
He couldn't answer.
Evelyn smiled.
“Ask him what happened six months ago.”
I stared.
Ryan finally whispered:
“I signed something.”
“What?”
“A contract.”
“With whom?”
“Northbridge.”
“For what?”
His voice broke.
“To provide information.”
My stomach dropped.
“What information?”
“Schedules.”
“Whose schedules?”
He looked at me.
“Yours.”
I felt something inside me break.
Not love.
Trust.
That had died already.
This was something else.
The final piece.
Ryan hadn't merely been manipulated.
He had actively provided information about me.
Evelyn turned toward the exit.
“You wanted the truth.”
She smiled.
“Now you have it.”
Then the lights went out.
When they came back on—
Evelyn was gone.
And Ryan was bleeding.
May you like
A message had been carved into the chair beside him.
THE WAR HAS JUST BEGUN.
