Chapter 5 - The Woman Who Was Supposed to Be DeadThey traveled by helicopter.
Tessa watched the mountains below.
Raphael sat opposite her.
He hadn't spoken for almost an hour.
“You okay?”
“No.”
“At least you're honest.”
He looked at her.
“Are you?”
“No.”
“Good.”
The helicopter landed near an old monastery.
Dalton led them inside.
The building looked abandoned.
Then a door opened.
A woman stepped out.
Silver hair.
Dark eyes.
Thin face.
A scar across one cheek.
Raphael stopped breathing.
“Mom?”
Emilia smiled.
“My son.”
Raphael looked furious.
“You're alive.”
“Yes.”
“You let me believe you were dead.”
“I had no choice.”
“Everyone always says that.”
Her eyes moved toward Tessa.
“Your father?”
Tessa stiffened.
“You knew him.”
“Yes.”
“Where is he?”
Emilia looked down.
“He was killed.”
Tessa's breath caught.
“By whom?”
“Your father's own employer.”
“Why?”
“He found the ledger.”
Tessa felt the room spin.
“My father had it?”
“Yes.”
“What was he doing with it?”
“Trying to expose the network.”
“And your mother?”
Emilia looked at Raphael.
“We worked together.”
Raphael's face hardened.
“You were part of it.”
“I infiltrated it.”
“You could have told me.”
“I tried.”
“You never called.”
“They monitored everything.”
He looked away.
Tessa understood.
“Why bring us here?”
Emilia walked to a table.
On it was a metal case.
“The final ledger.”
Raphael stared.
“You found it.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“Your father did.”
Tessa stepped closer.
“Where is it?”
Emilia looked at her.
“You have it.”
Tessa frowned.
“I don't.”
“You do.”
“How?”
Emilia pointed toward her necklace.
Tessa touched it.
A small silver pendant.
She had worn it for years.
Her father's last gift.
She opened it.
Inside was a tiny folded piece of paper.
She had never looked inside.
Her hands shook.
The paper contained a sequence of numbers.
Coordinates.
And one word.
MERCER.
Tessa stared.
“Cole?”
No.
Not Cole.
Another Mercer.
Her father.
Elijah Ward had hidden the coordinates inside his daughter's necklace.
Emilia smiled sadly.
“He trusted you.”
Tessa whispered:
“Why?”
“Because he knew you would become someone who would not leave.”
Raphael looked at her.
The tenderness in his eyes frightened her more than anger.
The monastery doors slammed shut.
Gunfire erupted.
Dalton shouted:
“Down!”
Men stormed the room.
Raphael grabbed Tessa.
Emilia disappeared through a side door.
Tessa crawled beneath the table.
She watched Raphael fight.
He moved despite his injury.
One man raised a weapon toward him.
Tessa fired.
The man fell.
Raphael turned.
Their eyes met.
“Nice shot.”
“Don't get used to it.”
They escaped through the monastery tunnels.
Emilia joined them.
Behind them, the monastery caught fire.
Outside, Raphael confronted his mother.
“You knew about me.”
“Yes.”
“About the ledger.”
“Yes.”
“About Tessa.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you tell us?”
“Because if you knew too much, they would kill you.”
“You let them nearly kill me in Nepal.”
“I knew you would survive.”
Raphael stared.
“You sound like me.”
“I learned from your father.”
Tessa looked at them.
“Who is Dalton?”
Emilia's face hardened.
“Not family.”
Raphael frowned.
“Then why the symbol?”
“He stole it.”
“From whom?”
“From the real organization.”
Tessa's heart raced.
“So there's another group.”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
Emilia hesitated.
Then:
“Your father's employer.”
Tessa went still.
“Who hired him?”
“Black Meridian.”
Raphael knew the name.
Everyone did.
It was a private military and logistics corporation with contracts around the world.
Officially, it provided security.
Unofficially, it had ties to weapons trafficking.
Emilia handed Tessa a file.
Black Meridian.
Underneath:
Director — Victor Hale.
Tessa recognized the name.
The same man who had commanded the unit her father investigated.
Her father hadn't disappeared because he'd stumbled onto corruption.
He had stumbled onto a multinational operation.
The earthquake relief mission had become another battlefield.
And Tessa had been sent there for a reason.
Someone had known she would find the truth.
Raphael looked at her.
“They sent you.”
“What?”
“Your deployment.”
“You think I was sent here because of the ledger.”
“Yes.”
She shook her head.
“My team was deployed for disaster relief.”
“Who signed the authorization?”
Tessa pulled out her tablet.
The digital record showed one signature.
Victor Hale.
She stared.
He had personally approved her deployment.
Her stomach turned.
Raphael took her hand.
“We've been pushed together.”
“Why?”
“Because they thought you would lead me to the ledger.”
“And now?”
May you like
He looked at her.
“Now we lead them to it.”
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