Chapter 3 - The Man I Buried Was Waiting Underground
The underground corridor stretched beneath the block like a forgotten tunnel.
My boots struck concrete.
Adrian moved ahead of me, one hand pressed against his wounded arm.
“You're bleeding.”
“So are several people behind us.”
“That isn't an answer.”
“It’s the only one I have.”
I almost smiled.
Almost.
Then we reached another door.
Adrian opened it.
A small room waited beyond.
There was a table.
Two chairs.
A laptop.
A medical kit.
And three photographs pinned to the wall.
The first showed my father.
The second showed Daniel.
The third showed me.
All three had dates written beneath them.
I stepped closer.
My photograph was taken outside the Blue Lantern six years earlier.
My blood turned cold.
Someone had been watching me.
For years.
“Who took these?”
Adrian closed the door.
“People trying to protect you.”
“Or people hunting me.”
“Yes.”
I stared at him.
“That isn't comforting.”
“I know.”
He sat.
I opened the medical kit.
“You need stitches.”
“I've had worse.”
“I don't care.”
I cleaned the wound.
He winced.
“You always this gentle?”
“No.”
“Good.”
As I stitched, I couldn't stop thinking about Daniel.
Alive.
Somewhere.
Fourteen years of grief suddenly looked like a lie.
“What does he look like now?”
Adrian hesitated.
“Older.”
“That wasn't what I asked.”
“He has a scar along his jaw.”
My hand stopped.
Daniel had always had a scar there.
A thin white line from a childhood bicycle accident.
“He still has it?”
“Yes.”
I swallowed.
“Then prove it.”
Adrian reached for the laptop.
He played a video.
The image was grainy.
A warehouse.
A man walking toward the camera.
Daniel.
Older.
Gray at his temples.
But unmistakably him.
I sat down.
My entire body went numb.
Daniel looked directly into the camera.
“If Mara is watching this, it means everything failed.”
My breath caught.
He continued.
“Mara, if you've made it this far, I need you to understand one thing.”
He paused.
“Your father didn't betray you.”
I covered my mouth.
“He lied because I asked him to.”
The video ended.
I stared at the black screen.
“Where is he?”
Adrian stood.
“Moving.”
“Why?”
“Because Victor Hale knows he's alive.”
“Hale.”
“Yes.”
“Who is he?”
“Your former handler.”
I looked at him.
“My handler was named Marcus Vale.”
Adrian shook his head.
“That was one of his identities.”
The room felt smaller.
All those years.
All those orders.
The missions.
The deaths.
The disappearances.
What if none of it had been what I thought?
Adrian opened a second file.
Names appeared.
Bank accounts.
Companies.
Government contractors.
Shipping firms.
Hotels.
I recognized several.
The Valenti family was on the list.
I looked at him.
“You were part of this?”
“My father was.”
“That's not the same thing.”
“It was close enough.”
He sat again.
“When I learned what they were doing, I tried to get out.”
“And they shot you.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I stole the ledger.”
My eyes widened.
“You have it?”
“No.”
“Then where?”
Adrian looked at me.
“With you.”
The brass key flashed through my memory.
I reached into my coat.
The little key had been there for years.
I placed it on the table.
Adrian stared at it.
“That opens the archive.”
“What archive?”
“The Blue Lantern.”
I frowned.
“My diner?”
“Yes.”
“Why would my diner have a secret archive?”
“Because your father bought the building twenty years ago.”
I stood.
“That's impossible.”
“Your father owned the property through a shell company.”
I thought about all the paperwork.
The strange ownership history.
The way I had somehow acquired the diner with almost no debt.
I had assumed it was luck.
Nothing about my life was luck.
Adrian pulled open a floor panel.
A narrow metal compartment was hidden beneath it.
I inserted the key.
The lock turned.
Inside was a small black box.
My hands trembled as I lifted it.
There was a handwritten note.
My father's handwriting.
Mara,
If you are reading this, I failed to keep you away from the truth.
Do not trust Adrian Valenti.
I stared at him.
Adrian went very still.
“That message was written before I met you,” he said.
I turned the page.
There was more.
Your father never intended the ledger to expose criminals.
It was designed to expose everyone who paid them.
Everyone.
Including the man who trained you.
My chest tightened.
Daniel had known.
My father had known.
And now Adrian knew.
I looked at him.
“What aren't you telling me?”
He took a breath.
“My family didn't just work with Hale.”
“They helped build his network.”
Silence.
I nodded slowly.
“Thank you for finally telling me.”
A sound came from the hallway.
Three knocks.
Adrian reached for his gun.
I motioned for him to wait.
The knocks came again.
Two.
Then one.
A pattern.
I knew it.
Daniel had taught it to me.
A long time ago.
I opened the door.
Daniel Reed stood on the other side.
For one second, I couldn't move.
His hair was gray.
His face was leaner.
There was a scar through his eyebrow I had never seen.
But his eyes were the same.
He whispered my name.
“Mara.”
I hit him.
Hard.
My palm connected with his cheek.
He didn't react.
I hit him again.
Tears blurred my vision.
“You died.”
“I know.”
“You let me bury you.”
“I know.”
“You let me live fourteen years believing I killed you.”
“I know.”
“Then say something!”
He swallowed.
“I loved you enough to let you hate me.”
That broke me.
I turned away.
Daniel closed the distance.
He didn't touch me.
Not yet.
“I wanted to come back.”
“Why didn't you?”
“Because Hale would've killed you.”
I laughed bitterly.
“He tried tonight.”
Daniel looked at Adrian.
“So it started.”
Adrian nodded.
Daniel turned to me.
“They found the key.”
I held it up.
“They found me.”
His expression hardened.
“They’ll keep coming.”
“How long?”
“Until you give them the ledger.”
I stepped closer.
“Do you know where it is?”
Daniel looked into my eyes.
“Yes.”
“Where?”
He hesitated.
“Inside a place you haven't visited in fourteen years.”
My throat tightened.
“Where?”
“The house where you learned to shoot.”
I knew immediately.
The old training compound outside Milwaukee.
The place I had sworn never to see again.
Daniel reached into his coat.
He placed a folded map on the table.
“There’s a vault beneath the range.”
I stared at it.
“And what's inside?”
“The Black Harbor Ledger.”
He paused.
“And the proof of who ordered your father’s death.”
Before I could answer, the lights went out.
Daniel drew his weapon.
Adrian did the same.
A red emergency light flickered on.
Then the building shook.
A blast.
The tunnel trembled.
Dust poured from the ceiling.
Daniel grabbed my arm.
“They found us.”
I looked at the black box.
“Then let's go.”
Daniel smiled sadly.
“You always were impossible.”
“No.”
May you like
I checked my pistol.
“I used to be.”
Related Stories
