Chapter 6 - The Father Who Had Been Dead for Twenty Years
Claire wanted to go alone.
Adrian refused.
They argued in a safe house until sunrise.
By morning, neither had won.
So they planned something else.
They would let Claire’s father think she was alone.
The location was an abandoned warehouse near the northern rail yard.
No police.
No visible cameras.
Three exits.
Two rooftops.
A concealed drainage tunnel.
Claire entered through the front.
Her father waited in the center.
She stopped twenty feet away.
“Dad?”
The man turned.
Daniel Bennett had aged, but Claire knew him immediately.
The same deep-set eyes.
The same scar beside his eyebrow.
The same habit of rubbing his thumb against his index finger when thinking.
Claire’s knees nearly gave out.
“You’re alive.”
Daniel smiled sadly.
“I have been for twenty-two years.”
“You let us believe you were dead.”
“I had to.”
“You let Mom die believing you were dead.”
His expression broke.
“I know.”
“You let me think I was alone.”
“I was trying to keep you alive.”
“You joined criminals.”
Daniel shook his head.
“I infiltrated them.”
“Like Adrian’s father.”
“Yes.”
Claire stared.
“Then why did they kill my team?”
“They didn’t.”
She froze.
“The people who died were killed by your own handler.”
Her breathing stopped.
“Who?”
Daniel answered.
“Evelyn Price.”
Claire whispered the name.
Her handler.
The person who recruited her.
The person she had trusted more than anyone.
“She worked for Leonard.”
Daniel nodded.
“Leonard discovered she had access to the operation.”
Claire’s hands shook.
“Where is she?”
“Dead.”
“Who killed her?”
“Vanessa.”
Claire stared.
“What?”
“Your former handler tried to kill Vanessa when she learned Vanessa had the ledger.”
Daniel walked toward her.
“She failed.”
Claire stepped backward.
“This makes no sense.”
“It will.”
He handed her a document.
Inside were bank transfers.
Government officials.
Police.
Judges.
Politicians.
Business executives.
At the center was a company called Carlisle Global.
Claire recognized it.
“Leonard’s company.”
Daniel nodded.
“The Ash Circle was never one organization.”
“What?”
“It was a network of people who protected each other.”
He looked at Claire.
“Leonard controlled the eastern division.”
“Who controlled the western division?”
Daniel hesitated.
“You.”
Claire frowned.
“What?”
“Your father’s old operation.”
She stared.
“My father had an operation?”
“Yes.”
“You?”
“Yes.”
Claire shook her head.
“I don’t understand.”
“You were born into a war you never asked for.”
She looked at him.
“And Adrian?”
Daniel smiled.
“Adrian was born into the other side.”
A voice interrupted.
“Which is why you were chosen for each other.”
Adrian stepped out of the shadows.
Claire spun.
“You lied to me.”
“I followed you.”
“You said you would stay out of this.”
“I said I would let you meet your father.”
Daniel looked amused.
“So this is Adrian.”
Adrian’s expression hardened.
“You know me.”
“I have watched you for years.”
Claire looked between them.
“My father trusted you?”
Daniel answered.
“His father did.”
Adrian stepped forward.
“What happened to your mother?”
Daniel’s face fell.
“She was killed because she discovered the ledger.”
Adrian nodded.
“And my father?”
“Died trying to protect it.”
Claire understood.
Their parents had been on the same side.
The Ash Circle had split them apart.
Leonard had manipulated both families.
And now he was using the children to finish the war.
“Where is Leonard?” Claire asked.
Daniel looked at Adrian.
“He’ll come to the wedding.”
Adrian’s eyes narrowed.
“Why?”
“Because he still believes the ledger is incomplete.”
Claire raised the missing page.
“It isn’t.”
Daniel looked at it.
“The final code is missing.”
Claire turned it over.
The page contained a string of numbers.
She suddenly understood.
“The Black Ledger isn’t evidence.”
Daniel nodded.
“It’s a key.”
“To what?”
“The Ash Circle’s central vault.”
Adrian’s voice was cold.
“Where?”
Daniel looked at Claire.
“Below the Carlisle mansion.”
Claire remembered Victor’s words.
Find the room beneath the room.
“That’s why Leonard wants me.”
“Yes.”
“He thinks I can decode it.”
“No.”
Daniel shook his head.
“He thinks you already know the code.”
Claire frowned.
“I don’t.”
Daniel smiled.
“You do.”
He touched the silver pendant beneath her sleeve.
“Your mother hid it there.”
Claire opened the pendant.
The black compartment contained the microSD card.
Daniel nodded.
“The code is inside.”
Adrian looked at Claire.
“Then we finally have them.”
“No,” Daniel said.
“You don’t.”
He looked toward the warehouse windows.
“You have twenty-four hours.”
“For what?”
“For Leonard to realize Vanessa has betrayed him.”
“And then?”
“He stops trying to control the wedding.”
Daniel’s expression turned grim.
“He starts trying to erase everyone.”
Claire looked at Adrian.
The wedding was tomorrow.
May you like
And now she knew the real ceremony had nothing to do with marriage.
It was the closing move of a war that had begun before either of them were born.
