Chapter 12 - The House With No Windows
We did not go home.
Dad took us to a property I'd never seen before.
No sign.
No driveway light.
No neighboring houses.
Just a long gravel road disappearing into pine trees.
The building looked less like a home than a bunker disguised as one.
There were no visible windows on the lower level.
Ethan stared at it.
“Where are we?”
“My contingency house.”
“You have a contingency house?”
Dad parked.
“I have several.”
I almost laughed.
It would have been easier if I could have.
Instead, I looked down at Noah.
He had finally fallen asleep.
Dad opened the rear door.
“Bring him inside.”
I held on to him.
“Is this safe?”
“As safe as I can make it.”
“That isn't an answer.”
“No.”
He met my eyes.
“It isn't.”
Inside, the house was warm, clean, and strangely empty.
No photographs.
No decorations.
No signs that anyone had ever lived there.
Daniel checked every room.
Robert entered behind us.
“Leah's safe.”
I turned.
“Where?”
“She stayed behind with the attorney.”
“Why didn't you stay?”
He looked at me.
“Because Diane was watching me.”
I frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Robert sat down.
“It means I was afraid of what she would do if I disappeared.”
Ethan stared at him.
“You knew she was dangerous.”
“I knew she was desperate.”
“You still helped her.”
“I did.”
His honesty surprised me.
“Why?”
Robert looked at me.
“Because she told me your father's enemies were coming after your family.”
Dad's face hardened.
“My enemies?”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
“She didn't know.”
“Then why believe her?”
Robert rubbed his face.
“Because she showed me the documents.”
“What documents?”
“A relocation record.”
Dad went still.
“Where?”
“I don't know.”
“Robert.”
“I swear.”
Dad stepped toward him.
“You knew enough to become involved.”
Robert shook his head.
“I knew enough to be terrified.”
I sat down on the couch.
“Tell me everything.”
Robert looked at Ethan.
Then at me.
“After you married Ethan, Diane started receiving envelopes.”
“From who?”
“They were always delivered by courier.”
“What was inside?”
“Names. Account numbers. Addresses. Old government references.”
I frowned.
“Why?”
“She was told your father's family had assets hidden overseas.”
“They don't.”
“I know that now.”
“What did she do with the information?”
“Used it.”
“To steal from me?”
“To protect herself.”
I laughed bitterly.
“By stealing from me.”
Robert looked down.
“You're right.”
Ethan paced.
“Mom told me she was helping us get out from under our debt.”
“She was,” Robert said.
Ethan stopped.
“What?”
“Some of the money she took went toward your debts.”
I stared.
That wasn't what I'd expected.
Robert continued.
“Some of it went into Carter Ridge.”
“Why?”
“To make it look like Diane had built something legitimate.”
Dad crossed his arms.
“So this wasn't only theft.”
“No.”
“What was it?”
Robert looked at me.
“A test.”
My skin prickled.
“A test for what?”
“Whether you would notice.”
“Notice what?”
“That you were being moved.”
I didn't understand.
“Moved where?”
Robert shook his head.
“Your finances. Your legal records. Your mailing address. Your medical history.”
I felt sick.
“You're saying somebody was changing my identity?”
“Not your name.”
“Then what?”
“Your footprint.”
Dad stared at the floor.
I saw something in his face.
Recognition.
“What?”
He didn't answer.
I stood.
“Dad.”
He looked up.
“You already know.”
“No.”
“You know what this is.”
He was silent.
I stepped closer.
“You told me my name was in a government database.”
“Yes.”
“You said you helped create it.”
“Yes.”
“And now Robert is telling me someone has been changing my records.”
Dad closed his eyes.
“Camila, there are things from that period I don't remember clearly.”
“Why?”
“Because I was injured.”
I stopped.
“When?”
“Twelve years ago.”
The same date as the transfer authorization.
I stared.
“What happened to you?”
“A convoy incident.”
“Combat?”
“No.”
“What then?”
He hesitated.
“An extraction.”
The word meant nothing to me.
Dad looked toward the hallway.
“I was involved in an operation that officially never happened.”
My heart pounded.
“What operation?”
“Family relocation.”
My mouth went dry.
“Whose family?”
He didn't answer.
“Mine?”
He looked at me.
“I thought so.”
The room went silent.
“You thought so?”
“I was told a child had to be moved.”
“What child?”
“You.”
My knees weakened.
“I was already living with you.”
“No.”
His voice was barely audible.
“That's what I've been trying to remember.”
Ethan stepped forward.
“Dad, what are you saying?”
“I am saying that twelve years ago I was involved in relocating a little girl.”
He looked at me.
“And I have spent twelve years believing that girl was my daughter.”
I stared at him.
“Believing?”
He looked devastated.
“I remember holding you.”
“That isn't what I asked.”
“I remember your face.”
“Then who told you to move me?”
He opened his mouth.
A sharp alarm sounded through the house.
Daniel rushed in.
“We have movement outside.”
Dad immediately switched into command mode.
“Where?”
“Three vehicles approaching.”
I grabbed Noah.
“Again?”
Daniel nodded.
“How did they find us?”
Dad looked at Robert.
Robert shook his head.
“I didn't tell anyone.”
Then the alarm stopped.
All of us froze.
Daniel checked the monitor.
“That's impossible.”
“What?”
“The vehicles have stopped.”
“Why?”
“They've turned around.”
Dad walked to the security screen.
The camera showed the vehicles reversing toward the road.
Then one of them stopped.
A man stepped out.
He lifted his hand.
He wasn't holding a weapon.
He was holding a white envelope.
Dad stared.
“Who is that?”
Daniel zoomed the camera.
Dad went pale.
“That's impossible.”
I stepped beside him.
“Who?”
He whispered the answer.
“Richard Vale.”
The retired four-star general.
The man whose death certificate had been found inside Carter Ridge.
The man whose voice might have been on the other end of the phone.
The man who had supposedly been gone for years.
The camera feed flickered.
When it returned, the man was gone.
Only the envelope remained on the road.
Dad looked at me.
“Stay here.”
“No.”
“Camila.”
“You don't get to keep deciding what I know.”
He sighed.
Then we went outside together.
The envelope contained one photograph.
My father standing beside Richard Vale.
And between them was a little girl.
Me.
On the back was a message.
May you like
You were not rescued from them, Michael.
You were recruited to deliver her.
