Chapter 3 - What Redstone Hid
The ride back to the installation was silent.
Claire sat in the rear seat of the government sedan, staring at the passing lights.
For twenty years she had accepted one uncomfortable truth about her family.
They didn't understand her.
Now she was realizing there was another possibility.
They understood far more than they had admitted.
At the installation, she was taken directly into a secure conference room.
Colonel James Mercer, the counterintelligence chief, was waiting with two analysts.
He stood when Claire entered.
“Thank you for coming.”
“What happened?”
Mercer slid a file across the table.
Claire opened it.
Inside was a transcript.
One sentence had been highlighted.
THE BENNETT GIRL IS STILL INSIDE THE PROGRAM.
Claire looked up.
“Who said this?”
“Unknown source.”
“When?”
“Yesterday.”
“Who received it?”
“A private device associated with Sloane Defense.”
Claire's fingers tightened around the paper.
“What is Redstone?”
Mercer exchanged a glance with the analyst.
“Fifteen years ago, there was a classified logistics review centered around Redstone Arsenal.”
“I know.”
“You were involved.”
Claire nodded.
“I was a captain.”
“You were.”
“What I don't understand is my father.”
Mercer opened another folder.
“Your father's name appears on an attached civilian contracting list.”
Claire stared at it.
Richard Bennett.
Consulting advisor.
She read the date.
September 2011.
“My father told me he was working in commercial real estate.”
“He was.”
“Then why was he consulting for an Army logistics contractor?”
“He may not have been.”
Claire looked up.
“What?”
Mercer pointed to another name.
“Richard Bennett's information was used.”
Claire's eyes narrowed.
“Identity theft?”
“Possibly.”
“By whom?”
“We don't know.”
The analyst placed another document on the table.
A transfer log.
Claire recognized the format immediately.
Funds had moved through three companies.
Sloane Defense Systems.
Bennett Strategic Consulting.
And a shell corporation registered in Delaware.
She stared at the third name.
“Who owns it?”
“No listed natural person.”
“Follow the money.”
“We did.”
“And?”
Mercer hesitated.
“The trail ends with a private trust.”
Claire's heart sank.
“Whose?”
He pushed the final page forward.
Bennett Family Trust.
Claire sat back.
“No.”
Mercer watched her.
“That trust was established by your father.”
“I know.”
“Who are the beneficiaries?”
Claire looked down.
Her own name was there.
Ethan's.
Madison's.
And someone else.
Claire read the final name twice.
“Who is Daniel Bennett?”
Mercer answered slowly.
“We don't know.”
Claire's face tightened.
“My father's name is Richard.”
“I know.”
“Ethan is my brother. Madison is my sister.”
“I know.”
“So who is Daniel?”
“That is what we're trying to determine.”
Claire closed the file.
“Where is my father?”
“We're looking.”
“And Sloane?”
“Gone.”
Claire stood.
“I need to speak to Ethan.”
“Be careful.”
She looked at Mercer.
“Why?”
“Because the person who sent you the photograph knew enough about your clearance to frighten you.”
Claire walked toward the door.
Mercer called after her.
“Colonel.”
She stopped.
“We also found something else.”
She turned.
“A missing page.”
“From what?”
“The original Redstone review.”
“How was it missing?”
“Someone removed it.”
“When?”
“We don't know.”
Claire waited.
Mercer said:
“Yesterday.”
Claire left the room with a single thought.
Someone was moving ahead of them.
And that meant every question she asked could have consequences.
Ethan was waiting in a secure visitor room.
He looked exhausted.
“You got my files?”
“I sent everything.”
Claire sat across from him.
“Who is Daniel Bennett?”
Ethan stared at her.
“What?”
“Daniel Bennett.”
“I don't know.”
“There is a family trust in Dad's name with a beneficiary named Daniel.”
Ethan went pale.
“You're kidding.”
“No.”
He rubbed his face.
“Claire, there's something I didn't tell you.”
“I guessed that.”
“When I worked for Sloane, I found a folder.”
“What folder?”
“Employee compliance.”
“Go on.”
“There was a background file connected to Dad.”
“What did it say?”
Ethan looked directly into her eyes.
“It said he had a son.”
Claire's heart seemed to stop.
“Daniel?”
Ethan nodded.
“Half brother?”
“I don't know.”
“Was he older or younger?”
“Older.”
Claire stood suddenly.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because the file disappeared.”
“You could have told me.”
“I was afraid.”
“Of what?”
“That Dad would destroy whatever was left.”
Claire paced to the window.
For years, she had thought she knew the architecture of her family.
Now every wall seemed fake.
Ethan lowered his voice.
“Claire, there's more.”
She turned.
“The day I left Sloane, Dad called me.”
“What did he say?”
“He said I had misunderstood the documents.”
“That sounds like him.”
“He knew exactly what I had seen.”
Claire frowned.
“How?”
Ethan swallowed.
“He told me Daniel was alive.”
Claire went still.
“What?”
“He said Daniel had been given another name.”
“Where?”
“He wouldn't say.”
“Why?”
“He told me it was safer if you never found him.”
Claire felt a chill run down her spine.
“Why me?”
Ethan looked away.
“That part I don't know.”
The door opened.
Mercer stepped inside.
“Colonel.”
Claire turned.
“What?”
“We found your father.”
“Where?”
“Redstone.”
Her eyes widened.
“What is he doing there?”
Mercer handed her a photograph.
Richard Bennett stood beside a locked storage building.
And he wasn't alone.
Victor Sloane was there.
So was Daniel.
Claire stared at the third man.
He looked about forty-five.
Dark hair.
Gray at the temples.
A narrow scar along his jaw.
And something about his eyes felt strangely familiar.
Mercer watched her reaction.
“You know him?”
Claire shook her head slowly.
“No.”
Then she looked again.
She did know him.
Not from adulthood.
From a photograph.
A faded family picture she'd seen only once, hidden in a box when she was a teenager.
A baby boy in her mother's arms.
Daniel.
Claire whispered the words.
“My brother.”
Ethan closed his eyes.
Mercer asked:
“What are you thinking?”
Claire looked at the photograph.
“I think we've been looking for the wrong secret.”
She turned toward the door.
“What do you mean?”
“The question isn't why my father hid Daniel.”
May you like
Claire's face became cold and determined.
“It’s why he needed me to believe Daniel never existed.”
