Chapter 6 - MIDNIGHT EXCHANGE
Karen wanted to call the police.
Evelyn stopped her.
“The people behind that message are not ordinary kidnappers.”
“Grant is one of us.”
“And calling the wrong officer could get him killed.”
Rebecca enlarged the video frame.
Behind Grant, a faded emblem had been painted onto the wall.
It showed a crown wrapped in thorny vines.
Rebecca recognized it.
“The Crown Circle.”
Karen remembered the folder labeled PROJECT CROWN.
“Julian’s operation?”
“Older than Julian.”
The Crown Circle consisted of senior bankers, politicians and corporate leaders who secretly controlled the intelligence network Robert tried to dismantle.
Julian had not created the system.
He had convinced himself he ruled it.
The message suggested the Circle had turned against him.
Nathan arrived at Rebecca’s apartment thirty minutes later.
Karen had not invited him.
He placed a handgun on the table before anyone could object.
“I know where Grant is.”
“How?” Karen asked.
“Julian contacted me.”
Nathan claimed Julian was also searching for the Crown Circle.
He wanted the silver drive because it contained identities capable of destroying him.
“Then Julian kidnapped Grant.”
“No.”
“How do you know?”
“Because Julian sounded afraid.”
Karen did not believe Julian feared anyone.
Rebecca did.
“Robert spent years trying to identify the Circle’s current leader.”
“Did he succeed?”
“He suspected someone inside his own board.”
Evelyn searched the silver drive for the crown emblem.
A locked folder appeared.
It required two voice samples.
Robert Hale’s.
And Caroline Reed’s.
Nathan’s mother.
Nathan stared at the screen.
“My mother has been dead for twenty-nine years.”
Rebecca explained that Caroline had worked with Robert against the Circle.
Her death in a house fire might not have been accidental.
Nathan carried an old voicemail recording of his mother, preserved by his foster family.
They used it with Robert’s recorder.
The folder opened.
Seven photographs appeared.
One showed Julian.
One showed Hale Meridian’s bank chairman.
One showed Senator David Crane.
The seventh showed a woman Karen knew well.
Patricia Voss.
Julian’s mother.
Patricia had lived quietly in Virginia and rarely visited.
Julian claimed she disliked social events.
Karen had met her only twice.
“She leads the Circle,” Rebecca said.
“Robert suspected it.”
Nathan looked at Karen.
“Julian told me his mother died when he was a child.”
“He told me Patricia was his mother.”
“They are both lies,” Evelyn said.
Patricia Voss was not Julian’s biological mother.
She had been his recruiter.
The Circle identified Julian as an ambitious young analyst and trained him to enter the Hale family.
The same people recruited Nathan years later.
Nathan admitted that Julian contacted him in London eighteen months ago.
“He told me Robert stole my inheritance.”
“And you believed him,” Karen said.
“I had evidence.”
“You had evidence selected by Julian.”
Nathan lowered his eyes.
“I know that now.”
The exchange location was an abandoned steel mill outside the city.
Karen prepared a copy of the drive.
Evelyn warned that the Circle would detect it.
“The real drive stays with Lily,” Karen decided.
“No,” Lily said.
Everyone turned.
“If they search you and find a fake, they will hurt Grant.”
“I am not taking you.”
“You said the drive was hidden on a chain under my clothes when we escaped.”
“They might think I still have it,” Lily continued.
“I can distract them.”
Karen stood.
“This is not a discussion.”
Lily’s voice sharpened.
“You keep saying you will protect me, but everything Julian did happened because everyone kept secrets from me.”
“That does not mean I put you in front of armed people.”
Nathan spoke quietly.
“She may be right about the distraction.”
Karen turned on him.
“You have known her for less than one day.”
“And I know what it feels like when adults call control protection.”
The accusation struck hard because it was true.
Still, Karen refused to take Lily to the mill.
Rebecca stayed with her while Karen, Nathan and Evelyn went to the exchange.
The mill was enormous and dark.
Rusting machines formed shadows beneath the broken roof.
Grant sat beneath a hanging work light.
A masked man stood behind him.
A woman’s voice echoed from speakers.
“Place the drive on the table.”
Karen did.
“Step backward.”
The masked man retrieved it and inserted it into a laptop.
The duplicate encryption held for twelve seconds.
Then the screen displayed COPY DETECTED.
The work light went out.
Gunfire erupted from the upper walkway.
Nathan pulled Karen behind a steel column.
Evelyn fired toward the shadows.
Grant threw himself sideways, tipping the chair.
The masked guard ran.
Karen reached Grant and cut the restraints.
“Where is Patricia?”
Grant shook his head.
“I never saw her.”
The speakers activated again.
“You brought me a false drive.”
The voice was calm and unmistakably female.
“We know where the real one is.”
Karen’s blood froze.
She called Rebecca.
No answer.
She called Lily’s phone.
A man answered.
“Your daughter is very brave.”
Karen heard Lily struggling in the background.
“Let her go.”
“Bring the real drive to Hale Meridian Tower.”
“When?”
“You are already late.”
The line ended.
Karen looked toward Nathan.
He had received a photograph.
Lily was standing inside Julian’s executive office.
May you like
Beside her was Patricia Voss.
And Patricia held a knife against Rebecca’s throat:
