CHAPTER 9 — THE MAN WHO WAS SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD
The private airfield was almost completely dark.
Only three hangars were illuminated.
Beyond them, the runway disappeared into a wall of fog.
Emily stared through the windshield.
“Are you sure this is the place?”
Daniel kept both hands on the steering wheel.
“Victoria gave me the coordinates.”
“That isn't what I asked.”
Daniel looked at her.
“Yes.”
His answer was quiet.
“I’m sure.”
Emily’s fingers tightened around the photograph of Thomas.
Her father.
The man she had buried twenty years ago.
The man whose face had appeared on surveillance footage only hours ago.
Alive.
Older.
But unmistakably him.
Daniel slowed the car as they approached the security gate.
There was no guard.
No camera light.
No movement.
That frightened Emily more than a dozen armed men would have.
“This place should have security,” she whispered.
Daniel stopped the car.
“It does.”
Emily turned.
“How do you know?”
He pointed upward.
A tiny red light blinked from the roof of the gatehouse.
“They're watching us.”
Emily's stomach tightened.
“Then why aren't they stopping us?”
Daniel didn't answer.
The gate opened.
Slowly.
By itself.
Emily stared at the road ahead.
“That's not normal.”
“No.”
Daniel drove through.
The gate immediately closed behind them.
Emily reached for the door handle.
“Daniel.”
“I know.”
He stopped.
For several seconds, neither of them moved.
Then they heard it.
A faint metallic sound.
From somewhere behind them.
Click.
Emily froze.
Daniel slowly looked into the rearview mirror.
A black SUV had appeared at the entrance.
Its headlights were off.
Three figures stepped out.
Daniel whispered one word.
“Run.”
He slammed the car into gear.
The SUV accelerated.
Daniel drove toward the hangars.
Emily grabbed the dashboard as the car swung sharply around a parked aircraft.
“Where are we going?”
“The third hangar.”
“Why?”
“Because that's where your father is.”
Emily stared at him.
“You know where he is?”
“I know where he was supposed to be.”
The SUV was gaining.
Daniel pushed the accelerator.
The third hangar grew closer.
Then—
A figure stepped out into the headlights.
An elderly man.
Gray hair.
Dark coat.
A walking cane.
Emily stopped breathing.
Her hand flew to her mouth.
“Dad…”
Daniel slammed on the brakes.
The car stopped twenty feet away.
The man looked directly at Emily.
For one impossible second, time seemed to stop.
Then he said—
“Emily.”
Her world shattered.
She opened the door.
“Dad!”
Daniel grabbed her wrist.
“Wait.”
Emily fought him.
“That's my father!”
“Emily, wait!”
The man raised one hand.
“Daniel is right.”
Emily stopped.
Thomas Carter looked older than the man in her memories.
His face was thinner.
His hair completely gray.
There was a scar running from his left temple toward his jaw.
But his eyes were the same.
The eyes that had watched her blow out birthday candles.
The eyes that had held her when she cried after her mother died.
The eyes she had believed were gone forever.
Emily stepped out of the car.
Tears filled her eyes.
“You're alive.”
Thomas nodded.
“I am.”
“Why?”
His expression broke.
“I had no choice.”
Emily walked toward him.
“You let me believe you were dead.”
“I know.”
“You let me grow up without you.”
“I know.”
“You let me think you abandoned me.”
Thomas lowered his head.
“I know.”
Emily slapped his chest.
Not hard.
Just once.
“You don't get to say that.”
Thomas didn't defend himself.
Emily hit him again.
“You don't get to disappear for twenty years and come back like this!”
Her voice cracked.
“I needed you.”
Thomas closed his eyes.
“I know.”
Emily collapsed against him.
For twenty years, she had imagined her father's funeral.
She had imagined his coffin.
She had imagined the last words she would have said if she'd known it was the last time.
Now she was standing against his chest.
And he was breathing.
His heart was beating.
He was alive.
Thomas wrapped his arms around his daughter.
“I am so sorry.”
Emily cried into his coat.
“You should have come back.”
“I couldn't.”
“Why?”
Thomas looked toward Daniel.
“Because they were watching you.”
Emily pulled away.
“Who?”
Thomas's eyes hardened.
“Victor.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“Is he alive?”
Thomas didn't answer immediately.
Then he said—
“Yes.”
Emily felt the blood drain from her face.
“He's alive?”
Thomas nodded.
“And he's closer than you think.”
A distant engine suddenly roared.
Thomas turned toward the runway.
His expression changed instantly.
“We have to leave.”
Daniel looked toward the entrance.
The black SUV had stopped.
Doors opened.
Men stepped out.
Thomas grabbed Emily's hand.
“Not the car.”
“What?”
“The hangar.”
They ran.
Daniel followed.
Thomas pushed open a concealed metal door at the back of the hangar.
Behind it was a narrow tunnel.
Emily stared.
“Where does this go?”
“An old service road.”
Daniel looked at Thomas.
“You built this?”
“No.”
Thomas looked at him.
“Victor did.”
Emily's heart pounded.
“Why would Victor build an escape tunnel?”
“Because this airfield used to belong to him.”
Daniel stopped.
“What?”
Thomas turned.
“This wasn't supposed to be my hiding place.”
A gunshot echoed through the hangar.
Emily screamed.
Thomas pulled her down.
Another shot.
Metal sparked above them.
Daniel pushed Emily behind a concrete wall.
“Stay here.”
Thomas grabbed Daniel's shoulder.
“No.”
Daniel looked at him.
Thomas's eyes were cold.
“If Victor sent them, they're not here to kill me.”
“Then what are they here for?”
Thomas looked at Emily.
“They're here for her.”
Emily felt something cold settle inside her.
“The trust.”
Thomas shook his head.
“No.”
He looked directly into her eyes.
“You.”
The tunnel door slammed shut behind them.
For several seconds, there was only darkness.
Then Thomas whispered—
“There is something I never told you about your birth.”
Emily turned toward him.
“What?”
Thomas hesitated.
“You weren't the only child I was protecting.”
Emily's heart stopped.
“Victoria?”
Thomas shook his head.
“No.”
He looked at Daniel.
Then back at Emily.
“There was another.”
Before Emily could ask what he meant, a light appeared at the end of the tunnel.
Someone was standing there.
A woman.
Victoria.
She was holding a gun.
Emily froze.
Victoria's eyes filled with tears.
“Dad…”
Thomas stared at her.
“Victoria.”
Then Victoria lowered the gun.
And whispered—
“We're too late.”
Emily looked behind her.
“What happened?”
Victoria swallowed.
“Richard has found us.”
Thomas's face went pale.
Emily remembered the message from his video.
DO NOT TRUST RICHARD.
She stepped closer.
“Dad…”
Thomas looked at her.
“Your father-in-law didn't come here alone.”
Emily's stomach dropped.
“Who came with him?”
Thomas answered softly.
“Victor.”
The lights went out.
And somewhere behind them—
A man laughed.
May you like
Victor Hale was alive.
And he had finally found them.
