Chapter 9 - The Federal Agent
Ethan stepped in front of Noah.
The new woman stopped.
Hands visible.
“Smart.”
Hayes moved to the side.
“Identify yourself.”
“Special Agent Laura Hayes.”
Everybody froze.
Ethan turned toward the woman who had spent the last several hours calling herself Laura Hayes.
Her face did not change.
Noah whispered:
“Uh-oh.”
The first Hayes reached slowly toward her badge.
The newcomer drew her weapon.
“Don’t.”
Federal agents in the room aimed at both women.
Sarah grabbed Noah.
Ethan’s heart pounded.
The first woman said:
“My credentials are valid.”
The newcomer replied:
“Under the name Dana Cole.”
Silence.
The first woman closed her eyes.
Then looked at Ethan.
“My real name is Dana Cole.”
He stared.
“You lied.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Rachel told me if anyone inside the task force asked for you by name, assume the channel was compromised.”
The real Laura Hayes kept her weapon steady.
“Dana has been operating under protected identity.”
Ethan looked between them.
“So which one of you is actually with Rachel?”
Hayes answered:
“I am.”
Dana said:
“She was.”
Ethan laughed once.
“Great.”
Hayes lowered her weapon slowly.
“Rachel entered federal protection through my unit four years ago.”
Dana did the same.
“And after Hayes’s unit was compromised, Rachel contacted me separately.”
Hayes’s jaw tightened.
“You never told me.”
“She told me not to.”
Ethan slapped the table.
“Stop.”
Both women looked at him.
“I spent six years in a cell while everybody protected me by lying.”
No one spoke.
“From now on, if you know something about Rachel, Noah, Caleb, Reed, or Grant, you say it.”
Hayes nodded.
Dana did too.
Ethan pointed at Hayes.
“Rachel sent you?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Three days ago.”
His pulse jumped.
“She’s alive.”
“I believe so.”
“You spoke to her?”
“Encrypted text only.”
“Where is she?”
“I don’t know.”
He laughed again.
Hayes opened a file.
“Rachel entered protected witness status after she recovered vehicle-title evidence tied to Grant Auto Auctions and Detective Reed.”
“That part I know.”
“She gave us enough to open a public-corruption investigation.”
“What went wrong?”
“A confidential witness inside Grant’s network disappeared.”
“Meaning?”
“Probably dead.”
Noah’s eyes widened.
Ethan pointed toward the door.
“Sarah, take him out.”
Noah crossed his arms.
“No.”
“Buddy.”
“No. Everybody keeps saying stuff about my family when I’m not there.”
Ethan stared.
The kid had a point.
A terrible point.
Hayes softened her voice.
“I won’t describe anything graphic.”
Noah nodded.
Ethan hated this.
But forcing him out would only repeat the pattern.
Hayes continued.
“After that witness disappeared, Rachel became convinced someone inside federal channels was leaking.”
“Was she right?”
“We later found unauthorized access to her location file.”
“Who?”
“Still under investigation.”
Dana said, “That was when Rachel stopped cooperating through normal channels.”
Hayes nodded.
“She disappeared from protection eighteen months later.”
“Where?”
“No confirmed location.”
“What did she take?”
“One file.”
She slid a cover sheet over.
GRANT / WALKER.
Ethan’s skin tightened.
“What’s inside?”
“We don’t know.”
“Then why label it?”
“Rachel created the index.”
Dana added:
“The file cross-referenced Caleb, Thomas Grant, and Linda Walker.”
Ethan’s mother.
He sat.
Noah leaned against him.
Hayes said, “Rachel also requested a DNA comparison.”
“Caleb and Grant.”
“Yes.”
“Results?”
“She deleted them from the federal system.”
“Why?”
“Possibly to keep someone from seeing.”
“Or because she didn’t trust you.”
Hayes accepted that.
“Possible.”
Sarah said, “Rachel called me last night.”
Hayes turned.
“What did she say?”
“Keep Noah away from Ethan.”
“Anything else?”
“She asked if Saturday lunch still mattered.”
Hayes frowned.
Dana looked at her.
“That’s a family code.”
Ethan nodded.
“Peanut butter sandwich.”
Hayes asked, “Did anything come with it?”
“The key.”
“The 214 tag.”
Both agents exchanged a look.
Ethan noticed.
“What?”
Hayes said, “214 was Rachel’s witness file number.”
His pulse kicked.
The storage number had been chosen deliberately.
Not just a locker.
A marker.
“What about TG?”
Hayes opened another page.
“Thomas Grant is forty-six. Founder of Grant Auto Auctions. Regional auction network in Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia.”
Ethan stared at the photo.
Clean suit.
Charity-board smile.
He had seen Grant on local commercials for years.
“Criminal record?”
“None.”
“Investigations?”
“Several that died early.”
“Reed.”
“Likely.”
Dana added:
“Grant paid Caleb’s gambling debt.”
Ethan nodded.
“Seventy thousand.”
Hayes looked at him.
“You know.”
“Caleb confessed.”
“Did he tell you why?”
“He thinks Grant may be his father.”
Hayes’s face went still.
That was answer enough.
“You know.”
She hesitated.
Ethan stood.
“Say it.”
“We don’t have a certified conclusion.”
“Say what you have.”
Hayes opened a sealed evidence copy.
A lab intake.
Partial.
Mother reference:
Linda Walker.
Potential father:
Thomas Grant.
Probability field blacked out.
Rachel had redacted it.
Why?
Ethan felt the old anger return.
“Everyone knew except me.”
Hayes said, “We did not know. We suspected.”
“When did Rachel suspect?”
“Before she disappeared.”
Noah tugged Ethan’s sleeve.
“Can we ask Grandma?”
Ethan looked at him.
“Yes.”
They drove to Linda’s assisted-living center under federal protection.
She was awake.
Good day.
She smiled at Ethan.
Then cried.
“My baby.”
Ethan knelt.
“Hi, Mom.”
She touched his face.
“They let you out.”
“Yeah.”
“Did they apologize?”
He laughed.
“No.”
“Figures.”
Then she saw Caleb’s photo in Ethan’s hand.
Her smile vanished.
“What?”
“Mom, who is Thomas Grant?”
Her fingers pulled away.
“No.”
Ethan’s chest tightened.
“Please.”
“No.”
“Mom.”
She looked toward the door.
“Is Caleb here?”
“No.”
“Good.”
“Why?”
Her eyes filled.
“Because he thinks Walker blood is all he has.”
Ethan stared.
“What does that mean?”
Linda covered her mouth.
Hayes stood near the wall.
No pressure.
No interruption.
Ethan said:
“Did you have an affair with Thomas Grant?”
Linda closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
The word barely existed.
“When?”
“Before Caleb.”
“Is he Caleb’s father?”
She cried.
“I don’t know.”
“Mom.”
“I never tested.”
“Did Grant think he was?”
“Yes.”
Ethan sat back.
Noah watched quietly from Sarah’s side.
“Did Caleb know?”
“No.”
“Did Rachel?”
Linda looked at him.
“Rachel asked me four years ago.”
There it was.
“What did you tell her?”
“The truth.”
“That Grant could be Caleb’s father.”
“Yes.”
“And Grant knew from the day Caleb was born?”
Linda’s face tightened.
“He came to the hospital.”
Ethan froze.
“What?”
“He stood outside the nursery.”
“Dad knew?”
“Your father knew Caleb might not be his.”
“Why stay?”
Linda’s mouth trembled.
“Because he loved him.”
Ethan swallowed.
“What did Grant do after?”
“Sent money.”
“Caleb’s truck. School.”
“Yes.”
“Gambling debt.”
Her eyes widened.
“You know.”
“Now.”
Linda gripped Ethan’s wrist.
“Thomas doesn’t give money. He buys people.”
Ethan’s skin tightened.
“Did he buy Caleb?”
“I don’t know.”
Her voice dropped.
“But he tried to buy me.”
“For what?”
“To tell Caleb who his father was.”
“And you refused.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
She looked at Ethan.
“Because Thomas said once Caleb knew, he’d finally understand who should inherit Grant Auto.”
Ethan’s stomach dropped.
This was not only blood.
It was succession.
Hayes’s phone buzzed.
She read.
Then handed it to Ethan.
Rachel’s last secure message.
CALEB ISN’T ETHAN’S FULL BROTHER.
Beneath it:
ASK LINDA WHO THOMAS GRANT IS.
Ethan stared at his mother.
Linda started crying.
Then she whispered:
“Thomas Grant is Caleb’s father.”
Ethan’s heart stopped.
Before he could speak, Linda grabbed his hand tighter.
“And Thomas knew from the day Caleb was born.”
May you like
CUT.
