Chapter 5 - THE STRANGER
“Who sent that?”
Tobias grabbed the phone.
“No idea.”
“Can they trace us?”
“Not easily.”
“Not easily?”
He shut the phone off.
“We move.”
We left the shack before sunset.
Tobias led me through the woods to an old pickup hidden beneath camouflage netting.
I climbed inside.
“You really had a whole secret life.”
“You really married a psychopath.”
“Fair.”
We drove north without headlights for nearly ten minutes.
Then Tobias stopped outside an abandoned gas station.
A woman stepped from behind the building.
I reached for the gun.
Tobias stopped me.
“Wait.”
She was maybe sixty.
Short gray hair.
Raincoat.
No fear in her face.
“My God,” she whispered when she saw me. “You look exactly like Eleanor.”
My mother.
“Who are you?”
“Dr. Naomi Price.”
Tobias exhaled.
“You sent the message?”
“Yes.”
“You knew I could walk?”
“I was your physical therapist after the crash.”
I looked at Tobias.
“You told me your therapist moved overseas.”
“She did,” Naomi said. “Because Victor Hale tried to kill me.”
She opened the passenger door.
“We don’t have much time.”
I didn’t move.
“Why should I trust you?”
“You shouldn’t.”
That answer surprised me.
Naomi reached into her bag.
Tobias raised the gun.
She pulled out an envelope.
Inside was an old photograph.
My father.
My mother.
Victor Hale.
And another man I didn’t recognize.
They were standing beside one of the shipyard’s dry docks.
On the back, someone had written:
PROJECT HARBOR — 2011
“That project killed your parents,” Naomi said.
“What project?”
“Your father discovered Victor was using Mercer Shipworks to move illegal cargo through government contracts.”
Tobias went still.
“Smuggling?”
“Worse.”
“What’s worse?”
Naomi looked at me.
“Military components. Weapons systems. Stolen technology.”
I felt the room tilt.
“Dad would’ve gone to the police.”
“He tried.”
“And Victor killed him.”
“Yes.”
I looked at the fourth man in the picture.
“Who’s that?”
Naomi hesitated.
“His name is Leonard Finch.”
“So?”
“He was your father’s attorney.”
I studied the face.
Something about him looked familiar.
Then I realized why.
I had seen him two weeks ago.
At my kitchen table.
Garrett introduced him as a financial adviser.
“He’s still working with Garrett,” I whispered.
Naomi’s face went white.
Before she could answer, headlights swept across the windows.
Tobias turned.
Three black SUVs pulled into the parking lot.
May you like
Naomi whispered one word.
“Run.”
