Chapter 6 - The Marriage Before the Marriage
Nadia had been married to Elias Ward before she ever became Anne Caldwell.
That information had been erased from the Blackridge file.
I knew because I had read every original report.
Somebody altered them after I left command.
Ward and Nadia met during an intelligence operation in Eastern Europe.
They married secretly.
Then she disappeared into an undercover identity.
Ward was told she had defected.
Nadia was told Ward had betrayed her.
Classic separation technique.
Make two people fear each other more than the people manipulating them.
Warren understood exactly who had done it.
He had helped.
Marcus leaned against the garage, looking nauseous.
“So the woman I called Mom…”
“Was caught between people using her,” I said.
“And you?”
That question hurt.
“I interrogated her.”
“Did you hurt her?”
“No.”
He searched my face.
I let him.
“I threatened her with prosecution. I pressured her. I used information about people she loved.”
“Ward?”
“I didn’t know he was her husband.”
Would that distinction matter to him?
I didn’t know.
Perhaps it shouldn’t.
We left for Calder Road in my SUV.
Me.
Marcus.
Warren.
Devon followed at a distance despite instructions not to.
Nobody trusts instructions after discovering their family is an intelligence operation.
The diner sat abandoned beside an old highway.
Rachel’s SUV was parked outside.
I entered first.
Lily ran toward me.
“Mom!”
I dropped to my knees and held her.
Everything else vanished for three seconds.
She buried her face against my neck.
“I knew you’d come.”
That sentence nearly broke me.
Rachel stood near the kitchen.
Her hands were zip-tied.
So she had not voluntarily chosen anything.
Warren had lied.
Again.
Marcus rushed to her.
“Are you hurt?”
She shook her head.
Then Elias Ward stepped from the shadows.
Older.
Beard streaked gray.
But unmistakable.
My former executive officer.
One of the best soldiers I had ever known.
I wanted to embrace him.
I also wanted to put him against the wall.
Both feelings can exist together.
“You used my daughter.”
“I needed you moving.”
“You could have called.”
“You would’ve contacted the government.”
“Yes.”
“Exactly.”
Ward looked at Warren.
His calm disappeared.
“Where is Nadia?”
Marcus whispered:
“She’s dead.”
Ward’s eyes did not move.
“No.”
“What?”
“Anne Caldwell died.”
“Nadia didn’t.”
Warren suddenly lunged for the exit.
Marcus tackled his own father.
Ward smiled without humor.
“There.”
“Where is she?”
He pointed toward Warren.
“Ask him why he has been paying a woman named Nora Keswick $12,000 every month for eleven years.”
Marcus turned his father over.
“Who is Nora?”
Warren closed his eyes.
And Lily whispered beside me:
“I know that name.”
I looked down.
“How?”
May you like
Lily pointed toward Rachel.
“Aunt Rachel has been getting letters from her.”
