Chapter 2 - The Wrong Team
Daniel’s instincts took over.
Not anger.
Assessment.
Distances.
Hands.
Vehicles.
Exits.
Ethan stood twelve feet away.
Maya nine.
The stranger from the sedan kept approaching.
Daniel looked at Lucas.
“Go inside.”
Sarah immediately said, “No.”
Daniel turned.
She shook her head.
“Not the house.”
That was enough.
Daniel took Lucas toward his truck instead.
Maya stepped forward.
“Colonel, what’s happening?”
Sarah stared at her.
“Ask her about Glass Harbor.”
Maya froze.
Barely.
But Daniel saw it.
Ethan did too.
“Maya?”
She reached inside her jacket.
Daniel moved Lucas behind him.
But Maya pulled out her phone.
She placed it on the hood of the truck.
Then raised both hands.
“I was going to tell you.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“Tell me what?”
“Your wife contacted me four months ago.”
“Claire?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“She thought someone inside your old unit was monitoring your family.”
Daniel stared.
“You never told me.”
“She specifically ordered me not to.”
“My wife doesn’t give you orders.”
“No.”
Maya looked at Sarah.
“But the person Claire was working with did.”
The stranger reached them.
Daniel recognized him.
Colonel Arthur Voss.
Retired Army Intelligence.
Daniel’s former commanding officer.
The man who had recruited him into Glass Harbor.
Voss smiled.
“Daniel.”
Sarah stepped backward.
Voss looked at her.
“You’ve caused quite a mess.”
Daniel moved between them.
“Why are you here?”
“You activated an emergency team.”
“How did you know?”
“Because your request triggered an old protocol.”
Glass Harbor.
Daniel understood.
His call hadn’t merely contacted Ethan and Maya.
It had awakened something dormant.
Voss looked toward the house.
“Where’s the key?”
Daniel said nothing.
Voss smiled.
“Claire found it, didn’t she?”
Daniel’s chest tightened.
“You know where my wife is.”
“I know what she was looking for.”
Sarah suddenly laughed.
“You’re still doing it.”
Voss turned.
“Doing what?”
“Talking like Daniel works for you.”
Silence.
Sarah looked at Daniel.
“He doesn’t.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Glass Harbor wasn’t your operation.”
Daniel stared.
“I commanded the field component.”
“No.”
Sarah shook her head.
“You were one of the assets.”
Daniel’s face hardened.
Voss said quietly:
“Enough.”
Sarah ignored him.
“Ask him why your personnel file begins when you were twenty-seven.”
“It doesn’t.”
“Have you ever actually seen the original?”
Daniel had.
Or believed he had.
Then Maya spoke.
“I checked.”
Daniel turned.
“There are inconsistencies.”
“What inconsistencies?”
“Your early service records were reconstructed.”
Daniel stared at Voss.
Voss sighed.
“Because the originals were damaged during a systems migration.”
Sarah laughed again.
“That’s the story?”
Then Lucas whispered from behind Daniel:
“Uncle Daniel?”
Daniel looked down.
Lucas held something.
A folded photograph.
“I took this from Grandma’s basement.”
Daniel opened it.
A younger Evelyn.
His mother.
Beside her stood Voss.
And Daniel.
Daniel looked approximately sixteen.
Impossible.
He had first met Voss at twenty-seven.
On the back, someone had written:
SUBJECT D-4 — MEMORY STABILIZATION COMPLETE.
Daniel stared at Voss.
“What is this?”
Voss didn’t answer.
Daniel looked again.
Then he noticed the fourth person in the photograph.
His wife.
Claire.
Except Claire would have been thirteen when the photograph was taken.
The woman was an adult.
Same eyes.
Same face.
Daniel whispered:
“Who is that?”
Sarah answered.
“Claire’s mother.”
Daniel looked at her.
Sarah’s voice trembled.
“And she didn’t die when Claire was a child like everyone told you.”
Voss finally lost his smile.
May you like
Sarah pointed toward him.
“He knows exactly where she is.”
