Chapter 9 - The Key in My Mother's Necklace
"What key?"
Mom reached beneath the collar of her dress.
For as long as I could remember, she had worn a thin gold chain.
I thought the pendant was decorative.
She removed it.
The "pendant" opened.
Inside was a tiny metal strip no longer than my thumbnail.
Mason took one look and swore.
"What is that?"
I asked.
"Encrypted hardware key."
Mom placed it on the table.
"Andrew gave it to me eighteen years ago."
"Why?"
"He said if anything happened to him, I should never give it to anyone."
I stared at her.
"You've had this the entire time?"
"I didn't know what it opened."
"And Voss does?"
"Apparently."
"Did you tell him you had it?"
"No."
"Then how does he know?"
She looked at me.
"Maybe your father told him."
Or someone had been listening.
I glanced around the room.
My apartment had been bugged.
Why assume that was the only place?
Mason seemed to have the same thought.
He motioned to Mercer.
"Clear the room. Electronic sweep."
Within minutes, we moved to a secure mobile command unit outside the hotel.
The hardware key went into a shielded evidence pouch.
Mom sat across from me.
For the first time in my life, she looked small.
"When Dad gave you that key, what exactly did he say?"
She stared at her hands.
"He came home late."
"When?"
"About a month after that argument you overheard."
I went still.
"You knew I heard it?"
"Your father told me."
Of course he had.
"He gave me the necklace and said, 'If I fail, keep this away from Richard.'"
"That's it?"
"No."
Mom swallowed.
"He also said, 'If Olivia ever comes asking, give it to her.'"
I couldn't speak.
"You knew it might be mine."
"I didn't think it mattered anymore."
"Three years after Dad died, you still kept it."
"Because it was the last thing he ever trusted me with."
The contradiction hurt.
She had guarded his key while trying to steal his money.
People were rarely one thing.
That didn't excuse her.
It made everything harder.
Mason returned.
"Grant is on his way."
"Here?"
"He's been under protective monitoring for two years."
I stared at him.
"Of course he has."
Mason accepted the hit.
"He'll arrive in twenty minutes."
Mom looked toward the window.
"Voss said bring me."
"You're not going anywhere."
"What about Sienna?"
"We'll find her."
"He'll kill her."
"We don't know that."
"I do."
She looked at me.
"You don't know Richard."
"Then help me."
She nodded.
"I met him once after your father died."
"What?"
Mason and I said it together.
"Where?"
"Arlington."
My blood chilled.
"Dad's funeral?"
She nodded.
"He was there?"
"Across the cemetery. I thought I was imagining it."
"Why didn't you tell anyone?"
"Because everyone said he was dead."
"What did he do?"
"Nothing. He just watched."
My fists clenched.
"And you still answered his email years later?"
Her shame was obvious.
"Yes."
I had no words.
A knock came at the command vehicle.
Colonel Thomas Grant stepped inside.
He had aged.
A lot.
Gray hair.
Deep lines around his eyes.
But his posture was still military straight.
He saw me and stopped.
"Jesus."
"Good to see you too, Colonel."
He smiled sadly.
"You look like your father."
"Everybody keeps saying that tonight."
His smile disappeared when he noticed my bruised cheek.
Then he saw Mom.
His expression changed completely.
"You."
Mom stiffened.
"Thomas."
Grant looked at the hardware key on the table.
"Where did you get that?"
"Andrew gave it to me."
Grant's face turned pale.
"You kept it?"
"Yes."
He sat down slowly.
I leaned forward.
"What does it open?"
Grant looked at Mason.
Then me.
"Not what."
A beat.
"Who."
I frowned.
"Explain."
"Nightglass wasn't originally the name of an operation."
Grant pointed at the tiny metal key.
"It was the name of a list."
"What list?"
"The identities of every American official, contractor, military family member, and financial intermediary Northstar compromised."
No one moved.
My mouth went dry.
"How many?"
"Over four hundred."
Mason whispered, "My God."
Grant looked at me.
"Your father stole the list before Voss could sell it."
"Where is it?"
"Encrypted."
"On what?"
"Andrew never told me."
"Then what does the key do?"
Grant looked straight into my eyes.
"It decrypts the first half."
"The first half?"
"There's another key."
"Where?"
Grant's gaze shifted toward Mason.
Then he spoke quietly.
"Your father gave it to the man he trusted to protect you."
I turned toward my fiancé.
Mason looked as confused as I felt.
Grant shook his head.
"Not Mason."
The door behind us opened.
Samuel Price stepped inside.
Grant's face changed.
He stood instantly.
"No."
Price froze.
Grant reached for his weapon.
"Thomas?" I said.
But Grant was staring at my father's attorney.
"You shouldn't be here."
Price's hands lifted.
"What are you doing?"
Grant's voice trembled with rage.
"Olivia..."
May you like
He never took his eyes off Price.
"That's not Samuel Price."
