Chapter 0 - 9: THE BETRAYAL ON CAMERA
Marcus did not defend himself.
That was the only reason Evan did not have him disarmed immediately.
“I was in London when that mattress was purchased,” Marcus said.
“So was I.”
“Yes.”
“And your jacket was here.”
“In my apartment above the security garage.”
“Who has access?”
“Security staff.”
Grace folded her arms.
“Meaning almost everyone we already suspect.”
Marcus looked at her.
“Meaning somebody wants Mr. Whitaker to suspect me.”
Evan stared at the photograph.
The buyer’s face was mostly hidden.
Height matched Marcus.
Build matched Marcus.
The watch did not.
Evan zoomed in.
“Stop.”
Marcus leaned closer.
The man wore a silver watch with a black face.
Marcus always wore his father’s old gold watch.
Evan remembered someone else wearing silver.
Owen Price.
They returned to the carriage house.
Owen was gone.
The guard outside lay unconscious but breathing.
No shots.
No alarm.
The subfloor hatch stood open.
Marcus stared at the empty room.
“He played us.”
Grace shook her head.
“No.”
Evan looked at her.
“He wanted us to think Thomas was the leak.”
“And?”
“He also wanted us to know Daniel was alive.”
“That helped us.”
“Exactly.”
Grace crouched beside the chair where Owen had sat.
“He gave us one truth to make the lie believable.”
Evan thought through every sentence Owen had said.
The package.
Thomas.
Daniel.
The added judges.
“What was the lie?” Marcus asked.
Grace looked at Evan.
“That Thomas ordered the package intercepted.”
Evan’s phone rang.
His attorney, Nathan Cole, was calling.
Evan answered.
“You need to see the petition Vanessa just filed.”
“I have already seen one.”
“Not this one.”
Nathan’s voice was tight.
“She is asking the court to appoint Thomas Whitaker temporary trustee over the children’s assets.”
Evan closed his eyes.
Grace was right.
If Vanessa wanted Thomas appointed, framing him as the secret mastermind made no sense.
Unless she expected Evan to attack Thomas first and destroy his own credibility.
“Where is Thomas?”
“I cannot reach him.”
“Find him.”
“I am trying.”
Evan ended the call.
Marcus looked at him.
“Thomas may be a target too.”
“Or a willing participant.”
“We need proof.”
Grace stood.
“The rabbit.”
Evan frowned.
“What?”
“The flash drive was hidden inside Caleb’s rabbit.”
“We watched the only file.”
“No.”
Grace’s eyes sharpened.
“We watched the only file the computer showed us.”
Marcus understood first.
“Hidden partition.”
They returned to the offline system.
Marcus’s technician examined the drive sector by sector.
Twenty minutes later, a second encrypted volume appeared.
Password protected.
Evan stared at it.
“What would Rachel use?”
Grace looked at him.
“Something you would know but Harbor would not.”
Evan tried birthdays.
Wrong.
Anniversary.
Wrong.
Sophie’s middle name.
Wrong.
Caleb’s birth weight.
Wrong.
Then he remembered the first flower Rachel ever planted at the north greenhouse.
White orchids.
He typed PHALAENOPSIS.
Access granted.
Grace laughed once in disbelief.
“Of course she used a flower you cannot spell without hating her.”
Evan almost smiled.
Then the folder opened.
There were hundreds of files.
Bank transfers.
Custody orders.
Medical evaluations.
Photographs.
Audio recordings.
And a ledger titled HARBOR ACTIVE.
Marcus opened it.
Names filled the screen.
Judges.
Doctors.
Lawyers.
Private security contractors.
Politicians.
Evan recognized several men who had eaten at his table.
Grace pointed at one column.
“Status.”
Some names were marked ASSET.
Others were marked CLIENT.
A few were marked CONTROLLED.
Then Marcus scrolled to the W section.
WHITAKER, THOMAS — CONTROLLED.
Evan stared.
Not asset.
Not client.
Controlled.
“What does that mean?”
Grace shook her head.
“I do not know.”
Marcus scrolled farther.
WHITAKER, EVAN — UNAWARE.
Evan’s stomach tightened.
Then he saw Rachel’s name.
WHITAKER, RACHEL — COMPROMISED / TERMINATED.
Grace went pale.
“Terminated?”
Evan’s eyes moved lower.
VALE, VANESSA — ASSET.
VALE, GRACE — DISPOSABLE.
Grace stopped breathing.
Marcus scrolled one line farther.
CROSS, DANIEL — DEFECTOR.
Then another.
PRICE, OWEN — HANDLER.
The room went silent.
Owen had not been working for Thomas.
He had been handling the people around him.
Marcus opened Owen’s associated file.
A photograph appeared.
Owen stood beside Miriam Vale at a private airport.
The date was two weeks before Rachel’s crash.
Then Evan saw the final attachment.
A payment authorization signed by the founder of Harbor.
The signature was old.
The ink had been scanned from a document dated twenty-six years earlier.
Evan knew the handwriting.
He had seen it on birthday cards as a child.
His father’s name sat beneath it.
Charles Whitaker.
Grace whispered, “Your father founded Harbor.”
Evan stared at the screen.
Then the burner phone lit up.
May you like
A new message from Rachel appeared.
NOW YOU UNDERSTAND WHY I HAD TO DIE.
