Chapter 14 - The Third Side
The shot missed Keene by inches.
Keene was suddenly less calm.
“Who was that?”
I almost laughed.
“You tell me.”
He genuinely didn’t know.
That meant there was another player.
Dana’s team traced the abandoned rifle.
Whitmore Security inventory.
Issued to Dominic Rusk.
Evelyn Whitmore’s personal driver.
Not Richard.
Not Pike.
Evelyn.
We arrested Keene.
He shouted about immunity.
Nobody listened.
The black case returned to my hands.
Inside the sealed envelope was a note from Sarah.
Michael,
If you ever open this, the thing you feared came back.
Ben gave me something before he died. I hid it where only you would understand.
Trust Lily before you trust your badge.
We returned to my old house.
I had kept Sarah’s cedar box in the attic.
Lily came with me.
We found the Easter card.
Cartoon rabbit.
Ben’s handwriting:
To Michael, Sarah, and little Lily - don’t let the bad eggs win.
I groaned.
“Ben always thought he was funny.”
Lily turned the card over.
A tiny strip of metal was taped under the fold.
Not a key.
A micro storage device.
Dana’s cyber team isolated it.
Encrypted.
Password hint:
WHAT LILY CALLED ME FIRST.
Lily frowned.
“I was three.”
Ben brought her a stuffed bear.
She could not say godfather.
She called him Goofy.
Password: GOOFY.
The archive opened.
Bank records.
Audio.
Video.
Names.
Judges.
Contractors.
Federal employees.
Whitmore executives.
And one folder labeled CONTINUITY.
Dana clicked it.
Current payments.
Last week.
Evelyn Whitmore had been sending money to Thomas Keene.
But Keene was also receiving payments from someone else.
A company called Calder Strategic.
I knew the name.
So did Dana.
Calder was run by former federal contractors.
Ethan Cole among them.
The third side was not protecting Whitmore.
It was extorting them.
The archive held one recent audio file.
Evelyn’s voice:
“If Michael Ward activates, we lose everything.”
A man answered:
May you like
“No. If Ward activates, we finally find the archive.”
They had wanted me to open the black case all along.
