Chapter 16 - The Dead Agent
Mark Bell had not died at Pier 19.
The body recovered that night was burned beyond recognition and identified through a badge and dental records later proven to have been altered.
Mark disappeared.
Just like Daniel.
But for a different reason.
Daniel had run from the conspiracy.
Mark joined it.
Federal databases showed no legal life after his supposed death.
Maria Valez's hidden phone did.
Messages stretched back eleven years.
M.B.
Instructions.
Payments.
Security schedules.
The manor fire.
Mark Bell had spent twelve years letting Vincent, Pike, Elias, Richard Shaw, and even Adrian blame one another while he gathered pieces of the old network.
"Why?" Nora asked.
Daniel answered.
"Because he wanted the evidence destroyed before anyone learned he was the federal leak."
Mark had been the agent Daniel planned to meet.
He was also the man secretly warning Vincent Vale about the investigation.
Daniel discovered the betrayal on Pier 19.
Adrian's false location did not kill Mark.
It helped Mark fake his death.
Adrian sat very still.
"I carried that for twelve years."
Daniel looked at him.
"So did I."
For the first time, the two men understood they had both been manipulated by the same ghost.
Maria Valez was arrested at Vale Manor.
She gave investigators an address in exchange for protection.
A farmhouse outside Worcester.
Mark Bell was there.
He had one hostage.
Evelyn.
Again.
"Why her?" Nora asked.
Maria looked ashamed.
"Because Evelyn knew Mark's real face from years ago."
Nora stared.
"She knew he was alive?"
"Since Claire's funeral."
Another secret.
Another person who had decided Nora could not handle the truth.
They reached the farmhouse before dawn.
Mark spoke through a camera at the gate.
"Daniel comes in. Alone."
Nora grabbed her father's arm.
"No."
Daniel looked at her.
"I owe Evelyn."
"You owe me too."
He touched her cheek.
May you like
"I know."
Then he walked toward the farmhouse.
