Chapter 9 - THEY WERE WATCHING HER
Grace stared at her own name.
“What does ‘activation authorized’ mean?”
Nobody answered fast enough.
She turned.
“Tell me.”
Claire said, “It means somebody approved an operation involving you.”
“Kidnapping?”
“Possibly.”
“Murder?”
Claire hesitated.
Grace laughed without humor.
“Great.”
Ethan stood.
“We move now.”
“To where?” Grace asked.
“Safe house.”
“No.”
“Grace.”
“Every time you say safe house, something horrible happens.”
“This isn’t a discussion.”
“It should be.”
Marcus interrupted.
“He’s right.”
Grace stared at him.
“You too?”
“If they activated a file on you, this location may already be compromised.”
Dana’s computer beeped.
She looked at the screen.
“It is.”
“Explain,” Ethan said.
“Our network just received an unauthorized handshake request.”
Claire grabbed her phone.
“From where?”
Dana’s face tightened.
“Inside the building.”
Lights went out.
Darkness.
Then emergency lights flickered red.
Marcus pulled Grace behind cover.
Claire drew her weapon.
Ethan heard footsteps in the hallway.
Fast.
Professional.
Not police.
“Rear exit,” Marcus whispered.
The door blew inward.
Gunfire erupted.
Ethan returned fire toward the ceiling and walls, forcing the attackers back without exposing Grace.
“Move!”
They ran through a rear corridor.
Dana unlocked a service stairwell.
More footsteps below.
“They’re cutting us off,” Claire said.
Ethan looked upward.
“Roof.”
They climbed.
Grace was breathing hard but kept moving.
The rooftop door opened.
Cold air.
A helicopter waited on a neighboring building.
Too far.
Marcus looked over the edge.
“Parking garage. Eight-foot gap.”
Grace stared.
“You’re joking.”
“No.”
“I hate you.”
“Get in line.”
Marcus jumped first.
Then Claire.
Dana.
Grace stood at the edge.
Ethan grabbed her hand.
“Don’t look down.”
“That’s what people say when you absolutely should look down.”
“Grace.”
She jumped.
Marcus caught her.
Ethan followed.
Seconds later, the rooftop door behind them burst open.
They ran down the garage.
A black sedan waited.
Dana drove.
Grace collapsed into the seat.
“Is this your normal life?”
Ethan looked at her.
“No.”
“Good. It sucks.”
Despite the danger, Marcus laughed.
Grace looked toward Ethan.
“Why is your name in Keystone?”
“I don’t know.”
“You’re lying.”
“I’m not.”
“You always say that right before I find out you knew more.”
Ethan looked out the window.
She was right.
Again.
“I did work for Raymond once.”
Grace stared.
“What?”
“Not directly.”
“When?”
“Before your mother died.”
Marcus looked at Ethan.
“You never told me that.”
“Because it was classified.”
Claire frowned.
“Classified by who?”
Ethan answered.
“The federal government.”
He told them.
Fifteen years earlier, Mercer Global had been investigated for money laundering tied to foreign intelligence networks.
Ethan had been assigned as a private-sector security liaison.
Raymond discovered the investigation.
But instead of attacking Ethan, he befriended him.
“Laura figured out Raymond knew,” Ethan said.
Claire leaned forward.
“And Keystone?”
“I think Keystone began as counterintelligence.”
“Then Mercer stole it?”
“Or bought the people who ran it.”
Grace’s phone buzzed.
Everyone looked at it.
Her broken phone was gone.
This was a temporary device Dana had given her.
Unknown message.
Grace opened it.
A photograph appeared.
Taken seconds earlier.
Of their car.
From above.
Then another message.
YOU CAN’T PROTECT HER, ETHAN.
A third.
BRING THE DRIVE TO MERCER TOWER.
MIDNIGHT.
COME ALONE.
A fourth message arrived.
A live video.
Tyler Grant was tied to a chair.
Blood on his face.
Raymond Mercer stood behind him.
Raymond looked directly into the camera.
“Midnight, Ethan.”
He smiled.
“And if you’re one minute late, the boy dies first.”
May you like
Raymond leaned closer.
“Grace dies second.”
