Chapter 14 - THE LAST BETRAYAL
The Coast Guard intercepted Victoria twenty-two miles from Florida.
She had three passports.
Two hundred thousand dollars in cash.
A satellite phone.
And the original ledger.
She also had one more thing.
A recording.
My grandfather’s voice.
Hale played it for me the next morning.
Arthur Morgan looked directly into a camera.
Older.
Tired.
Afraid.
“If Claire is seeing this, then they found her.”
My throat tightened.
He continued.
“The system I built was meant to protect soldiers. Men inside our own government tried to sell it.”
Pike.
Maybe others.
“I divided the encryption key into thirteen pieces. Claire has the final sequence because she is the only person I trusted never to sell it.”
I looked away.
All those birthday cards.
Numbers I thought were nonsense.
He had hidden something enormous inside something ordinary.
Hale paused the recording.
“There’s more.”
My grandfather appeared again.
“Do not trust anyone who tells you this is about money.”
I thought of Daniel.
Victoria.
Pike.
Rebecca.
Nicole.
All the lives destroyed.
My grandfather’s final words were simple.
“Burn the key.”
Hale looked at me.
“The government will request access.”
“Can they compel me?”
“They can try.”
“What would you do?”
He exhaled.
“That isn’t my decision.”
For the first time since the honeymoon began, nobody was pointing a gun at me.
Nobody was chasing me.
Nobody was lying about loving me.
The choice was mine.
Three weeks later, I entered my old military storage unit.
The final birthday card was still inside a battered copy of The Count of Monte Cristo.
I removed it.
Thirteen numbers.
The last piece.
A black SUV stopped outside.
Hale stiffened.
“That isn’t my team.”
Four men stepped out.
One showed credentials.
“Department of Defense.”
He held out his hand.
“Ms. Morgan, we’ll take possession of the card.”
I looked at Hale.
He shook his head slightly.
The man stepped closer.
“That material belongs to the United States government.”
I tore the card in half.
His face changed.
“What are you doing?”
I tore it again.
Then again.
He reached for me.
Hale stepped between us.
“Back up.”
I pulled a lighter from my pocket.
The man shouted.
I ignited the pieces.
Flames crawled across my grandfather’s handwriting.
Within seconds, the final key became ash.
The man stared at me.
“You have no idea what you just destroyed.”
I watched the ashes fall.
“Yes, I do.”
My phone rang.
Federal detention center.
Daniel was asking to speak with me.
Hale frowned.
“Don’t.”
I answered anyway.
Daniel’s voice came quietly through the phone.
“Claire.”
“What?”
“You think burning that card ended this?”
“Yes.”
He laughed.
“No, sweetheart.”
I closed my eyes.
“What now?”
“Ask Agent Hale why your grandfather chose him to investigate me.”
I slowly turned toward Marcus Hale.
May you like
Daniel whispered one final sentence.
“He knew your grandfather.”
