CHAPTER 17 A HOUSE BUILT TO WATCH THEM
Chief Douglas Reed arrived twenty-three minutes later with a team Daniel had personally verified through three independent federal offices.
No one entered the house until Mara checked every badge.
The fake paramedics had disappeared.
Only the damaged vehicle and two unconscious attackers remained.
Both men had suffered complete memory loss after being exposed to chemicals hidden inside their uniforms.
Rebecca stood in the kitchen doorway while investigators removed the broken windows.
Daniel noticed her trembling hands.
“Sit down.”
“I’m fine.”
“You died three months ago.”
“For less than two minutes.”
“That is not the reassuring argument you think it is.”
Rebecca almost smiled.
Then a technician called from the living room.
“Mr. Mercer, you need to see this.”
A section of the wall had been opened beside the fireplace.
Inside were twelve surveillance transmitters.
Each was smaller than a fingernail.
Reed stared at the wiring.
“These weren’t installed recently.”
“How long?” Mara asked.
The technician examined the dust beneath the cables.
“Some are at least eight years old.”
Daniel looked around the room.
Eight years.
The house had been watching them before Rebecca returned.
Before Emily married Charles.
Before Mara reappeared.
They found cameras inside the smoke detectors, the kitchen lights, the doorbell, and the old maple tree.
The camera in the tree had captured every Thursday morning Mara spent at Daniel’s table.
It had captured Rebecca’s recovery.
Emily’s divorce conversations.
Every attempt to become a family again.
Daniel walked into the kitchen and opened the satellite case.
The phone remained active.
The twelve-section symbol covered the screen.
One section was marked with a white cross.
Cross Seven.
The Whitmore section.
It was no longer black.
It had turned gray.
Eliminated.
Another section began pulsing.
A photograph appeared.
A white stone estate stood behind iron gates.
Beneath the photograph was a family portrait.
A silver-haired man.
A woman in a dark blue dress.
Two adult sons.
A teenage girl.
Rebecca moved closer.
“The Vales.”
“You know them?” Emily asked.
“Everyone knows them. The Vale Foundation controls hospitals, witness-protection housing, medical charities, and emergency relocation programs.”
Mara studied the image.
“They could move a person anywhere without creating a public record.”
A digital clock appeared beneath the family portrait.
8:00:00.
Then it began counting down.
7:59:59.
7:59:58.
A message followed.
ONE HOUSE WILL BURN BEFORE MIDNIGHT.
Reed swore under his breath.
“Could be a threat.”
“It could be a warning,” Daniel said.
Emily enlarged the image.
A black symbol had been carved into the gate.
It contained twelve sections.
The Vale section was marked with the number Three.
“Gate Three,” Mara said.
Daniel turned toward Reed.
“Where is this estate?”
“North of Baltimore. About ninety minutes from here.”
Reed immediately contacted federal teams in Maryland.
No one answered at the Vale estate.
The local police reported that the property’s security system had locked them outside.
Daniel looked at the countdown.
Seven hours and forty-three minutes remained.
“Someone wants us there.”
Rebecca touched the scar above her heart.
A faint electronic vibration moved beneath her skin.
She gasped.
Daniel caught her arm.
“What is it?”
“The implant.”
“I thought it was disabled.”
“So did I.”
Rebecca closed her eyes.
The vibration repeated.
Three short pulses.
Then one long pulse.
Mara held the satellite phone near Rebecca’s chest.
The screen reacted.
A map appeared.
A red line connected Daniel’s house to the Vale estate.
The implant was communicating with the phone.
Rebecca looked frightened.
“They’re using me as a compass.”
Daniel shut the case.
“Then we don’t follow their route.”
They left through three separate vehicles and changed directions twice.
Reed sent federal units ahead.
By the time Daniel, Rebecca, Emily, and Mara reached the Vale property, the countdown showed two hours and eleven minutes.
The estate was dark.
Every gate stood open.
No police officers were visible.
No federal vehicles waited near the road.
“Where are Reed’s teams?” Emily asked.
Mara checked the radio.
“Signal is blocked.”
They continued on foot.
The front doors of the estate were unlocked.
Inside, a dining table had been prepared for five people.
Five plates.
Five glasses of wine.
Five folded black napkins.
Daniel counted the chairs.
“The Vale family has five members.”
Rebecca touched one of the plates.
“The food is still warm.”
A grandfather clock struck nine.
Every light in the house turned on.
The Vale family sat around the dining table.
None of them moved.
The silver-haired father rested at the head.
His wife sat beside him.
Their sons faced each other.
The teenage girl’s eyes remained open.
Emily covered her mouth.
Mara checked their pulses.
“All dead.”
Daniel noticed that each person held a photograph.
The photographs showed Daniel’s family inside their house.
Sleeping.
Eating.
Laughing beneath the maple tree.
The final image showed Daniel standing in the kitchen less than an hour earlier.
A phone began ringing somewhere beneath the table.
Daniel followed the sound.
It came from the dead father’s jacket.
He removed the phone and looked at the screen.
The incoming caller was identified by a name Daniel had not used in sixteen years.
DANIEL CROSS.
Mara saw it.
Her expression changed.
“Dad…”
Daniel answered.
A man whispered through the speaker.
“You were late again, Cross.”
Daniel recognized the voice.
May you like
It belonged to Jonas Vale.
The dead man sitting directly in front of him.
