Chapter 4 - THE MAN IN THE WEDDING PHOTOGRAPH
Jessica's wedding photograph was still displayed on her phone.
A hundred smiling faces.
White flowers.
Champagne.
A perfect afternoon.
And somewhere behind all of them stood the man in the gray coat.
Jessica enlarged the image.
Her fingers shook.
“There.”
Reed leaned closer.
I couldn't sit up far enough to see.
“Who is he?”
Jessica swallowed.
“I don't know.”
“Think.”
“I've never spoken to him.”
“Then why do you remember him?”
“Because he was watching you.”
The room went silent.
Reed looked at me.
I already knew what that meant.
Someone had been tracking me long before I came home.
“Show me,” I said.
Jessica turned the phone toward me.
The photograph showed the garden behind my parents' house.
Jessica and her fiancé stood beneath the arch.
Guests gathered around them.
And twenty feet behind the groom was the man.
Gray coat.
Dark glasses.
Black bracelet.
I recognized the posture.
Not the face.
The way he stood was familiar.
Military.
Not American.
I whispered, “Zoom his left hand.”
Jessica did.
There was a ring.
A narrow silver band.
Engraved with two numbers.
Reed's expression changed.
“You know that insignia?”
“Yes.”
“What is it?”
“A unit number.”
“Which unit?”
I stared at the photograph.
“Not ours.”
Reed understood immediately.
He stepped outside and made a call.
Jessica sat beside me.
“You knew someone was coming.”
“I suspected.”
“You came home anyway.”
“I thought home was the safest place.”
She looked toward the hallway.
“It's not.”
“No.”
The door opened.
Two agents entered.
One carried my coat.
Reed took it.
He searched the inner seam and removed a tiny plastic capsule.
Jessica stared.
“What is that?”
“Nothing she can discuss.”
Reed opened it.
Inside was a microfilm strip.
Jessica frowned.
“That tiny thing caused all this?”
“No.”
Reed looked at me.
“What it contains caused all this.”
I whispered, “Destroy it.”
Reed shook his head.
“Can't.”
“Why?”
“Because we finally know what they're after.”
My chest tightened.
“What?”
“Names.”
I closed my eyes.
The mission came back in fragments.
A warehouse.
A burned convoy.
A dead handler.
A child hiding under a desk.
And a list.
Names of people who had been moved through an illegal network.
I had been ordered to retrieve the list.
Instead, I found something worse.
A second list.
American names.
People who had helped make the network possible.
I had never known who the names belonged to.
Until now.
Reed placed the microfilm on the table.
“One name has been identified.”
I opened my eyes.
“Who?”
He looked at Jessica.
Then at me.
“Your father.”
The room stopped breathing.
Jessica stood.
“No.”
Dad's voice suddenly came from the doorway.
“What did you say?”
Reed turned.
“Mr. Bennett.”
Dad's face had gone white.
“What did you say about me?”
Reed didn't answer.
Dad looked at me.
“You've been investigating me?”
“No.”
“You brought federal agents into my home?”
“I didn't.”
“Then what is this?”
His voice cracked.
I stared at him.
“Dad, where were you twelve years ago?”
He froze.
Jessica looked between us.
“Twelve years ago?”
Dad shook his head.
“Don't do this.”
“What happened at the Baltimore freight terminal?”
Mom appeared behind him.
Her face changed.
Dad turned toward her.
“Tell her.”
Mom whispered, “Not here.”
Jessica looked horrified.
“What are you talking about?”
Dad closed his eyes.
“I made one mistake.”
I said, “One?”
His shoulders dropped.
“One decision.”
Reed stepped closer.
“What decision?”
Dad didn't answer.
Mom did.
“He signed a shipping authorization.”
“For what?”
Mom looked at me.
“For medical supplies.”
Reed's eyes narrowed.
“That wasn't what was shipped.”
Dad looked at him.
“You don't understand.”
“I understand enough.”
Dad's voice broke.
“I was told people would die if I refused.”
I stared at him.
“Who told you?”
He looked toward Jessica.
Then toward me.
And finally at the silver watch.
“The man wearing that watch.”
Reed's face hardened.
“That man has been dead for three years.”
Dad shook his head.
“No.”
He pointed at the photograph.
“He's alive.”
Everyone turned.
Dad whispered the name.
“Elias Voss.”
Reed went still.
I felt the blood drain from my face.
Because Elias Voss wasn't supposed to be alive.
May you like
And I had personally watched him disappear beneath burning steel.
Then the hospital lights went out.
