Chapter 15 - THE BROTHER WHO RAN
Tyler vanished with the vehicle we had used to reach the chapel.
He took one encrypted phone.
He also took the only copy of the DNA report photograph he had shown Daniel earlier.
Rourke survived the shooting long enough to reach a field hospital.
He refused to speak again.
Whether from fear, loyalty, or pain, I could not tell.
The weapon that shot him was found in the grass.
It belonged to Tyler.
That looked conclusive.
I did not trust it for one second.
Richard had spent an entire day building crimes around other people's credentials.
A gun with Tyler's prints was almost too convenient.
Vance agreed.
"We find Tyler before Richard does."
"Or before Cole does."
Daniel sat on the chapel steps watching the rain.
I did not know what to call him anymore.
Dad felt stolen.
Daniel felt cruel.
Hale felt dishonest in a different way.
So I called him nothing.
"Where would Tyler go?" I asked.
Daniel looked up.
"Somewhere he thinks Richard cannot reach."
"That place doesn't exist."
"Tyler doesn't know that."
I thought about the few times we had been close as children.
Not many.
Richard had encouraged competition between us because comparison kept both of us looking toward him.
But there had been one place Richard hated.
Our grandmother's cabin near Jordan Lake.
My mother's mother had never liked Richard.
She called him "the peacock" when he was not around.
Tyler found that hilarious when he was twelve.
For two summers, we escaped there together.
No uniforms.
No West Point talk.
No Bradley legacy.
Just lake water, mosquitoes, and Grandma's terrible pancakes.
"I know where he went."
The cabin had been empty since Grandma moved into assisted living.
We arrived near midnight.
A light burned inside.
I entered alone.
Tyler sat at the kitchen table holding a glass of bourbon.
The pistol in front of him was not the one used on Rourke.
He looked at me.
"Took you long enough."
"Everyone keeps saying that today."
I closed the door.
"Did you shoot Rourke?"
"No."
"Why run?"
"Because Dad told me to."
I stared.
"Explain."
Tyler slid his phone across the table.
A message from Richard appeared.
ROURKE IS GOING TO KILL CLAIRE.
GET HER OUT.
A second message followed.
IF YOU FAIL, SHE DIES BECAUSE OF YOU.
Tyler laughed bitterly.
"Still knows which buttons work."
"What happened?"
"I went outside looking for Rourke."
"With your gun."
"Yes."
"Then?"
"Keller hit me from behind."
He touched a bruise near his hairline.
"When I woke up, the gun was gone and Rourke was bleeding."
That fit Richard's pattern.
Use Tyler's loyalty.
Turn it into evidence.
Then force him to run.
"Why take the phone?"
"Because I knew nobody would believe me."
"I might have."
He looked at me.
"Would you?"
I did not answer.
He nodded.
"Exactly."
I sat across from him.
"Show me the DNA report."
Tyler opened a photograph.
The document looked authentic.
Laboratory header.
Chain-of-custody section.
Two sample codes.
Paternity probability 99.8 percent.
But something bothered me.
The sample labeled CLAIRE BRADLEY had been collected two weeks earlier.
I had not given a sample.
"How did they get my DNA?"
Tyler shrugged.
"Dad has your hairbrush?"
"I haven't lived in his house in eleven years."
Then I remembered the Officers' Club.
The gin and tonic.
I had taken the glass from the bar, delivered it to Senator Cole, and later eaten at the table.
A fork.
A glass.
A napkin.
Easy biological material.
"Three nights ago," I said.
Tyler nodded slowly.
"That makes sense."
I zoomed in on the chain-of-custody entry.
Collector initials: TM.
Thomas Yates?
I called Vance.
"Find Major Yates."
There was a pause.
"We can't."
"What do you mean?"
"He disappeared during the Pentagon takeover."
Of course he did.
Yates had been nervous from the beginning.
He had exposed Richard's old archive package.
He had also been perfectly positioned to plant evidence.
"Search hospitals, hotels, rental cars, everything."
"Working."
Tyler poured another drink.
I took the bottle away.
"I am not carrying you through this drunk."
"You really are Dad's daughter."
The sentence hit differently now.
Tyler regretted it immediately.
"Sorry."
I sat down again.
"Did Richard know about the report before this morning?"
"Yes."
"How did he react?"
Tyler looked almost amused.
"He stared at it for ten minutes."
"Then?"
"He burned one copy."
"Why?"
"He said Daniel had stolen everything from him."
My stomach turned.
Richard did not see me as a daughter.
He saw me as property someone else had raised.
That was worse.
"Did he ever say he loved me?"
Tyler's face softened unexpectedly.
"No."
I looked away.
"Good."
He did not believe me.
Neither did I.
A car approached outside.
Headlights moved through the trees.
Tyler reached for the pistol.
I stopped him.
"Stay here."
"Claire—"
"For once in your life, follow an order."
I moved to the window.
One vehicle.
Old pickup.
The driver stepped out.
Major Thomas Yates.
He raised both hands before reaching the porch.
I opened the door with my weapon ready.
"Come inside."
Yates looked exhausted.
He had changed out of uniform.
"I can explain."
"Everyone says that too."
He entered.
Tyler stared at him.
"You gave me that DNA report."
Yates nodded.
"I did."
"Is it real?" I asked.
He looked at me.
"The laboratory exists."
"That wasn't my question."
"The test was manipulated."
The cabin went silent.
Tyler stood.
"What?"
Yates took a step back.
"General Bradley ordered it."
"Richard ordered a fake report saying he was my father?"
"Not exactly."
"Then exactly what?"
Yates swallowed.
"He ordered two reports."
I felt cold.
"Two?"
"One real."
"And one fake."
"Yes."
"Which one did Tyler receive?"
"The fake."
Tyler stared at the phone.
"Why?"
Yates looked at him.
"To turn you against Daniel."
I stepped closer.
"What did the real report say?"
Yates's face went pale.
"Claire, you need to understand—"
"Say it."
He did.
"Neither Daniel Hale nor Richard Bradley is your biological father."
Tyler sat down hard.
I did not move.
"Then who is?"
Yates looked toward the dark window.
"William Cole."
Senator Adrian Cole's father.
The man everyone said died in Afghanistan.
The man Richard claimed he tried to kill.
The man Daniel claimed had extracted him.
According to Yates, he was also my father.
Then the cabin lights went out.
A red laser dot appeared on Yates's chest.
I hit him before the shot came.
May you like
The bullet shattered the window behind us.
