Chapter 16 - BLOODLINES
We crawled across the cabin floor as three more rounds tore through the windows.
Tyler rolled behind the kitchen counter.
Yates pressed himself against the wall.
I reached the breaker panel and killed the emergency backup before it could come on.
Darkness became protection.
Outside, someone moved through wet leaves.
One shooter.
Maybe two.
I signaled Tyler toward the rear door.
He shook his head.
I pointed harder.
For once, he obeyed.
Yates followed him.
I stayed near the front with Vance on silent call through my earpiece.
He was six minutes away.
We did not have six minutes.
A shadow moved past the porch.
I fired once into the doorframe beside it.
The figure dropped back.
Not hit.
Warned.
Then a voice called from outside.
"Claire Bradley!"
Keller.
I had never met him, but Tyler's reaction confirmed it.
"You don't need to die tonight," Keller said.
"Generous."
"Send Yates out."
"No."
"He is the target, not you."
"Then your aim is terrible."
Keller laughed.
"Your father wants you alive."
"Which father?"
Silence.
That confused him.
Good.
I moved toward the side window.
"Richard? Daniel? William Cole?"
Keller did not answer.
"I've had a complicated day."
Tyler whispered from behind the counter.
"You are insane."
I ignored him.
"Who sent you?"
Keller answered after a pause.
"The man who raised you."
Daniel.
I felt the floor disappear beneath me again.
"Say his name."
"Daniel Hale."
Tyler mouthed a curse.
Yates looked terrified.
I did not believe Keller automatically.
But Daniel had already admitted to plans inside plans.
He had used explosives without hesitation.
He had built contingency files on everyone.
And if Yates knew my real paternity, Daniel had a reason to silence him.
"Why does Daniel want Yates dead?"
Keller laughed softly.
"Ask him."
Then the rear window exploded.
A flash device bounced across the floor.
I kicked it under the table and covered my ears.
The blast still shook the room.
Keller came through the side door.
Tyler tackled him before he cleared the frame.
They hit the floor hard.
Keller was stronger.
Tyler was angrier.
For three seconds, anger won.
I struck Keller's wrist and his pistol skidded away.
Yates grabbed it.
Keller froze.
Then headlights flooded the cabin.
Vance arrived with Keene.
Keller surrendered when he saw the second team behind them.
We restrained him at the kitchen table.
Blood ran from Tyler's lip.
He looked pleased with himself.
"I helped."
"Do not make this a personality milestone."
He smiled anyway.
Vance questioned Keller.
"Who hired you tonight?"
Keller looked at Daniel, who had arrived with the second vehicle.
Then he smiled.
Daniel's face changed.
"You lying bastard."
Keller laughed.
"Good to see you too."
I stepped between them.
"Did Daniel hire you?"
"Years ago."
"Tonight."
"No."
Daniel exhaled sharply.
Keller continued.
"But I knew saying his name would slow you down."
I almost hit him.
Instead, I asked the only useful question.
"Who hired you tonight?"
"William Cole."
Yates made a sound behind me.
I turned.
"He's dead."
Yates shook his head.
"No."
Daniel closed his eyes.
There it was again.
Another secret he knew.
I looked at him.
"Is William Cole alive?"
Daniel answered quietly.
"Yes."
Tyler laughed in disbelief.
"Does anyone in this family actually die?"
No one answered.
I stared at Daniel.
"You told me Richard changed coordinates to kill William Cole."
"He tried."
"You said Cole extracted you."
"He did."
"Then where has he been for twenty-five years?"
"Running the network from outside government."
I felt sick.
"Richard isn't the top."
Daniel shook his head.
"Never was."
The entire structure rearranged itself.
Richard's corruption.
Martin Cole's protection.
Senator Adrian Cole's political influence.
Rourke's access.
All of them might answer to the older man everyone believed died decades earlier.
"And I'm his daughter?"
Daniel looked at Yates.
Yates nodded slowly.
"The real test says so."
I turned back to Daniel.
"You knew?"
"I suspected."
"For thirty-three years?"
"Yes."
"And you still used me as a memory vault."
His face tightened.
"You were my daughter."
"Then why didn't you tell me the truth?"
"Because William Cole would have used you."
I almost laughed.
"Unlike you?"
He had no answer.
Keller watched us with amusement.
I hated giving him the show.
"Where is William Cole?" I asked.
Keller shrugged.
"He moves."
"Where tonight?"
"Charleston."
Of course.
The ship.
The archive.
Everything led there.
Vance asked, "What does he want?"
Keller looked at me.
"Her."
"Why?"
"Because the seed keys belong to his network."
Daniel snapped, "They never belonged to him."
Keller smiled.
"He disagrees."
I leaned closer.
"If William Cole wants me alive, why shoot at the cabin?"
"We weren't shooting at you."
He looked at Yates.
"He was the correction."
Yates went pale.
"Why?"
"Because you gave her the wrong truth at the wrong time."
Wrong truth.
I hated the phrase.
"What does that mean?"
Keller smiled.
"The DNA test is real."
"Yates said it was manipulated."
"Yates was told it was manipulated."
I turned toward him.
Yates looked confused.
Keller continued.
"William Cole is your biological father."
"Prove it."
"He can."
"Where?"
"Charleston."
A message appeared on my phone at that exact moment.
No sender.
A photograph loaded.
An old man stood on the deck of a cargo ship.
Silver hair.
Cane in one hand.
My eyes.
The caption contained six words.
COME HOME, CLAIRE.
BRING THE SEED.
I deleted the message.
Then I looked at Vance.
"We're going to Charleston."
Daniel stepped forward.
"That's what he wants."
"I know."
"Then don't go."
I looked at every man in that room who had spent my life deciding what I should know, where I should go, and what risks I was allowed to take.
"I'm done letting fathers make my decisions."
May you like
No one argued.
