Chapter 13: Harper’s Last Truth
Harper asked everyone except Naomi and me to leave the auditorium.
She watched the old video again.
“I was working with a Justice Department investigator,” she said.
I stared at her.
“Three years ago, Daniel contacted me for the first time. He wanted the watch. I reported the threat.”
“To whom?”
“Agent Thomas Bell.”
I remembered the name.
Bell had died in a highway accident eighteen months earlier.
“Bell asked me to cooperate,” Harper continued. “He believed Voss was using Sentinel to target former soldiers and their families.”
“The envelope you gave Voss?”
“Fake medical records and a copied deployment schedule. Bell wanted to trace where the information went.”
Naomi studied the screen.
“Why was this operation never recorded?”
“It was. Bell kept the file outside official systems because he believed there was a leak.”
“And after he died?”
“I received a photograph of his body before the crash was reported. A message said Mason and Violet would be next.”
Harper’s voice cracked.
“I stopped cooperating. I thought silence would protect us.”
“It did not,” I said.
“No.”
She looked toward the hospital bracelet still wrapped around my wrist.
“My fear gave Daniel access to our home. I will carry that for the rest of my life.”
Naomi opened Bell’s name in Violet’s files.
A hidden document appeared.
Bell had created an emergency release package before his death.
It contained financial records connecting Voss to Grant, Daniel, Sloane, and several government contractors.
It also revealed that Voss had scheduled a meeting at his private airfield before leaving the country.
He intended to trade the original Ashfall evidence to an international buyer in exchange for protection.
“He still believes we have the watch,” Naomi said.
“We can use that,” I answered.
Harper looked at me.
“You are not going alone.”
“This began because people kept trying to protect one another with secrets.”
I handed her Bell’s small recording device.
“No more secrets.”
That night, Harper contacted Voss and offered the watch in exchange for immunity for our family.
He agreed to meet at the airfield.
Naomi positioned federal teams beyond the perimeter.
Harper and I approached the hangar together.
Voss stood beneath the wing of a private jet.
Daniel was beside him.
His injured shoulder was bandaged.
He had disappeared from the hospital before federal agents could relocate him.
Voss smiled.
“Welcome home, Sergeant Cole.”
I looked at Daniel.
“You chose him again.”
Daniel’s eyes lowered.
Voss held out his hand.
“The watch.”
Before I could answer, a car entered the hangar.
Detective Grant stepped out of the driver’s seat.
May you like
He had escaped federal custody during transport.
And Violet was sitting in the back seat.
