Chapter 7: Harper’s Secret
Naomi ordered the hospital locked down.
Every employee badge was checked. Every entrance was covered. Violet was moved to a guarded room under an assumed name.
Harper sat alone in a consultation room.
I stood across from her.
“No more lies.”
She stared at her hands.
“Three months ago, Daniel approached me outside my office. He showed me photographs from Ashfall and a report accusing you of killing civilians.”
“And you believed him?”
“I believed he could make the world believe it.”
Her voice trembled.
“He said Voss had judges, police officers, journalists, and people inside the Pentagon. He said they could send you to prison before you ever had a chance to defend yourself.”
“What did he demand?”
“The watch.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“You were overseas on an operation you could barely discuss. I was terrified that calling you would put you in more danger.”
“So you met Daniel secretly.”
“Four times.”
“In the parking garage?”
She nodded.
“Violet followed me during the last meeting. She thought I was having an affair.”
Harper covered her face.
“She recorded Daniel threatening me. He saw her before she could leave.”
That explained everything.
Violet had not simply been home at the wrong time.
She had possessed evidence.
“Where is the recording?”
“I don’t know. Daniel took her phone today, but Violet always backed up important files.”
I thought about the open backpack.
The missing memory card.
The crushed birthday-card envelope.
“Why did Daniel believe the watch was inside the house?”
“Because Violet sent him a photograph of it.”
I stared at her.
“She contacted him?”
“She wanted him to know she had proof. She thought it would make him leave us alone.”
Harper’s phone rang again.
Daniel’s name appeared.
Naomi activated a recording device and nodded for Harper to answer.
“Daniel?”
“Bring the watch,” he said.
His voice sounded strained.
“Where are you?”
“The old Sentinel distribution center near Route Nine.”
“Let me speak to Violet’s attacker.”
A pause.
“I no longer control those men.”
“Then who does?”
Daniel breathed heavily.
“Voss.”
The line went silent for several seconds.
Then Daniel whispered, “Harper, you need to understand something. I did not order them to hurt her that badly.”
My vision darkened.
Harper looked at me.
“Is Violet’s recording still alive?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“Where?”
Daniel did not answer.
A loud impact came through the phone.
Then another man’s voice spoke.
“Mrs. Cole, bring the watch within one hour.”
The call ended.
Naomi began organizing a tactical team.
Harper stood.
“I have to go.”
“No.”
“They will kill someone.”
“They already tried.”
She reached into her purse and removed a second phone.
“I activated location sharing before I answered Daniel.”
On the screen, a blue dot moved across the hospital parking garage.
Someone had taken Daniel’s phone.
Someone was already inside the building.
Then the lights went out.
In the darkness, I heard Harper scream.
When the emergency lights returned, her chair was empty.
May you like
The consultation-room door stood open.
A trail of blood led toward the stairwell.
