We reached the old company headquarters just before dawn.
The building had been renovated years earlier, but parts of the original structure remained.
Mercer led us through a service entrance.
Harris kept him directly in front of him.
"Any surprises, you're going down."
Mercer nodded.
"I understand."
The hallway smelled of dust and old concrete.
Noah walked beside me.
Tyler stayed close to Harris.
We reached a stairwell.
Mercer stopped.
"Below us."
"Basement?"
"Archive level."
The door was locked.
Mercer produced a key.
Harris took it from him.
"Where did you get this?"
"Michael gave it to me."
The door opened.
Rows of filing cabinets filled the basement.
Most were empty.
At the far end stood a newer metal door.
Mercer pointed.
"Behind that."
Harris opened it.
A room appeared beyond.
There was a table.
Two chairs.
A small refrigerator.
Medical supplies.
And photographs covering one wall.
Noah stopped breathing.
One photograph showed Michael.
Another showed Elena.
Another showed Lily.
They had been living there.
Not for days.
For months.
A blanket lay folded on one chair.
A child's book rested on the floor.
Noah picked it up.
"Lily."
Her name was written inside.
He pressed the book against his chest.
"They were here."
Mercer nodded.
"Until yesterday."
"Where did they go?"
"Because someone discovered the room."
Harris looked at the photographs.
"Who?"
Mercer pointed to one.
A photograph of a man entering the building.
I recognized him.
He was the lawyer whose name appeared in the old financial records.
Richard Vale's former attorney.
"He's alive?"
"Yes."
Harris immediately radioed his team.
Mercer moved toward a desk.
There was a computer.
He turned it on.
A message appeared.
TRANSFER COMPLETE.
Noah stared.
"Transfer?"
Mercer nodded.
"They moved Michael and Elena."
"Where?"
"There's a second facility."
Harris looked at him.
"Where?"
Mercer opened a map.
A location appeared near the river.
The same river Noah had remembered from childhood.
The yellow-curtain house.
My stomach tightened.
"The house where Noah remembered the blue box."
Mercer nodded.
"They used it again."
Noah looked at him.
"Why?"
"Because nobody would expect them to return to a place they had already used."
Harris ordered officers to the location.
Then a sound came from the hallway.
Footsteps.
Mercer froze.
Harris raised his weapon.
Someone ran past the doorway.
An officer chased.
A door slammed.
Then a crash.
Harris moved quickly.
We heard shouting.
When he returned, he was holding a small envelope.
"The runner dropped this."
It had Noah's name on it.
Noah opened it.
Inside was a photograph of Michael.
On the back:
Come alone.
Noah looked at Harris.
"I have to go."
"No."
"It's from my father."
"That's exactly why you're not going."
Mercer shook his head.
"He's right."
Harris looked at him.
"Explain."
"They know Noah is the only thing that will make Michael come out."
Noah stared at him.
"So I'm bait."
Mercer nodded.
"Yes."
Harris cursed under his breath.
Then another message appeared on the computer.
ONE HOUR.
Beneath it:
BRING NO POLICE.
Noah looked at me.
"I'll go."
"No."
"If they have my father—"
"They may have him because they expect you."
Noah's eyes filled.
"I've spent my whole life waiting for this."
I touched his shoulder.
"Then don't let them decide how it happens."
He nodded reluctantly.
Harris began assembling a plan.
They would track Noah from a distance.
Mercer would go with him.
The police would stay close enough to intervene.
But before we left, I found something in the room.
A file marked E.W.
Inside was Elena's handwriting.
She had written a timeline.
Evan disappeared.
Michael discovered the records.
Noah was threatened.
Mercer infiltrated Vale's network.
The family scattered.
Then one final line.
Rebecca was never the betrayer.
I looked at the page.
The person who betrayed us was someone who believed he was saving us.
I knew immediately who she meant.
Thomas.
But Thomas had been dead.
Mercer explained.
"Thomas gave information to Vale because he believed Vale could protect Rebecca."
"Protect her from what?"
"From prosecution."
He had traded Michael's location for his wife's safety.
Rebecca had never known.
Thomas had died believing he had protected her.
Instead, he had helped destroy Michael's family.
Noah looked at the timeline.
"Does my father know?"
"He does now."
"How?"
"Rebecca told him."
I stared at Mercer.
"She saw him?"
"Years ago."
"Why didn't she tell us?"
"Because Michael asked her not to."
The pattern repeated.
Everyone had been protecting someone.
Everyone had lied.
Everyone had caused another wound.
And the truth had become buried beneath good intentions.
Then the computer screen changed.
A live camera appeared.
Michael was sitting in a chair.
Elena stood beside him.
Lily was behind them.
Noah stepped toward the screen.
"Dad."
Michael looked directly at the camera.
His lips moved.
No sound came through.
Then someone entered the room.
A man stood behind him.
The same man from the funeral.
The same man from the old photograph.
He leaned toward Michael.
Then he looked into the camera.
"Bring the boy."
The screen went black.
Mercer whispered:
"Now you know who inherited Vale's network."
Harris stared at the dark screen.
"Who?"
Mercer looked at Noah.
"Richard Vale's son."
Click here to continue reading: PART 19: Vale’s Son Had Inherited the Network, but Michael’s Final Message Revealed the One Piece of Evidence That Could Finally Bring Everything Down
The Boy My Son Brought Home Was Wearing Something I Had Buried With a Family Secret Twenty-One Years Ago
Part 18 of 20
