Chapter 8 - DECLAN'S CODE WAS A MAP
Evelyn refused to stay behind.
Ronan argued.
His mother slapped his hand away.
Then signed at Sadie.
My choice.
Sadie translated.
Ronan looked furious.
“She’s medically fragile.”
Evelyn signed:
Still my choice.
That ended it.
Not because Ronan liked it.
Because he finally listened.
Police coordinated the meeting.
No weapons visible.
Tracking.
Backup.
Pier Seven had been abandoned for years.
Ronan stayed outside the agreed perimeter.
Sadie accompanied Evelyn in the van.
When they arrived, Poppy was not there.
Claire Marsh was.
Forty.
Thin.
Dark hair.
She looked like Edwin around the eyes.
Claire raised empty hands.
“I didn’t hurt the child.”
Sadie wanted to scream.
“You took her.”
“Yes.”
“That is hurting her.”
Claire flinched.
Good.
“Where is she?”
“Safe.”
“Where?”
“After the code.”
Sadie stepped forward.
Evelyn caught her wrist.
Then began signing.
Claire watched.
She understood.
Of course.
Edwin taught her.
Evelyn signed the first half of Declan’s code.
Sadie added the sentence he taught her:
I am not lost.
Then Evelyn signed:
The bird does not return to the cage.
Sadie remembered the falcon tattoo.
She signed:
It returns to the cliff above black water.
Claire’s face changed.
“That’s it.”
“What is?”
“Coordinates.”
Declan’s private code converted phrases into locations.
Bird.
Cage.
Cliff.
Black water.
Ashport Bay navigation references.
Claire pulled out a map.
The message pointed toward an abandoned Coast Guard relay station across the bay.
Ronan’s family once owned the land.
Sadie stared.
“Declan is there?”
Claire whispered:
“He was.”
“When?”
“Four years ago.”
Claire explained.
Edwin helped Declan escape Night Falcon.
Not betray him.
He smuggled Declan into the relay station after the team was attacked.
Declan was badly injured.
Aaron was alive too.
For three days.
Then somebody found them.
“Who?”
Claire looked at Evelyn.
“Sterling’s old security chief.”
But Sterling was dead by then.
“Name.”
Claire swallowed.
“Graham Marsh.”
Edwin and Claire’s maternal uncle.
A man everyone believed died ten years earlier.
He had controlled Cain private security under shell contracts.
He was the one running the weapons route.
Night Falcon threatened his operation.
So he betrayed the team.
Edwin discovered it.
Helped Declan survive.
Then Graham vanished.
Why abduct Poppy now?
Because Graham was not dead.
He had resurfaced six months earlier.
And he wanted the final archive Declan hid before disappearing.
Evelyn’s code pointed to it.
Claire’s voice broke.
“My brother has spent four years trying to stay ahead of him.”
Sadie asked:
“Is Declan alive?”
Claire looked away.
“I don’t know.”
“Is Aaron?”
“I don’t know.”
Sadie stepped closer.
“Then where is my daughter?”
Claire handed her a phone.
Live video.
Poppy sat with Edwin Marsh.
He was feeding her crackers.
She looked annoyed, not injured.
“Mommy!”
Sadie nearly collapsed.
Edwin leaned toward camera.
“I’m sorry.”
“You drugged Evelyn.”
His face crumpled.
“No.”
“Your prescriptions—”
“Were changed after I wrote them.”
Sadie froze.
“By who?”
“Graham.”
How?
Someone inside Raven Hill still worked for him.
Edwin continued.
“I kept Evelyn sedated sometimes because she was screaming without a voice and Ronan refused to believe she understood.”
Evelyn’s face hardened.
Edwin saw her.
“I was wrong.”
At least.
Then Poppy interrupted:
“Mommy, the doctor says Daddy might be alive.”
Sadie stopped breathing.
Edwin closed his eyes.
Too late.
Poppy continued:
“He showed me a picture.”
“What picture?”
Edwin turned the camera.
A photograph appeared.
Aaron Cole.
Older.
Bearded.
Alive.
May you like
Date printed:
Six weeks ago.
