Chapter 9 - THE BROTHER WHO CONTROLLED THE TRUTH
The photograph showed Thomas, Christopher, and Mara Keene at the private hangar less than an hour before my father’s plane departed.
Keene stared at the image.
“I have never been to that hangar.”
“You were standing beside my husband.”
“I was twenty-three when this was taken. I was training at Quantico.”
Daniel enlarged the photograph.
The woman resembled Keene perfectly.
Same dark eyes.
Same sharp jawline.
Same small scar near her temple.
Keene touched the scar unconsciously.
“This image is altered.”
The metadata said otherwise.
It came from an archived airport security system.
“Do you have a sister?” I asked.
Keene did not answer.
Then she sat slowly.
“I had a twin.”
“Had?”
“Mae died when we were sixteen.”
“Did you see her body?”
Keene’s face changed.
“No.”
The vehicle fell silent.
“My parents said she drowned during a school trip,” she continued. “Her body was recovered three days later. The casket was closed because of decomposition.”
Another closed coffin.
Another family told not to look.
Daniel cursed under his breath.
“Voss collected people,” he said. “He stole identities, staged deaths, and turned survivors into assets.”
Keene’s voice became cold.
“If that woman is Mae, she has been working for him for over a decade.”
My phone rang.
Thomas.
I answered on speaker.
“Abigail, where are you?”
“With Daniel and Agent Keene.”
“Do not trust Keene.”
“That warning is becoming very popular.”
“Her clearance was connected to a compromised task force.”
“Were you at Dad’s hangar before the crash?”
Thomas went silent.
“Yes.”
“Was Christopher there?”
“Yes.”
Daniel struck the side of the table.
“You knew Christopher before he met Abby.”
“I knew of him.”
“You protected him,” I said.
“I monitored him.”
“For nine years?”
“Dad asked me to.”
My anger broke loose.
“Our father disappeared. Our mother may be alive. Christopher was sent to marry me. Emily was threatened tonight. How long were you planning to keep monitoring?”
“Until I knew which side Christopher chose.”
“Did you arrange the crash?”
“No.”
“Then why were you supposed to be on the plane?”
“Because Dad wanted to show me Ark Seven. He believed several missing witnesses were being held there.”
“Why did Richard take your seat?”
“He volunteered after I became ill.”
“Did you actually have appendicitis?”
A pause.
“No.”
Daniel whispered a curse.
Thomas continued.
“I was poisoned.”
“By whom?”
“We never proved it. The hospital removed my appendix because the symptoms were consistent. Later tests found traces of aconitine.”
Someone had prevented Thomas from boarding the plane.
That did not prove his innocence.
“Why was Christopher at the hangar?”
“Dad had discovered that Christopher was spying on you. He summoned him and offered him a choice: testify against Voss or go to prison.”
“What did Christopher choose?”
“He agreed to testify.”
“Then why did he marry me?”
“Because the plane crashed before Dad could place him in protection. Voss threatened Christopher’s younger sister.”
“I never knew he had a sister.”
“She died three years later.”
Christopher had told me he was an only child.
One more erased person.
“Where is Emily?” Thomas demanded.
“With Nathan.”
Thomas inhaled sharply.
“Abigail, Nathan is not your brother.”
Daniel and I exchanged a look.
“What are you talking about?”
“Our brother Nathan died when he was five.”
I laughed once because the alternative was screaming.
“I grew up with Nathan.”
“You grew up with a boy our parents brought home after Nathan’s death. His real name is Samuel Voss.”
The command vehicle seemed to spin.
“Elias’s son?” Daniel asked.
“Yes.”
“Why would Mom and Dad raise him?”
“To protect him from Elias.”
I remembered Nathan teaching me to ride a bicycle.
Nathan sitting beside my hospital bed after I broke my arm.
Nathan carrying me home when I drank too much at my college graduation.
If Thomas was telling the truth, none of those memories became false.
But the man holding my daughter had spent his life hiding his identity.
“Does Nathan know?” I asked.
“He learned the truth during law school. After that, he began secretly investigating his biological father.”
“Then he may still be trying to protect us.”
“Or he may have joined him.”
Thomas’s voice became urgent.
“Where is Nathan taking Emily?”
I opened the tracking application linked to Emily’s phone.
The device was moving north along Interstate 35.
Toward Duluth.
Toward Ark Seven.
“He’s taking her to the hospital,” I said.
“Stop him.”
Thomas disconnected.
Keene’s surviving twin sister had been seen at the hangar.
My brother Nathan was allegedly the son of Elias Voss.
My husband had agreed to testify against the conspiracy before constructing a marriage around me.
Every truth created three new lies.
Daniel ordered the driver to head north.
Keene contacted tactical teams, but a severe storm had grounded helicopters.
We followed Emily’s signal through freezing rain.
Two hours later, the dot stopped near the abandoned hospital.
The building stood on a forested ridge overlooking Lake Superior.
Windows had been boarded.
A rusted sign still read ST. AGNES RECOVERY CENTER.
Nathan’s vehicle was parked near a side entrance.
The driver’s door stood open.
Blood covered the seat.
May you like
Emily’s glitter-covered gift box rested on the ground.
Inside was the paper tie she made for Christopher.
