Chapter 8 - The Blackstone Files
Airport emergency vehicles arrived from the opposite direction.
That saved us.
Aegis couldn't openly storm an aircraft surrounded by firefighters, police and airport personnel.
But they didn't need to.
People with enough money rarely kicked down doors.
They carried credentials.
The first man aboard wore an expensive raincoat and displayed identification from an international aviation-security organization.
Fake.
Douglas recognized him immediately.
“Marcus Vane.”
“Who?”
“Aegis chief security officer.”
Vane smiled when he saw us.
“Mr. Martinez.”
Then me.
“Captain Vale.”
Finally Evelyn.
“Mrs. Vale.”
Norah clung tighter to her mother.
That was enough for me.
“You're not taking anybody.”
Vane maintained his smile.
“I'm here regarding an aviation incident.”
“So are the police behind you.”
“They'll receive a full briefing.”
“From your attorney?”
His smile weakened.
Evelyn stepped beside me.
“No more running.”
Vane looked at her.
“You don't have the archive.”
“No.”
“Then you have nothing.”
Evelyn looked at Norah's teddy bear.
Vane followed her eyes.
So did I.
Oh.
Evelyn had given Norah that bear before she supposedly died.
The bear had never been sentimental camouflage.
It had been storage.
I remembered the silver key.
“Norah.”
She looked up.
“The key.”
She reached into the seam Lan had opened and produced it.
Evelyn took the bear.
Her fingers found something beneath the blue patch.
A tiny lock.
The silver key turned.
Inside the stuffed animal was a wafer-thin encrypted memory card.
Douglas stared.
“The Blackstone archive.”
Evelyn shook her head.
“Half of it.”
“Where's the other half?”
She looked at me.
I touched the brass key hanging beneath my shirt.
The key Evelyn had given me on our wedding anniversary.
I had worn it for years without knowing what it opened.
She smiled sadly.
“You kept it.”
“Every day.”
“Good.”
Vane stepped forward.
Airport police immediately blocked him.
Evelyn took my key.
It opened a second compartment hidden inside the bear.
Two pieces.
One archive.
Nine years of evidence.
Names.
Payments.
Sabotage reports.
Deaths disguised as accidents.
Government contracts.
Corporate bribes.
My squadron.
Douglas's daughter.
Evelyn's poisoning.
And dozens more.
Vane's composure disappeared.
“You have no idea what you're doing.”
Evelyn looked at him.
“I've had five years to think about it.”
“If that information becomes public, governments fall.”
“Then perhaps they shouldn't have built themselves on graves.”
I looked at my wife.
There she was.
The woman I remembered.
Not fragile.
Not broken.
Terrifying in the quietest possible way.
Vane changed tactics.
He looked at me.
“You think she's innocent?”
Evelyn stiffened.
I noticed.
“What does that mean?”
Vane smiled again.
“She hasn't told you.”
“Marcus,” Evelyn warned.
He ignored her.
“Ask your wife who authorized the operation that sent your squadron into compromised airspace.”
I turned toward Evelyn.
She looked devastated.
“No.”
My stomach tightened.
“Evelyn?”
“It wasn't like that.”
Vane almost seemed pleased.
“Tell him.”
She closed her eyes.
“I was an intelligence analyst.”
I knew that.
Or thought I did.
“I reviewed the route.”
The world narrowed.
“What?”
“I flagged the navigation risk.”
“You reviewed the mission?”
“Yes.”
“Before we flew?”
“Yes.”
“Did you know the system was compromised?”
“No.”
“Did you approve the route?”
Silence.
That was enough.
I stepped backward.
For five years I had mourned this woman.
For nine years I had mourned seven men.
Now both griefs stood in front of me wearing the same face.
“You signed it.”
“I was told the vulnerability had been corrected.”
“You signed it.”
“Yes.”
Norah watched us.
That saved me from saying what I wanted.
Evelyn's eyes filled.
“I spent every day afterward trying to prove what happened.”
“Is that why you married me?”
“No.”
“Did you know who I was when we met?”
Another silence.
My heart broke again.
“Yes.”
I laughed once.
Not because anything was funny.
“You investigated me.”
“At first.”
“Our marriage?”
“Was real.”
“Our daughter?”
“Warren.”
“Was any of it real?”
“All of it.”
Vane interrupted.
“How touching.”
I turned toward him.
That was his mistake.
Not because I hit him.
Because I finally understood what he wanted.
He didn't care about the files anymore.
Copies could exist.
He wanted us divided.
Douglas understood too.
“Warren, don't.”
I looked at Evelyn.
She whispered, “I lied to you.”
“Yes.”
“I abandoned Norah to keep her alive.”
“She thought you were dead.”
“I know.”
“You let me bury an empty coffin.”
Tears ran down her face.
“I know.”
I wanted to hate her.
Maybe part of me did.
Then Norah walked between us.
She took my hand.
Then Evelyn's.
“You're both here now.”
Children have a cruel way of making complicated things simple.
Vane stepped backward.
Police were receiving confirmation from London.
His fake authority was collapsing.
Lan had transmitted portions of the archive before landing.
Reporters already had them.
Aegis couldn't bury the story anymore.
Vane looked at me.
“This doesn't end here.”
“No.”
I looked at the police.
“It ends in court.”
That surprised everyone.
Especially Vane.
The mafia boss choosing a courtroom instead of a grave.
Maybe Norah was changing me faster than I realized.
Police took Vane.
Ellis followed.
Douglas agreed to testify.
Evelyn surrendered herself voluntarily for questioning about her intelligence work.
And Norah refused to release either of our hands.
As dawn broke over Ireland, the passengers finally began leaving Flight 286.
They applauded when I stepped into the terminal.
I hated it.
Norah loved it.
“My dad flew the plane!” she announced to everyone.
I crouched.
“Rachel flew it too.”
“Okay. My dad and Rachel flew the plane!”
Better.
Then Evelyn approached.
Two officers waited behind her.
“I have to go with them.”
Norah's smile vanished.
“For how long?”
“I don't know.”
I looked at Evelyn.
Neither of us knew what we were anymore.
Husband and wife?
Strangers?
Victims?
Liars?
Maybe all of them.
Evelyn kissed Norah's forehead.
Then she looked at me.
“There is one more thing you need to know.”
“What?”
“The leak inside your organization.”
I went still.
“You know who it is?”
She nodded.
“Who?”
May you like
Her answer hurt almost as much as everything else that night.
“Your brother.”
