Chapter 9: The Voice From The Past
Nobody moved.
The phone remained in Marcus’s hand.
The call had lasted less than a minute.
But it had changed everything.
Daniel Carter was alive.
Or at least someone claiming to be him was alive.
Marcus looked at Evelyn.
Her face had lost all color.
“You knew.””
It wasn’t a question.
Evelyn looked down.
“I hoped I was wrong.””
Marcus stepped closer.
“You knew he might be alive?””
She closed her eyes.
“Yes.””
The answer broke something inside him.
“How?””
Evelyn sat down slowly.
“Because Daniel contacted me once.””
“When?””
“Five years after they disappeared.””
Marcus stared.
“Five years?””
She nodded.
“Why didn’t you tell me?””
“Because he told me not to.””
Marcus shook his head.
“That’s not enough.””
“I know.””
“No, you don’t.””
His voice softened, but the pain remained.
“You all keep saying you protected me.””
He looked at the file.
“But nobody protected me from not knowing.””
Evelyn looked at him.
“I wanted to tell you.””
“Then why didn’t you?””
“Because Daniel said if you knew too early, they would use you.””
Marcus looked at Thomas.
“They?””
Thomas answered quietly.
“The people who controlled the reports.””
Marcus looked back at Evelyn.
“What did Daniel say?””
She hesitated.
Then:
“He said James wasn’t gone.””
Marcus’s heart stopped.
“What?””
“He said James was alive when he last saw him.””
The words filled the shop.
Marcus grabbed the counter.
His father.
Alive.
A possibility he had never allowed himself to imagine.
“Where?””
Evelyn shook her head.
“I don’t know.””
“Then why call now?””
Thomas moved toward the phone.
“Because something changed.””
Marcus looked at him.
“What?””
Thomas pointed at the medal.
“This.””
The old soldier picked it up carefully.
“Daniel created this as a signal.””
“A signal for who?””
Thomas looked at Marcus.
“For your father.””
The answer made no sense.
“My father?””
“Yes.””
“But if my father is alive, why didn’t he contact me?””
Thomas looked away.
Nobody spoke.
Then Marcus understood.
There was another secret.
Another missing piece.
“What aren’t you telling me?””
Thomas didn’t answer.
Marcus’s voice hardened.
“What aren’t you telling me?””
Thomas finally looked at him.
“James wasn’t allowed to contact you.””
“By who?””
Thomas swallowed.
“By himself.””
Marcus froze.
“What does that mean?””
Thomas looked at the photograph.
“Your father made a choice.””
“What choice?””
“To disappear.””
The words were painful.
Marcus stepped back.
“No.””
“I’m sorry.””
“No.””
His voice rose.
“My father didn’t abandon me.””
Thomas looked at him.
“He didn’t.””
“Then explain.””
Thomas walked toward the counter.
He placed the medal down.
“James discovered the truth about the unit.””
Marcus waited.
“But he also discovered something else.””
“What?””
Thomas looked at him.
“You were connected to it.””
Marcus frowned.
“What?””
“Not because of you.””
Thomas pointed at the file.
“Because of your family.””
Marcus looked at the pages.
“What does that mean?””
Before Thomas could answer, Evelyn suddenly grabbed the notebook.
She flipped through the pages quickly.
Her expression changed.
“What?””
She didn’t respond.
Marcus moved closer.
“What did you find?””
Evelyn turned the notebook around.
A page Marcus hadn’t noticed before.
A hidden page.
A folded section inside the cover.
She opened it.
Inside was a photograph.
Not of soldiers.
Not of the rescue unit.
Of a young boy.
Marcus.
Standing beside his father.
But there was someone else in the background.
Someone watching them.
Marcus leaned closer.
Then his blood ran cold.
Because he recognized the person.
The same person from the pawnshop window.
The same person who had been holding the file.
Victoria Hale.
But she was much younger.
And standing beside her was another person.
A man.
A man Marcus had seen before.
In his childhood.
In old family photographs.
His own grandfather.
Evelyn whispered:
“Your family was involved before the rescue unit ever disappeared.””
Marcus stared at the picture.
The past had reached into his present.
And it wasn’t finished.
The pawnshop lights suddenly went out.
Darkness filled the room.
Then the front door opened.
A voice came from the snow outside.
“Marcus.””
Everyone froze.
Because the voice wasn’t from a phone this time.
It was standing right in front of them.
The voice of the man who had been missing for thirty years.
May you like
“Son.””
Marcus stopped breathing.
