Chapter 7: The Voice From the Dead
The phone lay on the pavement between them.
“Elena.””
Her father's voice came from the speaker again.
Soft.
Steady.
Exactly as she remembered it.
Marcus stared at the device.
“That isn't possible.””
Elena couldn't move.
Her aunt, Margaret, had gone completely still.
Even General Mercer looked shaken.
The voice continued.
“You've been looking for answers, Ellie.””
Elena's knees weakened.
“No.””
She stepped backward.
“You're dead.””
A faint breath came through the phone.
“I know what they told you.””
Elena looked at Margaret.
“What is this?””
Margaret didn't answer.
“Elena,” Daniel Ward's voice said, “listen carefully.””
She crouched and picked up the phone.
“How are you doing this?””
“That's not important.””
“You're dead.””
“I was supposed to be.””
Her hand trembled.
Marcus crouched beside her.
“Put it on speaker.””
Elena pressed the button.
Daniel's voice filled the clearing.
“Marcus Hale.””
Marcus froze.
“You know my name.””
“I knew your father.””
Marcus stared at the phone.
“What happened to him?””
Silence.
Then Daniel said, “He died protecting Elena.””
Marcus's face hardened.
“My father died believing Daniel Ward was responsible.””
“No.””
The voice was calm.
“Your father died because he discovered the truth.””
Marcus looked toward Margaret.
“What truth?””
Daniel answered.
“That the man who killed your father was sitting inside the command structure.””
Mercer closed his eyes.
“Elena,” he said quietly, “don't listen to him.””
She turned.
“Why?””
“Because Voss can imitate voices.””
The phone went silent.
For three seconds, nothing happened.
Then Daniel laughed.
It was quiet.
Almost affectionate.
“Daniel Mercer,” he said.
“Still protecting the lie.””
Mercer's face drained of color.
“You're alive.””
“I've been waiting for you to admit it.””
Elena looked between them.
“You two know where he is.””
Neither answered.
She stood.
“Where is my father?””
Margaret grabbed her arm.
“Don't go.””
“You just told me the truth.””
“No.””
Margaret's voice trembled.
“I told you part of it.””
Elena pulled free.
“I am done with parts.””
She held up the phone.
“If that is my father, I'm finding him.””
Marcus rose.
“Then we're going together.””
The voice immediately changed.
“No.””
Everyone froze.
Daniel continued.
“Marcus cannot come.””
Elena's eyes narrowed.
“Why?””
“Because he has been compromised.””
Marcus stepped back.
“That's a lie.””
“You carry a tracker in your left shoulder.””
Marcus instinctively touched the old scar.
Daniel continued.
“Your father did too.””
Marcus's face changed.
He reached under his collar and pulled out his service knife.
“What are you saying?””
“Check the scar.””
Marcus looked at Elena.
Then at Margaret.
He pressed two fingers into the old scar.
His expression tightened.
“There's something here.””
Margaret stepped forward.
“Don't cut it out.””
Marcus stared at her.
“How do you know?””
“Because I had one.””
Elena looked at her aunt.
“What happened?””
“I removed it twelve years ago.””
Daniel's voice came through the phone.
“That tracker is how they found us.””
Elena felt cold.
“So everyone who's been close to me was being watched.””
“Yes.””
“By Voss?””
“No.””
The answer came immediately.
“By the people who created Nightfall.””
Elena looked toward Mercer.
“Who are they?””
Daniel said, “Look at your watch.””
Elena frowned.
“What?””
“Your father's watch.””
She glanced down.
The old military watch had belonged to Daniel.
She had worn it for years.
She had never noticed anything unusual about it.
“Press the crown.””
She did.
The back panel clicked.
A tiny seam appeared along the casing.
Elena stared.
Marcus whispered, “Open it.””
She twisted the crown again.
The back popped loose.
Inside was a tiny compartment.
There was a memory card.
And beneath it, a photograph.
Elena pulled out the photograph first.
Her parents stood in front of a courthouse.
But there was another person beside them.
A woman.
Elena looked at Margaret.
“You.””
Margaret nodded.
“We were meeting someone.””
“Who?””
Margaret pointed to the fourth figure barely visible at the edge of the photo.
A man had been standing behind the group.
Most of his body was hidden.
Only his face was visible.
Elena stared.
Her breath caught.
She knew him.
She had seen him earlier that night.
At the awards ceremony.
The man in the black uniform.
The one who carried her parents' file.
Daniel Cross.
“No.””
She looked at Marcus.
“He was at the ceremony.””
Marcus's face hardened.
“Cross.””
Margaret stepped forward.
“That's not his real name.””
Elena looked at the phone.
“Dad?””
Daniel answered.
“Yes.””
“Who is Daniel Cross?””
A pause.
Then:
“Your fourth man.””
The world seemed to tilt.
Elena dropped the photograph.
Margaret whispered, “We have to leave.””
Marcus raised his weapon.
“Where?””
“Saint Mary's.””
Marcus shook his head.
“That's exactly where they expect us to go.””
Daniel interrupted.
“No.””
Elena looked at the screen.
“You're still there.””
“Yes.””
“Then tell me where to go.””
“Saint Mary's.””
Marcus frowned.
“But you just said—”
Daniel answered him.
“They expect Elena to go there.””
Marcus tightened his grip on the weapon.
“So it's a trap.””
“No.””
Daniel paused.
“It's where I buried the evidence.””
Elena stared.
“You're at the cemetery?””
“No.””
“Then where are you?””
Another pause.
Then Daniel said something that made Margaret close her eyes.
“Under it.””
The phone fell silent.
Elena felt the hair rise on the back of her neck.
“Under the cemetery?””
“There is an old service bunker beneath the eastern mausoleum.””
Margaret nodded.
“It was built during the war.””
Daniel continued.
“Your mother used it to store records.””
“What records?””
“The original Nightfall identities.””
Elena looked at Mercer.
“Would that include mine?””
“Yes.””
“Would it include everyone?””
“Yes.””
“Then why haven't they found it?””
“Because they don't know I survived.””
Elena closed her eyes.
“You really are alive.””
“Yes.””
A tear slipped down her cheek.
“Why didn't you come for me?””
Daniel was silent for a long time.
When he answered, his voice was different.
Not the voice of a soldier.
The voice of a father.
“Because every time I got close, someone you trusted died.””
Elena looked at Margaret.
“You.””
Margaret nodded.
“Six years ago.””
“Did Voss kill you?””
“No.””
“Then who did?””
Margaret looked at Mercer.
“Ask him.””
Elena turned.
Mercer looked exhausted.
“It was me.””
Silence.
Elena stared.
“You killed Margaret?””
“I staged her death.””
“You buried someone else.””
“Yes.””
“You let me believe she was dead.””
“I did.””
“Why?””
“Because Voss was watching you.””
Elena's voice rose.
“You keep saying that!””
Mercer didn't move.
“Every person who ever loved me has an explanation for why they lied.””
He looked at her.
“Because the truth gets people killed.””
Elena shook her head.
“Maybe the lies did too.””
Marcus stepped between them.
“Enough.””
He looked at the phone.
“Daniel, how do we know you're really there?””
A long silence.
Then Daniel said, “You don't.””
Marcus frowned.
“That isn't good enough.””
“No.””
The voice became almost gentle.
“But Elena will know.””
She stared at the screen.
“How?””
“Because I left something in the place where you hid as a child.””
Elena stopped.
“The closet?””
“Yes.””
She remembered the house.
The narrow closet beneath the stairs.
The one place she had survived the night her parents died.
“There's a loose floorboard,” Daniel said.
“I knew that.””
“No. You knew there was a floorboard.””
Elena's pulse quickened.
“There is something underneath it.””
“What?””
“You'll know when you see it.””
The call ended.
Elena stood motionless.
Marcus looked at her.
“You're not thinking of going alone.””
“I said nothing.””
“Your face did.””
Margaret stepped forward.
“I'll take you.””
Elena looked at her.
“You're my aunt.””
“Yes.””
“You lied to me.””
“Yes.””
“You protected me.””
“Yes.””
“You know my father.””
“Yes.””
Elena took a breath.
“Then you're coming.””
Margaret nodded.
Mercer tried to stand.
Marcus caught him.
“You're staying here.””
Mercer gripped his arm.
“You don't understand.””
Marcus stared at him.
“No.””
He looked toward the burning compound.
“I'm finally starting to.””
A distant engine sounded.
Then headlights appeared between the trees.
Marcus raised his weapon.
“Someone's coming.””
Margaret's face changed.
“Too soon.””
Elena looked toward the road.
“How many?””
“Three vehicles.””
Marcus glanced at the phone.
“No.””
“What?””
“They're not here for us.””
The first SUV stopped.
Doors opened.
Black-uniformed soldiers stepped out.
They weren't military police.
They weren't command security.
Their uniforms carried no insignia.
One of them shouted.
“Lieutenant Ward!””
Marcus raised his weapon.
“Identify your unit.””
The soldier smiled.
“We don't have one.””
Another voice called from behind them.
“Elena!””
She recognized it.
Daniel Cross stepped from the second vehicle.
He wasn't holding a weapon.
He raised both hands.
“Don't shoot.””
Marcus aimed directly at him.
“You're the fourth man.””
Cross looked at Elena.
“Yes.””
Elena's breath caught.
“Who do you work for?””
Cross stared at her.
“Your father.””
Margaret whispered, “That's not true.””
Cross smiled.
“I said I work for Daniel Ward.””
Then he looked toward the cemetery road.
“But the man on that phone isn't Daniel Ward.””
Elena froze.
“What?””
Cross reached into his jacket.
He pulled out the photograph from the ceremony.
The one showing her parents.
He turned it over.
On the back was a handwritten note.
*My daughter must never meet the man pretending to be me.*
Elena stared at the handwriting.
It was unquestionably her father's.
Cross looked directly at her.
“Your real father died twenty years ago.””
He pointed toward the cemetery.
“The man calling you tonight knows that.””
A gunshot cracked through the trees.
Cross dropped.
Everyone hit the ground.
Marcus shouted, “Sniper!””
Elena crawled toward Cross.
Blood spread across his chest.
He grabbed her wrist with surprising strength.
“Don't go to the cemetery.””
She stared at him.
“Why?””
His eyes filled with urgency.
“Because that's where he wants you.””
“Who?””
Cross coughed.
Then whispered four words.
“The man under the grave.””
His hand went limp.
May you like
And somewhere beyond the cemetery wall, a child's voice began calling Elena by a name she had never heard before.
“Elena Vale.””
