Chapter 7 - A House Full of Keys.
Damian returned to the mansion through the service road at twice the safe speed.
The east windows were dark despite the emergency generators.
Victor met the vehicle at the courtyard with blood on his sleeve that was not his own.
Damian was out of the SUV before it stopped moving.
"Ella?"
"Safe."
"Harper?"
Victor hesitated.
"Missing again."
Damian hit him.
The punch snapped Victor's head sideways and reopened the cut at his lip.
No guard moved.
Victor straightened slowly.
"Feel better?"
"Not even close."
"Good, because I need you thinking."
Damian wanted to hit him again.
Instead, he followed Victor into the security wing.
The two senior officers who had been on duty were unconscious, each injected with a fast-acting sedative.
The system showed Victor logging into the command terminal during the convoy attack.
Victor pointed at the camera feed.
"Watch the reflection."
Damian replayed it.
The man at the terminal looked exactly like Victor from behind.
In the black monitor screen, however, a thin silver chain hung from his neck.
Victor never wore jewelry.
"Another disguise," Lucas said.
Mara enlarged the frame.
"And he knew Victor's access code."
Victor looked at Damian.
"Someone is not just copying faces."
"They're copying habits, timing, language, passwords."
"Meaning they've watched us for years."
Ella sat in the adjacent panic room with a female guard, holding a stuffed rabbit against her chest.
Damian entered alone.
"Where did they take your mother?"
Ella shook her head.
"Mommy went after him."
"After who?"
"The fake Uncle Victor."
Damian stared.
Harper had not been abducted.
She had followed the intruder.
Ella reached into the pocket of her dress.
"She told me to give you this."
It was a folded piece of paper marked with a smear of blood.
Harper had written four words.
ASK LUCAS ABOUT MIDNIGHT.
Damian returned to the security room and placed the note in front of his brother.
Lucas read it.
His eyes closed.
"Damn her."
Damian stepped closer.
"What happens at midnight?"
Lucas looked at Victor, then Mara.
"I need to tell him alone."
"No."
"Damian—"
"You lost the right to private conversations three days ago."
Lucas leaned against the console.
"Every year on the anniversary of Dad's death, I receive a call at midnight."
Damian stared at him.
"From whom?"
"I don't know."
"For nine years?"
Lucas nodded.
"The caller plays ten seconds of Dad's voice, then gives me a stock trade or a board instruction."
Victor looked disgusted.
"And you followed them?"
"At first I thought Dad had arranged it before he died."
Damian laughed without humor.
"And later?"
Lucas looked ashamed.
"Later the instructions made me money."
Mara asked the obvious question.
"When is the anniversary?"
Lucas checked the clock.
11:48 p.m.
Twelve minutes.
Damian's phone vibrated.
A live video appeared without a caller ID.
Harper stood in a dark room with her hands raised.
A gun was pressed against the back of her head by a man wearing Damian's face.
May you like
The distorted voice said, "At midnight, Lucas answers alone."
Then the screen went black.
