Chapter 16 - The FounderWilliam Mercer had founded Northstar with three former intelligence officers twenty-seven years earlier.
Publicly, it was a government contracting company.
Privately, William believed information was more powerful than money.
He collected secrets.
Affairs.
Debts.
Children.
Crimes.
Addictions.
Medical histories.
Anything that could turn a person into leverage.
David had discovered the truth and tried to leave.
William framed his own son.
Ryan learned that from recovered files.
He vomited after reading them.
Daniel found him outside the federal command room.
“You okay?”
Ryan laughed.
“No.”
Daniel stood beside him.
“My father sacrificed David.”
“Yes.”
“And I spent years hunting Michael.”
Daniel said nothing.
Ryan continued.
“I kidnapped Evan because I thought Michael destroyed my family.”
“He did part of it.”
Ryan looked at him.
“But not the part I believed.”
“No.”
Ryan rubbed both hands over his face.
“I scared that boy.”
“Yes.”
Ryan looked toward Evan through the window.
“You’re still going to charge me.”
“Yes.”
Ryan nodded.
“Good.”
Daniel didn’t expect that.
Ryan continued.
“I don’t want grief turning into an excuse.”
Daniel respected him slightly more for saying it.
Marcus entered.
“We found William.”
“Where?”
“Private estate near the state line.”
“And Sarah?”
“Possibly with him.”
Evan heard.
He ran over.
“I’m coming.”
Daniel shook his head.
“No.”
“You promised no more hiding.”
“That doesn’t mean I take you to arrest a criminal.”
“He has my mom.”
“We don’t know that.”
Evan looked at him.
“You always say ‘we don’t know’ when you’re scared.”
Daniel stared.
Marcus tried not to smile.
Daniel crouched.
“You’re staying with federal protection.”
Evan crossed his arms.
“Who do we trust?”
Daniel had no immediate answer.
Eventually, Evan stayed with Lisa inside the federal operations center.
Daniel, Marcus, Michael, and agents approached William Mercer’s estate.
No resistance.
The gates opened automatically.
William sat inside a large library.
Waiting.
Sarah stood beside the fireplace.
Daniel stopped.
She looked older.
Different.
But unmistakably the woman he had once loved.
Her eyes filled.
“Daniel.”
He couldn’t answer.
Eight years of questions lived between them.
William smiled.
“Family reunion.”
Michael’s face hardened.
“Shut up.”
William looked at him.
“You’ve caused remarkable trouble.”
“You framed your son.”
“He became unreliable.”
Ryan’s father spoke about David as if discussing a malfunctioning machine.
Sarah stepped forward.
“Where’s Evan?”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“Safe.”
Her face broke.
“Can I see him?”
“Eventually.”
She flinched.
Daniel immediately regretted the coldness.
But not enough to trust her.
William stood.
“You all think this ends by arresting me.”
Federal agents raised their weapons.
William smiled.
“I’m seventy-two.”
“I don’t fear prison.”
Daniel said, “Good.”
William looked at Sarah.
“Tell him.”
Daniel turned.
Sarah’s eyes filled.
“Northstar has a dead-man protocol.”
Michael froze.
“What?”
“If William is arrested and doesn’t cancel it…”
She swallowed.
“…the entire archive goes public.”
Daniel frowned.
“That sounds helpful.”
Sarah shook her head.
“Unredacted.”
Daniel understood.
Witness addresses.
Children.
Medical records.
Victims.
Informants.
People who had done nothing wrong.
William smiled.
“Truth without mercy.”
Michael stared.
“You’d burn thousands of innocent people.”
William shrugged.
“To keep thousands of guilty people afraid.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“What do you want?”
“Immunity.”
“No.”
“Then everyone’s secrets become public.”
Sarah whispered, “There’s another way.”
William turned sharply.
Daniel noticed.
“What?”
Sarah looked at Michael.
“The master archive can be separated from the dead-man system.”
“How?”
“You need two keys.”
Michael held up the hospital-band code.
“One.”
Sarah looked at Daniel.
“The second belongs to Evan.”
Daniel frowned.
“He already had the wristband.”
“No.”
Sarah’s eyes filled.
“The second key is biological.”
Silence.
“A DNA sequence.”
Daniel stared.
William smiled again.
“I built the final failsafe after David betrayed me.”
Daniel understood with horror.
“You used your descendants.”
William nodded.
“Only Mercer blood can disable it.”
Ryan was outside in custody.
Evan’s biological father was Daniel.
So Evan didn’t have Mercer blood.
Michael realized it at the same moment.
“Then Evan can’t disable it.”
Sarah looked at William.
“No.”
Her voice shook.
“But David had another child.”
William’s smile vanished.
Daniel looked at Sarah.
“Who?”
She whispered:
“Rachel.”
Ryan’s niece.
The teenage girl Keller had mentioned.
The girl everyone believed died of an overdose.
May you like
Sarah looked at Daniel.
“She’s alive.”
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