MY DAUGHTER FINALLY TOLD ME WHAT HER MOTHER HAD HIDDEN—AND EVERYTHING CHANGED

The attic was ten feet across.

No way out.

Marcus stood at the top of the stairs.

Weapon raised.

Sarah pressed the case into my arms.

Pushed me toward the window.

"Take it and go, Richard. If something happens to me, get this to the FBI field office in Albany. Agent Diane Coyle. She's the only person left in the system I still trust."

"I'm not leaving you here."

"You have children. Waiting for both of us to come home." Her voice broke. "Trust me the way I trusted you to break down that door in Ridgemont. Go."

Below, Elias reached the stairs.

Through the gap, moonlight caught him.

Silver hair.

Fifties.

A pistol held like a man who never needed to raise his voice.

"Marcus Hale. Forced retirement after the Whitmore case. Impressive. I'd hoped it wouldn't come to this."

"Then walk away," Marcus said. "Nobody else needs to get hurt."

"That decision was made the moment Sarah copied that file six years ago. Do you understand what's in that case? Not just names. Placements. Men and women who built careers inside the FBI, the DEA, three attorneys general offices. I have every reason to make sure it never leaves this house."

"And if it already has?" Sarah's voice, from the top of the stairs. "If I already sent a copy to Agent Coyle?"

A flicker of uncertainty crossed his face.

"You're lying."

"Am I?"

Silence stretched.

The house groaned around us.

"Even if that's true," Elias said finally, "killing you accomplishes plenty on its own. It sends a message. It restores order."

"Then you'll have to get through both of us first," Marcus said.

"Two federal witnesses and a civilian husband. Almost poetic." His eyes flicked to the case. "You spent your career exposing men who hid behind other people's silence, Sarah. And here you are, hiding behind your brother-in-law's gun."

"Say what you want," Sarah said. "But you're wasting time. Every minute you stand here is a minute closer to sirens. Marcus called this in the moment your first shot went off."

Another lie.

A bolder one.

Elias's jaw tightened.

He glanced at the boarded window.

"This isn't finished," he said, stepping back down the stairs. "I am only one voice within the Continuity. Others are far less patient. Keep running. Keep hiding. Eventually, someone stops asking politely."

The front door creaked open.

Shut.

An engine started somewhere down the road.

Marcus kept his weapon raised a full minute after the sound faded.

"He's gone," he finally said. "For now."

Sarah sank onto the step.

Her hands shaking now that the danger had passed.

"That was either the bravest thing I've ever watched you do," I murmured into her hair, "or the most terrifying."

"Both," she said, a shaky laugh escaping. "It's usually both, Richard."

We didn't linger.

Within the hour, we were back on the highway.

The case in the trunk.