A familiar female voice whispered:
"You're coming with me."
Ethan turned.
It was his mother.
And she was holding a gun.
Ethan couldn't speak.
His mother stood in front of him, wearing a long gray coat. Her hair was wet from the rain, and her eyes looked exhausted.
But the gun in her hand was perfectly steady.
"Mom?"
"Get in the car."
"What's going on?"
"Not here."
"Why are you holding a gun?"
She glanced toward the black SUV.
"Because the people inside that vehicle are not here to arrest you."
Ethan looked at the gun again.
"Then who are they?"
"People who have been waiting twenty-three years to finish what they started."
A loud voice came from behind them.
"POLICE! DON'T MOVE!"
Captain Miller was approaching with two armed officers.
Ethan's mother grabbed his jacket.
"Move!"
They ran toward a parked silver sedan.
She unlocked the doors, pushed Ethan into the passenger seat, and climbed behind the wheel.
A gunshot shattered the rear window.
Ethan ducked.
"Mom!"
"Put your seat belt on!"
The engine roared.
The car sped through the parking lot, narrowly avoiding another vehicle.
Behind them, the black SUV followed.
Ethan turned around.
"Who are those people?"
His mother gripped the steering wheel.
"Your father's colleagues."
"What?"
"Twenty-three years ago, your father discovered that several senior officers were selling confidential information to organized crime groups."
Ethan stared at her.
"That's impossible."
"Your father found evidence connecting them to murders, illegal arrests, and missing witnesses. He tried to report it."
"And they killed him?"
His mother didn't answer.
"Mom!"
She finally spoke.
"No. They tried."
Ethan felt his chest tighten.
"What does that mean?"
"Your father disappeared before they could get to him. He staged his own death to protect us."
Ethan shook his head.
"Then why did you tell me he died?"
"Because they were watching our house. They knew about you. They knew everything."
The sedan turned sharply into a narrow street.
The SUV continued straight for a few seconds before disappearing behind them.
His mother slowed down.
For several moments, the only sound inside the car was the rain hitting the windshield.
Then Ethan asked the question that had been haunting him.
"Why didn't he come back?"
His mother closed her eyes briefly.
"Because coming back would have meant exposing everyone involved."
"Everyone?"
She nodded.
"Not just the people in the police department. There were judges, politicians, businessmen... people who could make someone disappear without leaving a trace."
Ethan looked out the window.
He had spent his entire life believing his father was a hero who had died serving the law.
Now he wasn't sure what to believe.
"Where is he?"
His mother hesitated.
"I don't know."
"You just said he was alive!"
"I said I don't know where he is now."
Ethan turned toward her.
"You're telling me that you haven't seen your husband in twenty-three years?"
She nodded.
"Not once."
"Then how do you know he's alive?"
His mother reached into the glove compartment and removed a small photograph.
It showed a man standing in front of a hospital.
The photograph was old, but the face was unmistakable.
His father.
On the back was a handwritten message.
The truth is buried where the first lie began.
Ethan studied it.
"Where was this taken?"
"St. Mary's Hospital."
"When?"
"Three weeks ago."
He looked at her.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I received another message yesterday."
She handed him a second piece of paper.
There were only three lines.
Victoria has returned.
The boy has been contacted.
The operation must end tonight.
Ethan looked up.
"What operation?"
His mother took a deep breath.
"Your father wasn't simply investigating corruption. He was investigating a secret organization operating inside the police department."
"An organization?"
"They called themselves The Black Circle."
Ethan remembered the symbol on Victoria's badge.
A small black circle surrounded by three golden lines.
The same symbol appeared in the photograph.
"Was Victoria part of it?"
"No."
His mother shook her head.
"She was the only person who tried to destroy it from the inside."
"Then why did Reeves call her dead?"
"Because twenty-three years ago, Victoria was officially declared dead after a building exploded during an investigation."
Ethan remembered the way Reeves had looked at her.
The fear.
The anger.
The recognition.
"Who was the man in the basement?"
His mother didn't answer.
Instead, she pulled the car into an abandoned parking garage.
She switched off the headlights.
"Get out."
"Why?"
"Because someone is following us."
Ethan turned.
A pair of headlights appeared at the entrance.
The black SUV.
His mother reached beneath her seat and pulled out a small silver key.
"Take this."
"What does it open?"
"Your father's old evidence locker."
"Where is it?"
She pointed toward the other end of the garage.
"At the abandoned courthouse."
Ethan took the key.
"You're coming with me, right?"
His mother looked at him.
For the first time that night, her eyes filled with tears.
"I can't."
"Why not?"
She reached into her coat and pulled out a small photograph.
It showed her standing beside Sergeant Reeves.
But the photograph wasn't twenty-three years old.
It had been taken last week.
Ethan stared at it.
His mother whispered:
"Because I've been working with him."
The world seemed to stop.
"What?"
"I had no choice."
Ethan stepped away.
"You've been helping him?"
"I was trying to protect you."
"By lying to me?"
She shook her head.
"You don't understand. Reeves was the only person who could keep them away from you."
"Then why did he try to hurt me?"
His mother looked toward the entrance.
The black SUV had stopped.
Two men were getting out.
She pressed the silver key into Ethan's palm.
"Listen carefully. Your father left something inside that locker. Something that can destroy The Black Circle."
"What's inside?"
"A list."
"Of what?"
She looked directly into his eyes.
"Names."
Ethan waited.
Then she whispered the words he would never forget.
"Every person involved in your father's disappearance. Every person who ordered the murders. Every person who helped cover it up."