No visible credential.
Naomi stared.
“You.”
Vance looked at Daniel.
Then at Atlas.
Then at Naomi.
“We need to talk.”
Naomi's voice was cold.
“You've been lying to me.”
Vance didn't deny it.
“Yes.”
“About Baltimore.”
“Yes.”
“About Northstar.”
“Yes.”
“About Daniel.”
Vance looked at him.
“Yes.”
Naomi's eyes hardened.
“What else?”
Vance took a breath.
“You weren't an asset in Baltimore.”
Naomi stared.
He stepped inside.
“You were the one who recruited us.”
The room went silent.
Atlas growled again.
Naomi looked at Vance.
“Then tell me what I recruited you for.”
Vance's expression was grim.
“To investigate the people who were supposed to be protecting us.”
Naomi didn't blink.
“And did we succeed?”
Vance shook his head.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because one of us betrayed the team.”
“Who?”
Vance looked at Daniel.
Daniel closed his eyes.
Naomi's face became still.
“You?”
Daniel whispered.
“No.”
Vance answered for him.
“Not exactly.”
Naomi looked between them.
“Then who?”
Vance took a slow breath.
“The person who ordered your memory erased.”
Naomi stared.
“Who?”
Chapter 14
Vance's voice dropped.
“You did.”
The words were almost impossible to understand.
Naomi shook her head.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“You're saying I ordered my own memory erased?”
“You did.”
“Why?”
“Because you discovered the identity of the person controlling Northstar.”
“Who?”
Vance looked toward the closed door.
Then at Atlas.
“The person who controlled Northstar was not outside the government.”
Naomi waited.
Vance continued.
“They were inside it.”
“Who?”
He looked directly at her.
“The director who signed your clearance.”
Naomi's eyes narrowed.
“Which director?”
Vance said the name.
Naomi knew it.
Everyone in federal investigations knew it.
And suddenly the entire story made sense.
The missing files.
The altered records.
The disappearing evidence.
The sheriff's department.
Victor Harlan.
The private contractor.
The planted drugs.
Mercer's fear.
Daniel's silence.
Northstar.
They were not separate events.
They were pieces of the same machine.
A machine built to erase investigations before they became public.
Naomi looked at Daniel.
“You knew.”
Daniel shook his head.
“I knew there was someone above Victor.”
“But you didn't know who.”
“No.”
Vance interrupted.
“I knew.”
Naomi looked at him.
“Then why didn't you tell me?”
“Because you made me promise.”
“When?”
“Before the procedure.”
Naomi stared.
“You made me promise to tell you only when the network became active again.”
“And now?”
Vance nodded.
“It became active three days ago.”
Naomi thought about the message on Mercer's phone.
Northstar.
Three days ago.
The brake line.
The planted evidence.
The SUV.
Everything had started three days ago.
She looked at Atlas.
The dog was staring at Vance.
Not growling now.
Watching.
Naomi noticed.
“Atlas knows you.”
Vance's face changed.
“Yes.”
“How?”
“He was there.”
“Where?”
“Baltimore.”
Naomi stepped closer.
“You were there.”
“Yes.”
“With me?”
“Yes.”
“With Daniel?”
“Yes.”
“With the shooter?”
Vance hesitated.
“No.”
“Then who was the shooter?”
Vance looked away.
Naomi's voice became sharper.
“Who?”
Vance finally said:
“Someone wearing my face.”
Daniel looked up.
“What?”
Vance's expression was grim.
“There were two identities operating under my name.”
Naomi stared.
“Why?”
“Because the real Vance had been compromised.”
Chapter 15
“Who was the other man?”
“We never found out.”
“Then how do you know?”
“Because Atlas knew.”
The dog looked at Vance.
“He attacked the impostor.”
Naomi's breathing stopped.
The memory returned.
A man running.
Atlas lunging.
A gunshot.
Her falling.
Daniel screaming.
And another man shouting:
“Get the dog!”
She opened her eyes.
“I remember.”
Daniel moved toward her.
“What?”
She looked at him.
“The shooter wasn't trying to kill me.”
Vance stared.
“What do you remember?”
“He was trying to take Atlas.”
Vance nodded slowly.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Atlas had smelled the real Vance.”
Naomi frowned.
“I don't understand.”
“Your investigation depended on identifying handlers by scent and contact patterns.”
Daniel shook his head.
“That's not possible.”
“It was,” Vance said.
Naomi looked at Atlas.
“He knew.”
“Yes.”
“And someone wanted him because he could recognize them.”
“Yes.”
She whispered:
“That's why they kept trying to take him.”
Vance nodded.
“And that's why you kept protecting him.”
Naomi looked at Atlas.
The dog pressed against her leg.
She closed her eyes.
For six years she had thought Atlas was simply the animal who had helped her recover.
Now she understood.
He had been the last witness to a crime nobody wanted remembered.
The room remained silent.
Then Naomi's phone rang.
She looked at the screen.
Unknown number.
She answered.
“Carter.”
No one spoke.
Then a voice came through.
Male.
Distorted.
“You should have stayed forgotten.”
Naomi looked at Vance.
He had heard it too.
The caller continued.
“Now you've made it worse.”
Naomi said nothing.
“You were warned.”
“Who are you?”
A laugh.
“You know.”
The call ended.
Naomi lowered the phone.
Daniel stared.
Vance looked toward the window.
“It has started.”
“What?”
“The purge.”
“What purge?”
Vance turned toward her.
“Everyone connected to Northstar is going to disappear.”
Naomi's face hardened.
“Not everyone.”
Vance looked at her.
She picked up her sunglasses.
“We're going to find them first.”
She looked at Daniel.
Then Vance.
Then Atlas.
“For six years they thought they were investigating a woman who forgot.”
She opened the door.
“They were wrong.”
She stepped into the hallway.
“I remembered enough.”
And somewhere far away, inside another quiet suburban office, a man received a message.
CARTER REMEMBERS.
He stared at it.
Then typed one reply.
ACTIVATE NORTHSTAR.
The machine that had been sleeping for six years began to move again.
But this time, Naomi Carter was awake.