Inside were several photographs, a small flash drive, two envelopes, and a folded sheet of paper.
David picked up the first photograph.
It showed their parents standing beside a young David and Victoria.
The date was printed underneath.
Fourteen years earlier.
The photograph had been taken three days before their father's supposed death.
David turned it over.
A handwritten message read:
If you are reading this, the truth has finally found its way home.
Victoria opened the first envelope.
Inside was a letter addressed to both siblings.
She began reading.
My children,
If this box has been opened, then the people who forced us apart have finally begun to lose control.
I need you to understand something. Your father did not disappear because he betrayed his country.
He disappeared because he refused to betray the people he had promised to protect.
Victoria stopped.
David took the letter.
He continued reading.
The list inside this box contains the names of individuals who were transferred under Project Harborlight. Some were witnesses. Some were innocent civilians. Some were people who knew too much.
The person responsible for authorizing the transfers was not a field officer.
It was someone inside the highest levels of the program.
David turned to the final paragraph.
If you ever need to identify the person who ordered the operation, look for the name written in red.
They searched the box.
Among the papers was a printed list of twenty-three names.
Most were unfamiliar.
But one had been circled in red.
GENERAL NATHANIEL CROSS.
Victoria stared at it.
“Cross.”
David nodded.
“He was the commander overseeing the operation when Dad disappeared.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I thought he was dead.”
Victoria examined the flash drive.
“Do you know what's on this?”
“No.”
She placed it inside a secure evidence case.
Then she noticed something else.
A small envelope had been taped beneath the metal box.
It contained a photograph of a woman standing beside their mother.
The woman wore a simple dark coat.
Her face was partially turned away.
Victoria recognized her immediately.
“That's impossible.”
David looked at the photograph.
“Who is she?”
Victoria's voice was barely audible.
“Eleanor.”
Their mother.
Standing beside a woman who looked exactly like Officer Vanessa Reed.
On the back of the photograph was a handwritten message:
THE DAUGHTER OF THE WITNESS MUST NEVER BE USED AS LEVERAGE.
David stared at it.
“Why is Reed's name connected to Mom?”
Victoria looked at him.
“Because Vanessa Reed may not be the only person in her family who knows the truth.”
Suddenly, a noise came from upstairs.
A floorboard creaked.
David looked toward the staircase.
“Did you hear that?”
Victoria nodded.
She reached for her radio.
“Security, this is Carter. Possible movement inside the residence. Check the upper floor.”
No response.
She tried again.
Nothing.
David moved in front of Sophia.
“Stay behind me.”
A shadow crossed the upstairs hallway.
Then a man's voice called down.
“David?”
David froze.
The voice was familiar.
But it wasn't his father's.
It was someone he had believed had died in Virginia.