“Where?”
“I don't know.”
“Then how do you know he's alive?”
Ellis looked toward the phone on the table.
“Because he contacted me last week.”
Victoria immediately picked it up.
“Did he give you a location?”
Ellis shook his head.
“He gave me a warning.”
“What warning?”
Ellis looked directly at David.
“He said the people who took him are preparing to move again.”
Victoria's expression tightened.
“Move whom?”
Ellis answered quietly.
“Everyone still connected to the original list.”
Before anyone could respond, the front door opened.
A federal security officer entered.
“Deputy Director Carter, we have a situation.”
Victoria turned.
“What happened?”
“Officer Vanessa Reed has been taken into custody.”
David looked at Ellis.
“What?”
The officer continued.
“Her brother was found dead in his apartment. The initial scene suggests a suicide, but the evidence doesn't support it.”
Victoria's face hardened.
“Where is Reed now?”
“Under federal protection.”
Ellis slowly shook his head.
“No.”
David looked at him.
“What?”
Ellis backed away from the table.
“If they killed Michael Reed, then they know Vanessa has been talking.”
Victoria looked toward the officer.
“Get everyone out of this house.”
The officer nodded.
But before he could move, the lights went out.
A loud crash came from the front porch.
Then a gunshot.
Sophia screamed.
David pulled her behind the kitchen counter.
Victoria reached for her radio.
“Security! Report!”
No answer.
Ellis looked toward the dark hallway.
“They found us.”
A voice came through the darkness.
“Robert.”
Ellis froze.
A second voice followed.
“It's time to come home.”
CHAPTER 8 — THE WOMAN IN THE PHOTOGRAPH
The security team restored power within ninety seconds.
By then, the intruders had disappeared.
One federal officer was injured, but alive.
The house had been searched.
The metal box was gone.
So was the flash drive.
David stood in the kitchen, staring at the empty space beneath the cabinet.
“They took everything.”
Victoria examined the broken window.
“They knew exactly where to look.”
Robert Ellis sat against the wall, breathing heavily.
“They weren't looking for the box.”
David turned.
“Then what?”
Ellis looked at the photograph of their mother.
“They wanted this.”
Victoria picked it up.
The picture showed Eleanor Carter beside a young woman.
Vanessa Reed.
But the photograph was older than anyone had realized.
The date on the back was seventeen years earlier.
Vanessa would have been around seventeen at the time.
David stared at the image.
“Why would Mom be meeting her?”
Ellis answered.
“Because Vanessa's mother worked for Project Harborlight.”
Victoria looked up.
“Who was her mother?”
Ellis hesitated.
“Dr. Margaret Reed.”
David frowned.
“Never heard of her.”
“She was a medical officer assigned to the program. She handled witness identification and medical transfers.”
Victoria's face changed.
“Was she involved in the disappearances?”
Ellis shook his head.
“No. She was one of the first people who tried to expose them.”
“Then what happened?”
“She died in a car accident.”
David looked at the photograph again.
“Another accident.”
Ellis nodded.