Chapter 3 - THE DEAD MAN’S CODE
My father stared at Marcus.
“Repeat that.”
“The service gate was opened using Executive Code Three.”
My stomach turned cold.
Executive Code Three had belonged to Nathan.
My brother.
My best friend.
The person who had taught me to drive, helped me survive my mother’s death, and convinced Dad to let me attend college under another name.
Nathan had died when his car went off a mountain road in Colorado.
There had been no survivors.
Dad had permanently deactivated his security credentials afterward.
At least that was what I thought.
“Impossible,” I said.
Marcus was already typing into a tablet.
“The system shows a clean authorization.”
“Could somebody clone it?”
“Not without access to the original security architecture.”
Dad looked toward Preston.
Preston raised both hands.
“Don’t look at me.”
Rachel suddenly grabbed my wrist.
“Emily.”
Her eyes were wide.
“There was another name.”
“What?”
“In the financial files.”
She struggled to remember.
“A consultant.”
Preston shouted.
“Stop talking.”
Marcus stepped between them.
Rachel ignored Preston.
“The same consultant approved transfers from multiple shell companies.”
“What name?”
Rachel looked at my father.
“North.”
Dad became perfectly still.
I noticed.
“You know that name.”
He said nothing.
“Dad.”
“Not here.”
Preston laughed nervously.
“Oh, now he doesn’t want to talk?”
My father turned toward him.
“I would be very careful about enjoying the next five minutes.”
Police officers entered the corridor.
Their arrival changed everything.
The crowd moved back.
Two uniformed officers approached while a detective followed.
Detective Laura Bennett.
I knew her.
Not personally.
By reputation.
She looked first at me.
Then at my injury.
Then at Preston.
“Who assaulted you?”
“He did.”
Preston’s attorney suddenly appeared from the crowd.
Of course he had an attorney at the gala.
Men like Preston traveled with protection.
“My client will not answer questions.”
Detective Bennett looked at him.
“I didn’t ask him.”
Then she turned toward Rachel.
“And you?”
Rachel pointed toward Preston.
“He locked me in that room.”
Preston’s attorney stepped forward.
“We need to establish facts before making reckless accusations.”
Rachel laughed bitterly.
“I have seventeen minutes of facts.”
The detective began separating witnesses.
Preston was escorted toward the ballroom.
He looked back at me.
For the first time, there was no arrogance in his face.
Only fear.
Dad pulled me aside.
“Emily, listen carefully.”
“No.”
He blinked.
“No?”
“You tell me who North is.”
His jaw tightened.
“Not here.”
“You reacted to that name.”
“I know.”
“And someone just used Nathan’s dead access code.”
His eyes closed for half a second.
That was enough.
“You know something.”
Dad looked older suddenly.
Not weaker.
Just tired.
“There were questions about Nathan’s accident.”
The floor seemed to shift beneath me.
“What questions?”
“The investigators found inconsistencies.”
“What inconsistencies?”
He hesitated.
I stepped closer.
“You told me his brakes failed.”
“They did.”
“That’s not an answer.”
He lowered his voice.
“There was evidence the brake line had been cut.”
I stopped breathing.
Around us, officers moved through the corridor.
Guests whispered.
Cameras flashed somewhere beyond the ballroom doors.
But all I could hear was my father.
“You told me it was an accident.”
“That was what the police concluded publicly.”
“Publicly?”
“We had no suspect.”
“For six years?”
“I was trying to protect you.”
“From what?”
Dad looked toward Rachel.
Then toward Preston.
“From whoever killed your brother.”
I stepped away from him.
The bruise beneath my eye suddenly felt irrelevant.
“You lied to me.”
“Yes.”
“For six years.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because two days before Nathan died, he told me he had discovered unauthorized transfers inside Arden Global.”
Rachel slowly turned toward us.
Dad continued.
“He believed someone inside the company was helping a political family move money through our international subsidiaries.”
I already knew the answer.
“The Harringtons.”
“We didn’t know that then.”
“And North?”
Dad looked at me.
“Nathan used that name in his final email.”
Rachel covered her mouth.
I stared at him.
“What did the email say?”
Dad pulled out his phone.
His hand shook slightly as he searched.
Then he showed me a photograph of an old printed email.
The message was short.
Dad.
I found North.
He’s closer than we thought.
Do not trust anyone with Code Three.
If something happens to me, protect Emily.
My eyes burned.
I read the final sentence again.
Protect Emily.
A security officer suddenly shouted from the end of the corridor.
“Sir!”
We turned.
Marcus ran toward us.
“The vehicle at the service gate crashed.”
“Driver?” Dad asked.
“Gone.”
“Gone?”
“The vehicle was abandoned.”
Marcus hesitated.
“But something was left inside.”
He handed me a small black object.
A flash drive.
Rachel gasped.
“That’s mine.”
There was a white label attached to it.
May you like
Three handwritten words were printed across the front.
HELLO, LITTLE SISTER.
