Chapter 16 - Mother’s Bargain
Mother agreed to speak only if Emily and I came together.
She was being held in a federal detention facility.
She appeared smaller behind the glass.
For the first time in my life, she looked afraid of silence.
“You knew about Caleb’s transmitter,” I said.
“I paid for it.”
“Why?”
“Meridian required every senior member to carry an emergency access device.”
“Did you have one?”
She lifted her left hand.
A narrow scar crossed her palm.
“I removed mine after Thomas died.”
“Where is Caleb’s deactivation phrase?”
“Inside the memory attached to the transmitter.”
“That phrase requires a voice command.”
“Whose voice?”
“Thomas’s.”
Thomas was dead.
But we had hours of his recorded testimony.
The exact phrase remained unknown.
Mother offered to identify it in exchange for protection.
“You helped kill Thomas,” Emily said.
“I helped cover the crash.”
“I did not cut the brake line.”
“You imprisoned me.”
“I believed Caleb when he said Daniel was dead.”
“You saw me alive and chose the money anyway.”
Mother looked down.
“Yes.”
The single honest answer felt colder than another lie.
“What is the phrase?” I asked.
She met my eyes.
“Thomas used it whenever he ended a family argument.”
I remembered childhood dinners.
Caleb shouting.
Mother crying.
Thomas standing at the head of the table.
Enough.
We protect the family by telling the truth.
Elena transmitted the phrase using Thomas’s recorded voice.
Caleb’s implant rejected it.
Mother closed her eyes.
“There was one more sentence.”
“Say it.”
“He always looked at Caleb when he said it.”
Blood does not excuse betrayal.
The full phrase worked.
The illegal transfer stopped at eighty-seven percent.
But thirteen percent of the database had already reached an overseas server.
The buyer’s identity was hidden.
Elena entered the room.
“Rebecca contacted us.”
“She offered the buyer’s identity in exchange for Noah.”
“That will not happen.”
“She knows.”
“She changed her demand.”
Rebecca wanted Caleb.
Federal authorities would never surrender a prisoner.
But Elena believed they could use a controlled transfer to draw her out.
Caleb agreed after learning Rebecca had sold Meridian’s database.
“She betrayed me,” he said.
“You murdered two women,” I replied.
“Kendra was Owen.”
“You built the room where she died.”
He smiled faintly.
“You need me.”
“No.”
“We need Rebecca to believe we do.”
The transfer was arranged at an abandoned rail terminal.
Caleb would wear a tracker.
Agents would surround the site.
Before leaving detention, Caleb asked to speak with me alone.
“There is one thing Rebecca does not know.”
“What?”
May you like
“Emily contacted me before you deployed.”
“She asked me to help her disappear.”
