Chapter 5
Rain pounded against the corrugated metal roof of the abandoned boathouse, twenty miles south of the city along the dark banks of the Calumet River. Inside, the only light came from the dashboard of an old Ford truck Jake had hot-wired from the hospital’s long-term parking structure.
Nora had finally fallen asleep on the cracked vinyl rear bench, exhausted from crying, her small chest rising and falling beneath the pink teddy-bear pajamas. Her cream bunny was tucked under her chin, and the silver dog tag rested silently against her collarbone.
Ava sat on an overturned wooden crate near the hood of the truck, her scrub top damp with cold rain, her arms wrapped around her knees. Her eyes were red, staring at the floorboards where Jake was wrapping fresh black electrical tape tightly around his throbbing ankle.
"You knew," Ava said, her voice hollow, stripped of all tears. "All those letters you sent me after the funeral. All those checks you deposited into Nora's trust fund every month. You weren't doing it out of guilt, were you?"
Jake didn't pause his bandaging. "I did it because Ethan was my brother. Because he took a round that was meant for my throat."
"Then why are men with suppressed guns trying to kill his daughter in a hospital ward, Jake?!" Ava snapped, standing up, her hands trembling with rage and terror. "Tell me the truth! What did you two do over there?!"
Jake pulled the tape tight, snapped it with his teeth, and stood up. He towered over her, the dark tattoos on his neck stark against his pale, rain-dampened skin.
"We weren't supposed to be in that valley," Jake said, his deep voice scraping against the shadows. "Our team was assigned to escort a private logistics convoy belonging to Aegis Vanguard—a defense contractor run by former Pentagon brass. Ethan intercepted a manifest. They weren't moving medical supplies or radio equipment. They were smuggling biometrics and encrypted digital ledgers out of Kabul."
Ava stared at him, her lips parting. "Ledgers?"
"A list of every covert intelligence asset operating under non-official cover in the Middle East," Jake said coldly. "A hit list worth hundreds of millions on the black market. Ethan copied the master decryption key onto a physical chip before they realized the breach. The next morning, our coordinates were leaked to a local insurgent cell. We were ambushed within twenty minutes of leaving the wire."
"And the casket..." Ava whispered, her hands flying to her throat. "What was in the casket, Jake?"
"Enough scorched tissue to fool a corrupt military pathologist," Jake said, his jaw tightening until the muscle stood out like stone. "I thought Ethan died when the munitions truck blew. I dragged what was left of the torso out of the flames myself. But if that tag is real... if Nora’s story is true..."
"He survived," Ava breathed, tears spilling down her cheeks. "He survived and he didn't come home to me? He let me grieve for four years? He let his daughter grow up believing she only had a ghost for a father?!"
"He didn't stay away because he didn't love you, Ava," Jake said, his voice dropping into a somber, sorrowful quiet. "He stayed away because he knew if he came near you, Aegis Vanguard would butcher you both to get that key."
From the backseat of the truck, a tiny, groggy voice broke through the rain.
"Mommy?" Nora murmured, rubbing her sleepy eyes with the back of her hand. "Is Daddy coming to sing the boat song now?"
Jake froze. He slowly turned his head toward the truck. "What did she just say?"
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Ava blinked, wiping her eyes in confusion. "The boat song... it’s just a nonsense rhyme Ethan used to sing to her when she was an infant. She couldn't possibly remember it."
"Sing it, Ava," Jake commanded, stepping toward the vehicle with sudden, sharp intensity. "Sing every damn word."
