Daniel stumbled through the doorway and caught himself against the steel frame. Mara grabbed his arm before his knees gave way.
“You shouldn't be standing.”
“I know.”
“You drove here?”
“No.”
His eyes moved toward Rowan.
“Did he follow you?”
Daniel shook his head.
“I don't know.”
Outside, the garage door continued descending with a slow mechanical groan. The stranger remained beyond it, his outline visible beneath the narrowing gap.
Eli stepped toward the control panel.
“Don't.”
Rowan's warning stopped him.
“If you close that door, we lose our only exit.”
Eli turned.
“He's not here to arrest us.”
“You don't know that.”
“I know Keller.”
Daniel looked at Eli.
“You never met him.”
Eli's face tightened.
“I met the people who worked for him.”
The door reached the floor.
The garage became suddenly quiet.
Mara could hear the tape recorder ticking as its motor wound down.
She looked at Daniel.
“Dad said I had to find you.”
Daniel swallowed.
“I heard.”
“He knew this would happen.”
“Maybe.”
“Maybe?”
Daniel leaned against the wall.
“He knew something was coming. That doesn't mean he knew exactly when.”
Mara stared at him.
“Why didn't you tell me any of this?”
“Because Dad made me promise.”
“Dad has been dead for seven years.”
Daniel looked at the photograph in her hand.
“That's what we were supposed to believe.”
A heavy impact struck the garage door.
Everyone froze.
Another impact followed.
Rowan raised his weapon.
Eli moved toward the steel room.
Daniel pulled Mara backward.
“Stay behind me.”
The third impact bent the lower edge of the door.
“There's another exit,” Eli said.
Rowan looked at him.
“Where?”
“Through the storage room.”
“You've been here before?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
Eli didn't answer.
Mara caught his arm.
“Tell me everything.”
“Later.”
“No. Now.”
The garage door shuddered again.
Eli looked at Daniel.
“Your brother is right. We don't have time.”
Daniel nodded.
They moved toward the back of the building.
The storage room contained shelves of rusted tools and empty paint cans. Eli pushed aside a metal cabinet, revealing a narrow opening in the wall.
Mara stared.
“How did you know that was there?”
“I told you.”
“You've been here before.”
“Yes.”
“With my father?”
Eli hesitated.
“Yes.”
Mara felt the answer settle heavily between them.
Before she could ask anything else, Rowan pulled open the passage.
“Move.”
They entered single file.
The passage was barely wide enough for one person. Dust filled the air. Daniel coughed behind Mara.
At the far end, they emerged into a drainage tunnel beneath the warehouse.
Water ran along the concrete floor.
Daniel stopped.
“I can't go farther.”
Mara turned.
“You have to.”
“My ribs.”
She looked at his face.
He was pale.
Eli crouched.
“Get on my back.”
Daniel stared at him.
“You're kidding.”
“No.”
Daniel hesitated, then climbed onto Eli's back.
Mara watched them.
For the first time that night, she saw something between the two men that did not fit the story she had been told.
Trust.
Not complete.
Not comfortable.
But real.
They reached an abandoned maintenance room beneath the neighboring warehouse.
Rowan locked the door behind them.
Everyone stood in silence.
Mara finally spoke.
“Now explain.”
Daniel looked at Eli.
Eli looked at Rowan.
Rowan said nothing.
Mara's patience broke.
“You all knew something about my father. You all knew Keller was alive. You knew the house was going to be attacked. And somehow my brother knew enough to come here tonight.”
Daniel lowered his head.
“I followed the messages.”
“What messages?”
“The same ones you received.”
Mara stared.
“You got them too?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I thought they were bait.”
“They were.”
Daniel looked at her.
“But not for the reason I thought.”
He reached into his jacket.
Mara saw a folded sheet of paper.
He handed it to her.
It was old.
Yellowed.
The handwriting was unmistakably their father's.
Mara read the first line.
If the house burns, the people who come looking afterward matter more than the people who start it.
She looked up.
“What does that mean?”
Daniel said, “Dad knew someone would eventually search the house.”
“For what?”
“For the ledger.”
Mara looked at the ledger still in her hand.
“Then why leave it behind?”
“He didn't.”
Everyone turned toward Eli.
He nodded toward the ledger.
“That's not the original.”
Mara's fingers tightened.
“What?”
“The pages are copied.”
“By whom?”
“Your father.”
Daniel stared at Eli.
“You knew?”
“I suspected.”
Rowan stepped forward.
“Open the back cover.”
Mara did.
There was a thin compartment beneath the binding.
Inside was a memory card.
No one spoke.
Mara lifted it carefully.
Eli said, “That's what they wanted.”
“Who?”
“Keller.”
A sound came from the corridor.
Footsteps.
Slow.
Approaching.
Rowan extinguished the light.
Everyone froze.
The footsteps stopped outside.
A man's voice came through the door.
“Mara.”
She recognized it.
Not Keller.
Her father's voice.
But the recording had already been played.
This voice was live.
Daniel covered her mouth before she could answer.
The voice came again.
“You've found the ledger.”
Mara looked at Daniel.
His eyes were wide.
Eli whispered.
“That isn't your father.”
The voice laughed softly.
“No, Eli. It isn't.”
The door handle began to turn.
Rowan raised his gun.
Then the hallway went silent.
A second later, the footsteps moved away.
Nobody breathed until they were gone.
Mara looked at the memory card.
“What is on this?”
Eli answered.
“The part your father never trusted anyone to carry.”
She closed her hand around it.
“Then we're going to find out.”
Daniel shook his head.
“Not here.”
Mara looked at him.
“Where?”
Daniel's expression changed.
“There's one place Keller never knew about.”
Rowan frowned.
“Where?”
Daniel looked at Mara.
“Dad's grave.”
Click Here to continue read next: PART6: At Their Father’s Grave, Mara Discovered Why Daniel Had Been Afraid of Keller and Why the Fire Was Only the First Move
By the Time Mara Reached the Porch, the Fire Had Already Taken the One Thing Her Brother Was Trying to Protect
Part 5 of 16
