Chapter 2 - The Name Under the Name
Adrian led them through the dark hallway toward the kitchen while bullets chewed into the front of the house.
Claire kept one hand over Noah’s ear and the other under his head.
“Blood?” she hissed. “What does that even mean?”
Cross answered first. “Your husband was part of a covert federal task force called Lantern.”
Adrian shot him a murderous look. “Was.”
“Lantern tracked stolen identities, shell companies, private intelligence brokers, and people who sold access to federal databases.”
Claire almost laughed from disbelief. “And you expect me to believe my husband was James Bond?”
“No,” Adrian said. “James Bond gets better hotel rooms.”
Even now, he could make a dry joke. It made her want to slap him.
He kicked open the pantry door, pulled down a shelf, and exposed a steel latch behind the wall.
Claire stared. “How long has that been there?”
“Before we bought the house.”
“You installed a hidden exit in my pantry?”
“Our pantry.”
“You lost the right to correct pronouns eight months ago.”
The latch opened into a narrow service passage.
Cross went first.
Adrian motioned Claire inside.
She didn’t move.
“Tell me what they think Noah has.”
“Not has,” Adrian said quietly. “Is.”
Claire’s stomach dropped.
Adrian lowered his voice. “Lantern used biometric inheritance models. DNA markers. Family-linked encryption. If one operative died, certain sealed records could only be opened by a verified close blood relative.”
Claire looked at Noah.
“No.”
“Claire—”
“No. You do not get to tell me my three-week-old child is some kind of password.”
“I’m telling you what they believe.”
“Do you believe it?”
Adrian didn’t answer quickly enough.
Claire stepped into the passage.
Behind them, wood cracked.
Someone had breached the front door.
Adrian entered last and shut the hidden panel.
They moved through darkness beneath the house until Cross stopped near a rusted metal ladder.
“Garage exit,” he whispered.
Adrian grabbed his arm. “No. Too obvious.”
Cross looked irritated. “You’ve been gone eight months and you think you know the perimeter better than I do?”
“I know how Lantern clears a house.”
Cross froze.
Claire noticed.
Adrian noticed too.
“What?” Cross said.
Adrian’s voice dropped. “You said these weren’t Lantern men.”
“They aren’t.”
“Then how do you know how Lantern clears a house?”
For one second nobody moved.
Then Cross pulled a gun.
Claire gasped.
Adrian was faster.
He slammed Cross into the wall and twisted his wrist until the weapon dropped.
Cross grunted. “Idiot. I worked Lantern Internal Review.”
Adrian pressed his forearm against Cross’s throat.
“Internal Review was dissolved three years ago.”
Cross’s eyes hardened.
“Officially.”
Above them, footsteps entered the kitchen.
A man’s voice said, “Find the panel.”
Cross looked at Adrian.
“They know the house.”
Then Noah stopped crying.
Claire looked down.
May you like
Her baby’s eyes were open.
And around his tiny silver bracelet, a blue light had begun to blink.
