Chapter 19 - Thomas's Last Order

Bell tried one final defense. "Context matters. Those recordings are fragments. You can't convict a man on grief."

"Then we'll use evidence," Ortiz said.

The red-light device, the archive and the forged orders were sealed separately. Independent technicians documented each item. Voss asked for a lawyer. Bell asked for his personal staff. Ortiz told them both they could speak through counsel.

Rourke didn't feel victorious. He felt twelve years old again, waiting outside a hospital room while Thomas promised everything would be okay. Thomas had kept that promise once. Then he'd spent his last night trying to keep it again.

Mara handed him the field journal. "He wanted you to have this."

Rourke read the final entry aloud, quietly enough that only the people beside him heard.

"If I can't make it back, tell Daniel the job isn't to avenge us. It's to make sure nobody has to follow the same false order ever again. Protect the living first."

Cole wiped his face with his sleeve and looked embarrassed by it. Torres rubbed Ranger's neck. Finch closed her eyes for a moment.

"Thomas knew you," Mara said.

"He knew who I was supposed to be."

"Maybe that's enough."

Lily approached holding two paper cups of coffee, though neither contained coffee. She'd found hot chocolate at the volunteer tent.

"This is probably terrible," she told her mother. "But you look like you need something warm."

Mara accepted the cup with both hands. "It's perfect."

"Are you coming home?" Lily asked.

The question hurt more than all the accusations on the field. Mara couldn't promise the past would be repaired. She couldn't give Lily back the birthday parties, school plays or nights when a girl needed her mother and didn't have one.

"If you'll let me," she said. "And if you need time, I'll be here while you take it."

Lily studied her face. "You don't have to keep disappearing to protect me."

"I know that now."

Ortiz returned from the vehicle line. "There is one more thing. Bell sent a package to the memorial organizers before his arrest. It's addressed to you, Mara."

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Inside was a sealed envelope with Thomas's handwriting on the front:

OPEN ONLY WHEN LILY IS SAFE.