Chapter 3 - THE GHOST FROM FORT LIBERTYEmergency lights flickered on throughout the mansion.
Robert immediately moved Emily behind him.
“Stay close.”
Daniel whispered, “We need to leave.”
Robert looked at him.
“You're not going anywhere.”
“You don't understand.”
“Then make me understand.”
Daniel shook his head.
“He doesn't threaten people twice.”
A distant crash echoed from downstairs.
Emily jumped.
Robert drew his weapon.
Margaret grabbed Emily's hand.
Robert moved toward the door.
“Stay here.”
Emily shook her head.
“No.”
He looked at her.
“I don't want you involved.”
“I already am.”
Her voice trembled, but she stood.
“I've been involved for months.”
Robert stared at her.
“What did you just say?”
Emily looked at Daniel.
“He started receiving calls before we got married.”
Daniel's face tightened.
“He told me never to talk about them.”
Robert lowered the weapon slightly.
“How long?”
“Almost two years.”
The answer hit him hard.
Two years.
The threats had started before the wedding.
Before the mansion.
Before the injuries.
Before Emily had stopped calling her parents every Sunday.
Robert suddenly remembered every missed phone call.
Every canceled dinner.
Every excuse.
He had believed his daughter was building a life.
She had been trying to survive one.
A loud metallic sound came from the hallway.
Robert raised his weapon.
“Whoever you are, identify yourself.”
No answer.
Then a voice came through the darkness.
“You still give orders like you're in Afghanistan, Robert.”
Robert froze.
He knew that voice.
He had heard it seventeen years earlier through a radio crackling beneath enemy fire.
Jonathan Vale.
Robert stepped into the hallway.
“Come out.”
A man appeared at the far end.
Tall.
Gray-haired.
Wearing a black coat.
His face was older, thinner, but unmistakable.
Emily stared.
“Dad…”
Robert raised his weapon.
Jonathan smiled.
“You always were predictable.”
Robert's voice became ice.
“I watched your helicopter go down.”
“You watched what I wanted you to watch.”
Robert's eyes narrowed.
“You betrayed the unit.”
Jonathan laughed softly.
“No. I exposed the betrayal.”
Daniel suddenly stepped forward.
“Jonathan.”
Robert turned sharply.
“You know him?”
Daniel looked terrified.
Jonathan smiled.
“Of course he does.”
Emily stared at her husband.
“You told me you didn't know him.”
Daniel's face collapsed.
“I didn't have a choice.”
Jonathan's smile disappeared.
“Everyone says that.”
Robert's weapon remained aimed at him.
“What do you want?”
Jonathan looked toward Emily.
“Her.”
Robert's finger tightened.
“You'll have to go through me.”
“That was always the problem.”
Jonathan reached into his coat.
Robert prepared to fire.
Instead, Jonathan pulled out a photograph.
He threw it onto the marble floor.
Robert glanced down.
It showed Margaret twenty years earlier.
Standing beside Jonathan.
Robert's expression changed.
Emily stared at her mother.
“You knew him?”
Margaret began crying.
“Yes.”
Robert looked at his wife.
“How?”
Margaret whispered, “Before I met you.”
Jonathan smiled.
“And before you met Robert, Margaret was working for me.”
Robert felt the world shift beneath him.
Margaret shook her head.
“That isn't the whole truth.”
Jonathan looked amused.
“Then tell him.”
Robert turned toward his wife.
“Tell me everything.”
Margaret opened her mouth.
A gunshot exploded downstairs.
Everyone froze.
Jonathan looked toward the staircase.
“That wasn't my man.”
Robert understood immediately.
“There are two teams.”
Jonathan nodded.
“Now you're finally catching up.”
The mansion erupted into chaos.
Glass shattered.
Security alarms screamed.
Robert grabbed Emily and pulled her toward the hidden service corridor.
Daniel followed.
Margaret ran behind them.
Jonathan disappeared into the darkness.
But before Robert reached the corridor, his phone vibrated again.
A message appeared.
YOUR WIFE HAS TEN MINUTES TO TELL YOU WHO EMILY'S REAL FATHER IS.
Robert stopped.
Emily looked at him.
“Dad?”
Robert stared at Margaret.
Margaret was crying.
May you like
And she whispered:
“Robert… Emily isn't your daughter.”
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