Chapter 14 - Phase Two
Ortiz opened the folder inside an isolated forensic environment.
Photographs appeared.
Not children.
Adults.
Judges.
Doctors.
Police officers.
Hospital executives.
Some images were surveillance shots.
Some looked like passport photos.
Some had red circles around faces.
“What is this?” I asked.
A federal analyst scrolled through metadata.
“Leverage files, maybe. Recruitment targets. Compromised officials.”
Mara leaned over his shoulder.
“Reed didn’t build this alone.”
Nobody answered because nobody needed to.
Ortiz clicked a spreadsheet.
Columns filled the screen.
NAME.
ACCESS.
STATUS.
FAMILY.
DEPENDENCIES.
My name appeared near the bottom.
ADRIAN SHAW.
Status: UNAWARE.
Under Family:
RACHEL - CLOSED.
FATHER - ACTIVE.
I stopped breathing.
“My father?”
Ortiz looked at me.
“You said he lives in Indiana.”
“He does.”
“When did you last speak to him?”
“Sunday.”
“What day is it?”
“Thursday.”
The analyst clicked the linked file.
Three photographs loaded.
My father buying groceries.
My father walking to his mailbox.
My father sitting through the window of his kitchen.
All taken within the last month.
Mara whispered, “Why would Reed watch him?”
I reached for my phone.
Called Dad.
Straight to voicemail.
Again.
Voicemail.
Ortiz said, “Don’t drive there.”
“I’m not waiting.”
“We send local police first.”
“I said I’m not waiting.”
My phone buzzed before I could call again.
Unknown number.
A photograph loaded.
My father sat in a chair inside a concrete room.
Hands tied behind him.
Alive.
A digital timestamp glowed in the corner.
Ten minutes ago.
Under it:
SHAW DOESN’T KNOW ABOUT PHASE TWO.
Then a second message arrived.
RACHEL WASN’T THE FIRST PERSON REED KILLED FOR YOU.
Ortiz read it over my shoulder.
“What does that mean?”
Another photograph began downloading.
Slowly.
Top to bottom.
A hospital room appeared.
Older footage.
My mother in a bed.
She had died when I was sixteen.
Cancer, they said.
A man stood beside her.
The image finished loading.
May you like
Malcolm Reed.
