Chapter 17 - The Message From Samir
Megan’s secure phone vibrated again.
This time, the message contained a photograph.
Samir stood beside a newspaper printed that morning.
He was alive.
Beneath the image were coordinates near the California coast.
Daniel looked at the screen.
“That is him?”
“Yes.”
“Who sent it?”
Megan did not know.
Samir had disappeared nine years earlier.
If he was alive, someone had protected him.
Or held him.
A second message arrived.
DO NOT GIVE THE PLATE TO FEDERAL AGENTS.
Megan’s distrust returned immediately.
The agents inside the ballroom appeared legitimate.
But the original investigation had also included legitimate agents.
Someone higher in the system buried the case.
Robert approached.
Megan showed him the message.
He asked, “Can we trust the people here?”
“No.”
Robert looked toward the federal team.
Diane sat in a nearby room with her attorney.
If she had influence inside the investigation, handing over the plate could make it disappear again.
Robert ordered his security director to keep the jacket sealed.
The lead agent objected.
Robert said his attorney would seek a court order before releasing evidence.
The agent’s reaction was subtle.
Too angry.
Megan noticed.
He demanded Megan’s secure phone.
She refused.
Then he called her by a military code name never included in any public record.
“Nightbird, give me the device.”
Daniel looked at Megan.
Robert looked at the agent.
Megan’s hand tightened around the clutch.
Only members of the compromised operation knew that name.
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The investigation had not come to protect her.
It had come to finish what started nine years earlier.
