Chapter 18 Eve #2
“How did you find out?” David asked, looking at Nolan. “Why did you break protocol?”
“Because a guest handed this in at the reception desk of the Christmas Inn and wanted to know who came looking for it,” Nolan pulled the photo from his pocket and handed it to David.
David’s eyes flew to Brian. “This is a picture of your father and Mia when they were kids.”
“Paul!” Mia’s eyes flew to Brian. “Your father was Paul?”
Brian nodded. “That’s my photo.” He pointed to it. “I dropped it at breakfast this morning.”
His eyes widened with horror. “Oh no.” His head snapped toward Nolan. “Did I put Mia in danger?”
“No, Brian,” Eve told him, reaching over to pat his hand. “This is not your fault.”
“Nolan, you were right to bring Mor...” David stopped and looked at Mia. “Sorry, Mia.”
Eve’s heart squeezed for him. For both of them. This was so confusing and heartbreaking.
“Maybe you should start at the beginning and tell us what is going on?” Eve suggested gently.
David took a deep breath. His hands rested on the table, and Eve noticed they were shaking slightly.
“I worked for the government,” David began. “Intelligence. I was a cryptographer and signals analyst. My specialty was intercepting and decoding encrypted communications.”
He paused, collecting his thoughts.
“About twenty-eight years ago, I was testing new encryption protocols for the Navy when I intercepted transmissions on a frequency that shouldn’t have existed. Someone was using military-grade encryption for unauthorized communications.”
Eve leaned forward, listening intently.
“I decoded them,” David continued. “And what I found was that someone was using Moore Shipping Lines to sell classified military intelligence to foreign governments. Weapons specifications, communication systems, cryptographic equipment. My father’s company was being used as a cover for espionage and arms dealing. ”
Mia’s hand flew to her mouth.
“The man behind it was named Malcolm Kincaid,” David said, his voice hardening. “He’d embedded himself in defense contracting circles and was using our shipping routes to move classified materials and information.”
“Did your father know?” Eve asked.
“No,” David said firmly. “My father, Harold, was furious when I told him. But when I tried to report it through proper channels, I discovered that Malcolm had corrupt officials in the FBI, CIA, and Department of Defense on his payroll. The people I reported it to were the very people protecting him.”
Everyone around the table was quiet, staring at David. This was like being in one of the true crime podcasts Eve loved so much. Suddenly, she wasn’t too keen on them anymore.
David nodded. “They sent people after me. After the agent who was trying to protect me. After my father. And when they couldn’t get to me directly...”
His voice grew rough.
“A few days before your eighth birthday, Mia, your mother was on her way home from the hospital when she was carjacked.”
Mia’s eyes widened, and Eve felt her own breath catch in her throat.
“Nancy was resourceful,” David continued, a ghost of a smile touching his lips. “She stabbed Malcolm’s man in the leg with a scalpel at a gas station, took the car, and sped home.”
“Mom did that?” Mia breathed.
David nodded. “Then three days before your eighth birthday, you were riding your new pink bike.” His voice broke slightly. “Malcolm himself came for you. He tried to grab you.”
Mia’s dream flashed through Eve’s mind. She was right, it hadn’t been a dream but a memory brought back by her arrival back in the town where it had happened.
“Your dog, Tyson, attacked him,” David said.
“Bit his forearm badly. But Malcolm got away, and I...” His voice cracked.
“I pulled you out of the pond after you went over your handlebars. After that, I knew I couldn’t risk your lives anymore,” David said, his eyes distant.
“Malcolm had too much protection. Too many people in high places covering for him. Until I could bring him down, the life I had to lead wasn’t one I could impose on my wife and daughter.
Or my father. Or my uncle.” He swallowed.
“You see, I became the villain in the story and was suddenly the one being hunted.”
“Oh no,” Mia’s eyes filled with despair. “They thought you were doing what Malcolm was?”
David nodded. “So William set it all up,” he continued. “He got Nancy and Morgan new identities. New lives. Moved them across the country where Malcolm couldn’t find them.” His eyes moved to Mia, dark shadows hung heavily in the. “Where not even I knew who or where you were.”
“And Malcolm?” Eve asked. “What happened to him?”
“He disappeared too,” David said bitterly. “Changed his identity. Rebuilt somewhere else. We’ve been hunting him for twenty-eight years. Tracking him. Removing his corrupt protectors one by one. Waiting for him to make a mistake.”
“And he did,” Dan said from where he stood near the door. “He came back to St. Augustine.”
“After William sold Moore Shipping Lines a few years ago,” David explained, “Malcolm saw an opportunity. The Moore family was no longer watching. He could restart his operations using the smaller boats that leave from St. Augustine’s harbor.”
“We’ve been tracking the operations for months,” Nolan added. “We know he’s here. We know he’s staying at the Christmas Inn. We just don’t know what he looks like now or what name he’s using.”
“That’s why you’re taking photos of all the guests,” Mia said, understanding dawning.
“Yes,” Nolan confirmed. “We’ll run facial recognition and try to find Malcolm Kincaid under whatever new identity he’s created.”
Eve glanced at the clock on the wall and reality crashed back.
It was getting late. Past eleven.
“What are we going to do?” Eve asked, looking around the table. “It’s too dangerous for us to go back to the Inn, but very suspicious if we don’t.”
“I’ll go back with them,” Milly said from the doorway.
Eve turned to see her and Dan standing there, having finished their perimeter check.
“I’ll watch them tonight,” Milly continued. “And Nolan will be there too.”
“Yeah, and I don’t mean to sound callous,” Dan said, stepping further into the room, “but this might just be what we need. It could flush out whoever Malcolm is now.”
“No!” David’s hand slammed down on the table, making everyone jump. “I will not have them used as bait. I didn’t leave twenty-eight years ago to have them come back here and get dangled like carrots in front of a starving donkey.”
“David...” Mia’s voice was low and soft. “I’m no longer eight. You sacrificed a lot for Mom and me. Now let me help you. We are staying at the hotel, and this Malcolm guy, or whoever he is now, doesn’t know we know. So we have the advantage over him.”
“No,” David said stubbornly. “You have Lila.”
“She can come stay at my place,” Brian offered. “Out of harm’s way.”
“Absolutely not,” David was even more adamant.
Then his eyes narrowed, and a calculating look came over his face. “But son, I think you just gave me a great idea.” He grinned, though there was no humor in it. “My Uncle put you in harm’s way. Now he’s going to help get you out of it.”
“The three of you are going to stay with William,” David said, looking at Milly.
“It will be a lot easier for you to protect them there.” He continued laying out the plan.
“Tonight, the three of you will go back to the Inn, and Milly will go with you. Introduce her as your cousin Mia, whom you went to fetch. Tomorrow at breakfast, William arrives and invites you all to stay at his place for New Year’s. ”
“I’ll have all the guests photographed by then,” Nolan said. “I only have two more pictures to take. One is of Preston Langford, and the other is that creepy Calvin dude that seems to be everywhere Mia is.”
The group began to move, gathering their things, preparing to leave.
David stopped Eve near the door.
“I’m sorry you’ve been pulled into this,” David told her, his voice quiet. “But there’s a part of me that isn’t, or I’d never have met you.”
He pulled her to him and kissed her.
Brief. Warm. Full of promise.
“Please be careful and listen to Milly,” he said when he pulled back.
“I will,” Eve assured him, feeling giddy despite everything. Her heart was going crazy in her chest.
When they got back to the hotel, it was almost midnight.
The lobby was quiet, with only a few lights on. Marcus was still behind the desk, and he looked up with a smile as they entered.
Eve approached the desk while Milly hung back slightly.
“We need to check in another guest,” Eve said. “This is Matilda Gray, Mia’s cousin. She’ll be sharing a room with Mia.”
“Of course,” Marcus said, pulling up the reservation system. “Welcome, Ms. Gray.”
As he processed the check-in, he glanced up at Mia. “Oh, Mrs. Gray-Duncan, I have something for you.”
He reached behind the desk, pulled out an envelope, and handed it to Mia.
“What’s this?” Mia asked.
“The information you requested,” Marcus said. “About the photo.”
Mia’s eyes widened. “Thank you, Marcus.”
They headed upstairs, and once they were safely in Mia and Milly’s room, Mia opened the envelope.
Her eyes went wide as she read the note inside.
“The person who asked about the photo was someone named Erika,” Mia said, looking up at them.
Eve’s eyebrows shot up. “The waitress, Erika?”
“That’s who Marcus said came to ask if anyone had collected the photo,” Mia confirmed, showing Milly the note.
“I’ll get it checked out,” Milly said, taking the note and studying it. “Now get some sleep. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow.”
“Milly,” Eve said, indicating for her to come to her adjoining room.
Once they were alone, Eve asked softly, “Be honest. Just how much danger are we in?”
Milly’s expression grew serious, her eyes hard. “The kind of danger that doesn’t think twice about sending an assassin to eliminate threats.”