Chapter 14 - THE SECOND LEDGERFederal investigators believed Voss's arrest ended the conspiracy.
Claire disagreed.
Voss had been powerful.
But the financial ledger showed transactions continuing years after his retirement.
Someone else had inherited the network.
Adrian traced Everett's secret payments.
They led to a storage facility outside Baltimore.
Inside locker 117, they discovered a steel case.
Daniel opened it.
Photographs.
Passports.
Encrypted drives.
And a list.
Eleven names.
Nine were government officials.
One belonged to a defense contractor.
The final name was Claire Mercer.
Mason stared at her.
“Why are you on the list?”
Claire didn't know.
Then Daniel noticed a handwritten symbol beside her name.
A circle.
Ten bars.
Except this time—
the tenth bar was crossed out.
The same symbol from Mason's kidnapping photograph.
Adrian's expression darkened.
“I didn't paint that.”
Claire looked at him.
“What?”
“The symbol at the facility.”
Everyone went silent.
Adrian had used the building.
He had taken Mason there.
But he had never painted the crossed-out Iron insignia.
Someone else had been inside before him.
Someone who knew Iron Team's authentication system.
Someone who knew Adrian's plan.
Someone who had watched everything unfold.
Mason whispered:
“Then Voss wasn't the only person hunting you.”
Claire closed the steel case.
May you like
“No.”
Outside the facility, a black SUV pulled away before they reached the window.
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