He Came Home Early and Heard His Mother Threatening His Wife—Then a Hidden Secret Was Revealed
Chapter 5
They escaped through the hidden passage.
Michael had never known the tunnel existed.
It ran beneath the property for several hundred feet before opening into an abandoned drainage structure behind the neighboring woods.
Rain had started falling.
They emerged into the darkness.
Thomas looked back toward the house.
“Whoever entered the basement will realize we’re gone.”
Michael stared at him.
“Where do we go?”
“Somewhere they can’t find us.”
Emily stepped closer.
“What about your mother?”
Margaret shook her head.
“I’m coming.”
Michael looked at her.
For the first time that evening, he realized how exhausted she looked.
She had been carrying this secret for twenty years.
Maybe longer.
They reached Thomas’s vehicle.
Before getting inside, Michael stopped.
“Wait.”
He looked toward his house.
“What about the documents?”
Thomas held up the envelope.
“I took the important ones.”
Michael nodded.
They drove through the rain.
No one spoke for several minutes.
Finally, Michael asked:
“Where is Daniel?”
Thomas looked at him through the rearview mirror.
“About four hours north.”
“Take me there.”
“Not yet.”
Michael frowned.
“Why?”
“Because Daniel won’t trust you.”
“Why?”
“Because he doesn’t know whether you’re part of the network.”
Michael stared at him.
“My father was involved. That doesn’t mean I am.”
Thomas nodded.
“I know.”
“But Daniel doesn’t.”
Michael looked at Emily.
She was staring out the window.
“You knew Daniel was alive.”
“Yes.”
“When did you meet him?”
“Two months before our wedding.”
Michael’s expression hardened.
“Why?”
“He contacted me.”
“About what?”
“You.”
Michael turned toward her.
“What about me?”
“Daniel told me your father was watching you.”
Michael couldn’t understand.
“Why would my father watch me?”
“Because he believed you had found something.”
“I hadn’t.”
“Maybe you didn’t know you had.”
Emily reached into her bag.
She pulled out a small notebook.
Michael recognized it immediately.
His father’s handwriting covered the pages.
“Where did you get that?”
“Daniel gave it to me.”
Michael took it.
Inside were dates.
Names.
Property addresses.
And one repeated phrase:
Project Northstar.
Michael looked at Thomas.
“What is Project Northstar?”
Thomas’s expression changed.
“That’s the part Daniel never told me.”
Michael turned another page.
There was a list of names.
Several were crossed out.
One wasn’t.
Victor Blackwell.
Another name was circled.
Michael’s own.
His breathing stopped.
“Why is my name here?”
Thomas took the notebook.
He read the page.
Then looked at Michael.
“Because your father believed you would eventually discover the truth.”
Michael felt a chill.
“But why?”
Thomas flipped to another page.
There was a photograph of Michael as a teenager.
Taken from a distance.
On the back was a handwritten note.
He knows about the land.
Michael stared.
“I didn’t know anything.”
“Maybe your father thought you did.”
“Or maybe someone wanted him to think that.”
Thomas nodded.
“Exactly.”
Emily looked at Michael.
“There’s more.”
She opened the notebook to the final page.
A sentence was written in red ink.
If Michael ever learns about Northstar, take him to Daniel.
Michael stared at the words.
His mother suddenly spoke.
“That’s why I threatened Emily.”
Michael looked at her.
“I thought you hated her.”
Margaret shook her head.
“I was trying to keep her away from you.”
“Why?”
“Because I knew if she stayed with you, they would eventually use her to get to you.”
Emily’s eyes filled with tears.
“They already tried.”
Michael turned sharply.
“What?”
Emily looked down.
“Three years ago, someone broke into my apartment.”
Michael froze.
“You never told me.”
“I was scared.”
Margaret whispered:
“And that’s when Daniel contacted me again.”
The vehicle fell silent.
Michael looked out into the darkness.
Three years of his marriage had been built on a secret.
And now he was beginning to understand that his wife hadn’t been hiding something from him.
She had been protecting him.
