Chapter 13 - THE HOUSE ON RAVEN HILL
Sarah had never driven that fast in her life.
The federal SUV tore through Seattle traffic while Mercer spoke rapidly into his radio.
"Unit Seven, respond to Raven Hill. Possible home invasion. Protect civilian female. Suspects potentially armed."
Sarah sat in the passenger seat, gripping the dashboard.
"How long?"
"Eight minutes."
"Too long."
"Colonel—"
"Call me Sarah."
Mercer glanced at her.
"Sarah, we're moving as fast as possible."
She stared through the windshield.
"Emily has never screamed like that."
"I know."
"No. You don't."
Her voice cracked.
"She's my daughter."
Mercer said nothing.
Minutes later, they reached the neighborhood.
The front door of Emily's house stood wide open.
Sarah was out of the vehicle before it stopped.
"Emily!"
No answer.
Mercer caught her arm.
"Stay behind me."
Sarah pulled free.
"I'm not hiding behind anyone."
They entered.
The living room was destroyed.
A chair lay overturned.
Glass covered the floor.
Family photographs had been ripped from the walls.
Sarah's heart pounded.
"Emily!"
A faint sound came from upstairs.
Sarah ran.
They found Emily in the bedroom closet.
She was crouched against the wall, shaking.
Sarah dropped beside her.
"Sweetheart."
Emily threw herself into her mother's arms.
"I thought they were going to kill me."
Sarah held her tightly.
"They're gone."
Emily pulled away.
"They weren't looking for me."
"What?"
"They kept asking about you."
Sarah exchanged a glance with Mercer.
"What did they ask?"
Emily swallowed.
"They wanted something called Phoenix Protocol."
Sarah froze.
Mercer looked at her.
"You know that name?"
Sarah shook her head.
"No."
But the truth was more complicated.
She remembered hearing those words once.
Thirty-two years earlier.
Inside a classified briefing room.
Before the Wraith test.
A senior officer had told her,
"If anything goes wrong, Phoenix Protocol activates."
Sarah had assumed it was the emergency recovery procedure.
She had never thought about it again.
Emily wiped her tears.
"Mom, one of them said you knew where it was."
"I don't."
"They said you were the only person who could access it."
Mercer crouched beside them.
"Did you see their faces?"
Emily nodded.
"One was old. The other..."
She stopped.
Sarah's heart sank.
"Who?"
Emily looked at her mother.
"Uncle Daniel."
Sarah closed her eyes.
Daniel Hayes.
Alive.
The man who had supposedly died in a helicopter accident.
The man who had once been Sarah's closest friend.
The man who had been standing beside her before the Wraith flight.
And the man who had vanished two days after the crash.
Sarah suddenly remembered something.
A tiny detail from that terrible night.
Daniel had come to her hospital room.
He had stood beside her bed and whispered,
"They'll blame you."
She had thought he was warning her.
Now she wondered if he had been confessing.
Mercer stood.
"We need to move."
Emily looked frightened.
"Where?"
"Somewhere secure."
Sarah shook her head.
"They'll expect us to run."
Mercer stared at her.
"What do you suggest?"
Sarah walked to the destroyed bookshelf.
She reached behind it and pulled out an old metal box.
Emily stared.
"Mom... what's that?"
Sarah opened it.
Inside was her original Air Force maintenance notebook.
The same notebook she had believed disappeared thirty-two years ago.
But something was different.
A page had been torn out.
Sarah's face went pale.
She turned the notebook upside down.
A small folded piece of paper fell from the binding.
She unfolded it.
There were only seven words.
PHOENIX WAS NEVER ABOUT THE AIRCRAFT.
Mercer read it over her shoulder.
Then every light in the house suddenly went out.
Emily gasped.
Outside, headlights appeared through the windows.
Three black vehicles.
Mercer drew his weapon.
Sarah closed the notebook.
A voice came through the darkness.
"Colonel Mitchell."
Sarah recognized it immediately.
Daniel Hayes.
"You've had thirty-two years to forget."
May you like
A pause.
"Now it's time to remember."
