Chapter 2 - The Men Behind the BadgesNathan did not answer immediately.
He enlarged the security feed.
Two men stepped from the sheriff’s SUV wearing winter tactical uniforms. The storm obscured their patches, but neither moved like a county deputy. They positioned themselves beside the gate instead of checking the stranded child’s tracks.
The ambulance remained dark.
No emergency lights.
No medical crew exited.
Marcus stood beneath the gate camera in a black coat, his hair and shoulders white with snow.
“Nathan,” he called again. “Sarah is missing. Lily took the babies and ran. Open the gate before someone dies.”
Nathan pressed the intercom button.
“Where is my sister?”
Marcus looked directly into the camera.
“She attacked me and fled.”
“You filed a custody petition before she disappeared.”
“I filed it because she was unstable.”
“You prepared her death certificate too?”
For the first time, Marcus’s expression changed.
Only slightly.
Then his voice softened.
“Sarah has been paranoid for months. Whatever she gave you was fabricated.”
Nathan looked toward the envelope.
The death certificate listed Sarah’s cause of death as hypothermia following a vehicle accident on a mountain road.
Time of death:
2:30 a.m.
Twenty-three minutes in the future.
Marcus had not expected Sarah to survive the night.
One of the uniformed men approached the intercom.
“Mr. Mercer, we have a court order authorizing immediate removal of the minors.”
“Give me your badge number.”
The man recited one.
Nathan entered it into the state verification portal.
No result appeared.
The blizzard could have disrupted the connection.
Or the badge did not exist.
Rosa called from the living room.
“Nathan.”
He turned.
She had opened one baby’s blanket and found a small black tracker sewn beneath the edge.
The device flashed every five seconds.
Nathan placed it inside a metal emergency box and closed the lid.
The gate intercom crackled.
Marcus’s patience disappeared.
“You have no idea what condition those babies are in.”
“Then tell your ambulance crew to identify themselves.”
No one moved from the vehicle.
Marcus stepped closer to the gate.
“You always wanted Sarah to leave me. You finally got what you wanted.”
“I wanted her alive.”
“She was alive when Lily stole the children.”
Nathan felt cold that had nothing to do with the storm.
Marcus had changed tense.
He had not said Sarah was alive now.
Lily stirred on the couch.
Nathan returned to her while Rosa monitored the gate.
The child opened her eyes and immediately searched for the twins.
“They’re safe,” Nathan said. “What are their names?”
“Eli and Noah.”
“Where is your mother?”
Lily began shaking.
“At home.”
“Was she hurt?”
Lily nodded.
“Marcus broke the phone. Mommy pushed the sled out the laundry door. She said keep going uphill until I saw the iron gate.”
“That’s almost four miles.”
“He followed us.”
“Who?”
“The man with the wolf pin.”
Nathan returned to the monitor.
One of the false deputies wore a silver pin on his collar.
A wolf’s head.
Sarah’s note included another folded page.
It listed four names beneath the heading:
MARCUS’S CONTINUITY TEAM.
The first name belonged to the man outside.
Caleb Ward—former military contractor, dismissed after an internal investigation involving missing civilians.
The second name belonged to the supposed ambulance driver.
The third was a family-court clerk.
The fourth was Judge Howard Voss, who had signed Marcus’s emergency custody order.
Nathan checked Lily’s condition again.
“What recording did your mother hide?”
Lily frowned as though forcing her mind through exhaustion.
“In the red bird.”
Nathan knew Sarah’s living room.
A carved wooden cardinal sat on the mantel. Their mother had made it when they were children.
Before he could ask more, the outer gate shook violently.
Marcus’s Range Rover had backed away.
Now it accelerated toward the iron bars.
The vehicle struck once.
Metal groaned.
Rosa stared at the monitor.
“They’re not waiting for the order.”
“No,” Nathan said. “The order is only for whoever arrives afterward.”
The second impact bent the gate inward.
Nathan activated the inner security shutters.
A recorded warning announced that the property was sealed.
Marcus stepped from the vehicle and raised a handheld radio.
Every light in the house flickered.
He knew which frequency controlled Nathan’s backup system.
Only three people had ever seen those specifications.
Nathan.
Sarah.
May you like
And their late father.
👉 Marcus arrived with forged authority and knowledge of Nathan’s defenses that should have died with the man who designed the house.
