Chapter 9 - The Partner Who Knew Too Much
"ELENA'S FAMILY HAS BEEN COMPROMISED. MOVE THEM NOW, AND DON'T TELL ANYONE OUTSIDE THE PROTECTION TEAM WHERE THEY'RE GOING!"
Victoria was already reaching for her car keys as she spoke.
Deputy Inspector General Evelyn Price remained on the phone.
"Security is being dispatched."
"How many people knew their location?"
"Five people had authorized access. Daniel was not one of them."
"Then he had no legitimate reason to open that file."
"No."
Victoria stopped beside the elevator.
"Has anyone spoken to him?"
"We've tried. He isn't answering."
"Disable his access immediately."
"It's underway."
Victoria ended the call.
For a moment, she stood motionless beneath the fluorescent hallway lights.
Five years.
Five years of trusting Daniel Shaw with evidence, investigations, and decisions that sometimes placed their lives in danger.
They had attended retirement parties together.
Shared late dinners after difficult interviews.
Celebrated successful prosecutions.
When Victoria's father died, Daniel had driven three hours to attend the funeral.
She remembered him standing quietly beside her at the cemetery.
Your dad would be proud of you, he'd said.
Now she wondered how much of that friendship had been genuine.
But she forced herself to focus.
Whatever Daniel had done, Elena Ruiz and her family needed protection.
The temporary apartment was located in a quiet residential complex outside Leesburg.
Elena sat on a couch beside her mother while Mateo slept beneath a blanket.
Two officers had been stationed nearby.
When Victoria arrived with Officer Mason Price, the family had already begun preparing to leave.
Elena stood immediately.
"What's wrong?"
"We're moving you somewhere else."
"Why?"
"Someone accessed information about this location without authorization."
Alma covered her mouth.
"Does that mean those people know where we are?"
Victoria answered honestly.
"It's possible. We're taking precautions."
Elena's eyes filled with fear.
"I thought we were safe."
"We're working to keep you that way."
Mason stepped toward the window.
A dark delivery van was parked across the street.
Its engine was running.
He spoke quietly into his radio.
Victoria noticed his expression.
"What is it?"
"That van wasn't there during the previous security check."
Elena gripped her mother's hand.
"Is it them?"
"We don't know," Mason replied. "Stay away from the windows."
He requested officers to identify the vehicle while the family was escorted through a secured rear exit.
No one ran.
No one shouted.
Victoria held Mateo's jacket while Alma helped him into his shoes.
The little boy rubbed his eyes.
"Mom?"
"I'm here, sweetheart."
"Are we going home?"
Elena knelt.
"Not tonight."
He looked toward Victoria.
"Did somebody break another airplane?"
The question struck her unexpectedly.
She crouched beside him.
"Some people made dangerous choices. We're making sure they can't keep doing that."
Mateo considered her answer.
"Will my mom get in trouble for telling you?"
Victoria looked directly into his eyes.
"Your mother did something brave."
Elena turned away, struggling to hold back tears.
Mateo reached for her hand.
"Then why are we hiding?"
Victoria wished there were an easy answer.
Instead, she told him the truth a child could understand.
"Because sometimes brave people need help staying safe."
The family was relocated without incident.
Police later attempted to stop the delivery van.
Its driver fled, abandoned it several miles away, and escaped on foot.
Inside were disposable phones, false identification documents, and photographs of Elena and her family.
Victoria stared at one photograph.
It showed Mateo leaving school with his grandmother.
The image had been taken before Elena's disappearance.
This wasn't a spontaneous act of intimidation.
Someone had been watching the family for weeks.
Mason stood beside her.
"Whoever planned this had resources."
Victoria nodded.
"And access to information they shouldn't have."
A technician recovered partial data from one of the phones.
Among the deleted messages was a brief instruction.
Confirmed location. Await transfer authorization.
The sender's number was unregistered.
But its communication history included repeated contact with a company associated with Blue Ridge Aeronautics.
Victoria asked for the evidence to be preserved and the financial connections examined.
Then she called Evelyn Price.
"Elena is safe. The surveillance appears organized."
"Good. And Daniel?"
"Still missing."
Price was silent.
Then she said:
"Victoria, if Daniel is involved, I need you to understand something."
"I'm listening."
"You cannot let your personal history with him influence how we handle this."
Victoria looked out at the abandoned van.
"It won't."
"Even if he has an explanation?"
"Especially then."
At 11:36 that night, Victoria returned to the office.
Most of the building was dark.
A security officer accompanied her to Daniel's workspace.
His desk was unusually neat.
His coffee mug sat beside his keyboard.
A framed photograph of his mother stood near the monitor.
Victoria examined it.
An older woman smiled from a hospital bed while Daniel stood beside her, holding a bouquet of yellow flowers.
His mother's name was Patricia Shaw.
Victoria remembered her kindness.
Patricia had once sent homemade cookies to everyone on the investigative team.
She was the kind of woman who insisted on thanking people even when she was the one needing help.
Victoria felt a sudden ache.
If Daniel had accepted money because he was desperate to support his mother, that desperation would be tragically understandable.
But it would not erase his choices.
A badge represented public trust.
And public trust meant protecting people who had no power to protect themselves.
Daniel had sworn to do that.
If he'd betrayed his oath, he would have to answer for it.
The security officer pointed toward a drawer.
"Agent Hayes, we found this."
Inside lay Daniel's federal identification wallet.
Victoria stared.
He had left his badge behind.
Beside it was a folded piece of paper.
She asked the evidence technician to photograph and collect it.
The note contained five words.
I couldn't protect them both.
Victoria frowned.
Both?
Elena and Nora?
Or someone else?
Her phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
She answered.
"Victoria Hayes."
For several seconds, she heard only breathing.
Then a familiar voice spoke.
"Victoria."
Her chest tightened.
"Daniel."
"Please don't hang up."
"Where are you?"
"I need you to listen."
"You need to tell me what you've done."
Daniel's voice sounded exhausted.
"I know."
"Elena and her family were threatened because someone accessed their location."
"I didn't know they were going to send people after the boy."
Victoria closed her eyes.
That was not a denial.
It was an admission.
"Daniel, where are you?"
Another silence.
Then he whispered:
"I helped Victor Rourke hide the records."
Victoria tightened her grip on the phone.
"How long?"
"Longer than you think."
"Did you know Nora Brooks?"
"Yes."
The word came out painfully.
Victoria asked the question she feared most.
"Did you know she was going to die?"
Daniel began crying.
"I knew someone was following her."
Victoria's throat tightened.
"Then why didn't you stop it?"
His answer was barely audible.
"Because by the time I understood what I'd become part of, they were already threatening my mother."
A car passed somewhere near him.
May you like
Then Daniel said something that made Victoria's blood run cold.
"Victor is preparing to destroy the remaining evidence. And if we don't stop him before the morning departures, more people could die."
