Chapter 3 - The House of Lies
I stared at the photograph on the glowing screen, my mind refusing to accept the impossible reality.
The man I had been married to for eight years was a phantom with a blood-soaked past.
Carter explained that he had run Daniel's facial recognition through a classified Department of Defense database while I was sleeping.
He told me Daniel's real name was Viktor, a highly trained operative who officially died in a car bombing a decade ago.
I felt a wave of nausea crash over me as I realized every single moment of my marriage had been a carefully constructed lie.
Carter told me we needed to move fast before Daniel realized his true identity had been compromised.
He tossed me a set of dark tactical clothing he had procured from the base quartermaster.
We snuck out of the hospital through the underground laundry tunnels to avoid Daniel's corrupt local cops.
Carter hotwired an unmarked government SUV, and we drove straight to the affluent suburban neighborhood where Daniel and I had lived.
The massive colonial house was completely dark, indicating Daniel and Patricia were likely celebrating their legal victory elsewhere.
Carter bypassed the expensive security system in less than thirty seconds using a handheld digital scrambler.
We slipped through the back patio door, moving silently through the immaculate kitchen I had cleaned just yesterday.
I told Carter that Daniel spent hours locked inside his basement office every single night.
We descended the wooden stairs, the beam of Carter's tactical flashlight cutting through the pitch-black darkness.
The office door was secured with a heavy biometric lock that required Daniel's fingerprint.
Carter did not bother trying to hack it.
He pulled a small, silent thermal explosive from his vest, attached it to the hinges, and melted the metal in seconds.
The heavy door creaked open, revealing a room that looked less like an office and more like a surveillance command center.
The walls were covered in high-definition monitors displaying live feeds of every single room in the house, including my private bathroom.
I covered my mouth in horror, realizing I had been hunted and watched like an animal in my own home.
Carter immediately began downloading the contents of Daniel's encrypted hard drive onto a secure flash drive.
I searched through the physical filing cabinets, desperately looking for any clue to where they might have taken Lily.
I found a hidden panel behind a row of accounting books and pulled out a thick red leather folder.
Inside was a massive life insurance policy taken out on me just three weeks ago, worth over ten million dollars.
Beneath the policy was a set of forged passports for Daniel, Patricia, and Lily, all bearing different last names.
I showed the passports to Carter, panic tightening my throat.
May you like
Before Carter could speak, the bright overhead lights of the basement suddenly flickered on.
Patricia was standing at the top of the stairs, holding a suppressed pistol aimed directly at my chest.
