Page 234 of Silent Target

And my father left us a path to reach it.

55

EVIE

The adrenaline leaves me all at once.

One moment, I’m standing in the evidence room staring at my father’s initials.

The next, my knees stop holding me.

Caleb catches me before I reach the floor.

“I have you.”

The words break something inside me.

Not because I’m frightened.

Because I believe him.

He carries me into an empty recovery room despite the stitches in his side and the medic’s orders against lifting anything.

“You’re going to reopen your wound.”

“I’ll survive.”

“Caleb.”

“I’m not putting you down in the hallway.”

He lowers me carefully onto the narrow bed.

Then he sits beside me.

The room is quiet.

No gunfire.

No alarms.

No mountain collapsing over our heads.

Without the danger, there is nothing left to hold back the grief.

“My father knew.”

Caleb doesn’t tell me it will be all right.

He doesn’t offer an empty promise.

He waits.

“He found Archive Seven. He must have known Whitmore was involved.”

My voice shakes.

“Maybe he tried to warn someone.”