Chapter 1 - THE NAME ON THE RESERVATION|
The name on the reservation was my father's.
For eleven years, I had lived with the knowledge that Daniel Blackwood had been murdered in a warehouse outside Denver. The police called it a robbery gone wrong. My enemies called it a warning. I had spent half my adult life hunting the people responsible, only to discover that the trail always ended in darkness.
Now, somehow, a man named Ryan Mercer had booked a private dining room under my father's name.
And Jenna Hart was standing in front of me, holding a photograph of two men who had supposedly died years ago.
"Where did you get this?" I demanded.
She shook her head.
"It came with the message. I swear, Evan, I've never seen it before."
I studied the picture. My father stood beside another man in front of a warehouse. Both wore dark suits. Both looked younger than I remembered them. My father was smiling, one hand resting on the stranger's shoulder.
The other man was Jenna's father.
Thomas Hart.
I had never met him, but I recognized the face from the obituary Jenna had once shown me. He had died in a car accident when she was seventeen.
"Did your father ever mention mine?" I asked.
"No. Not once."
"Did he work in business?"
"He was an accountant. He handled financial records for several companies before he died."
I looked at the photograph again.
An accountant.
My father had trusted very few people with his finances. If Thomas Hart had been one of them, then the story of both their deaths might be connected.
My private phone vibrated.
Marcus Reed, my head of security, spoke before I could greet him.
"Boss, we've confirmed Ryan Mercer's identity was fabricated thirty months ago. His real name is Ryan Callahan. He previously worked for the Voss organization."
My blood went cold.
The Voss organization had been my family's oldest enemy. Its leader, Victor Voss, had disappeared after my father's murder. We had assumed he was dead.
"Where is Callahan now?"
"At the Grand Wellington. And there's something else. Someone accessed an old Blackwood financial archive this morning."
"Who?"
"We're still tracing it."
I ended the call.
Jenna was watching me.
"You're going to tell me what's happening, aren't you?"
"Yes."
"Now?"
"After we get you somewhere safe."
She folded her arms.
"No. I'm not a package you can move from one secure location to another without explaining anything."
I almost smiled despite the circumstances.
"You realize you're arguing with a man who has had people shot for less."
"And you're arguing with your secretary, who knows exactly where you keep your embarrassing childhood photographs."
"Those are classified."
"Then behave."
For a moment, the danger outside my office seemed distant.
Then her phone rang.
Her mother's name appeared on the screen.
Jenna answered cautiously.
"Mom?"
Her mother's voice was loud enough for me to hear.
"Where are you? Ryan says you're bringing some stranger to the dinner. Don't make a spectacle of yourself tonight."
Jenna's face tightened.
"Ryan has no right to discuss my personal life with you."
"He's worried about you. He says you've been spending time with dangerous people."
I took the phone gently from Jenna's hand.
"This is Evan Blackwood."
Silence.
Then her mother gasped.
"The Blackwood family?"
"Yes."
"Oh, my goodness. Ryan said you were—"
"Ryan has said many things. I suggest you stop listening to him."
I ended the call before she could respond.
Jenna stared at me.
"That was rude."
"That was restrained."
She shook her head, but her mouth twitched.
I offered her my hand.
"Come with me. We'll attend the dinner together. We'll find out what Ryan wants, and we'll leave when I say it's safe."
She took my hand.
"One evening," she reminded me. "You're my pretend boyfriend for one evening."
I looked down at our joined hands.
"Of course."
But when the elevator doors closed, my security chief sent one final message.
THE MAN IN THE PHOTOGRAPH WAS NOT JUST YOUR FATHER'S BUSINESS PARTNER. HE WAS THE LAST PERSON TO SEE YOUR FATHER ALIVE.
And beneath that message was a name.
Thomas Hart.
May you like
Jenna's father.
The dead man whose daughter I had just promised to protect.
