Park looked at Archer. “You didn’t find anything at all that might hint where Gift came from? No birth certificate, adoption papers?”
“Anchali would be too smart for that. His birth certificate gives his date of birth as the date the other baby passed away in the hospital and shows Anchali and Satja as his parents. There’s nothing that stands out about it that would make me think he was adopted,” Archer said.
“Is it in the file?” Park asked.
Archer nodded, flipping it open and thumbing through until he found what he was looking for, handing it to Park. “See, just your standard run-of-the-mill birth certificate.”
Park blinked at him, then looked at the paper. “This is an American birth certificate.”
Archer frowned. “What?”
“Look at it. It’s a U.S. birth certificate. Why would Gift, who was born in Thailand—supposedly on the night Anchali was shot—have an American birth certificate?”
Archer shook his head. “Shit, I didn’t even think of that. I just…I didn’t even notice.”
“It’s a U.S. birth certificate because Kendrick only has pull here, in the U.S. Over there, he’s just another rich bureaucrat with diplomatic immunity.”
Park’s phone vibrated in his pocket. He pulled it free, frowning at the unknown number before swiping to answer. “Yes?”
“Park?” came a tinny voice.
Park’s heart shot into his throat. “Anchali? Anchali is that you?”
“Can you hear—” Her voice disappeared.
Clearly, her signal was bad. “Anchali? Anchali? Where are you? I’ll come to you. Can you hear me?”
There was a staticky silence and then, “…coming to you—tell anyone—drop a pin-location—bring Gift. Only Gift. Kend—dangerous. Serious, Park—n’t tell anyone where—”
Then the call dropped. Park stared at his phone. “We got disconnected.”
“Can we trace the call?” Mac asked.
“She’s running,” Boone said. “She’ll be using a burner phone. What did she say?”
“I have no fucking idea,” Park muttered.
That wasn’t entirely true, but he was going to keep that to himself for now.
“At least, we know she’s alive,” Boone said, his relief evident.
Park ran a hand through his hair. Anchali wanted Park to bring Gift to her. Outside of the Watch. Everything inside him screamed no, but she was also Gift’s mother, whether by blood or by choice. She was clearly afraid for him. If Park was with them, they’d be safer than they were alone. Maybe he could convince her to come back to the Watch with him where they had an army at their disposal. And also the upper hand with Kendrick.
“Look, Kendrick doesn’t know that we know,” Park said. “We need to keep it that way.”
“Kendrick has no friends here. You know that,” Boone said. “But what’s our end game?”
“What do you mean?” Park asked.
“I mean if we decide Kendrick’s guilty, then what? We hand him over to the authorities? And tell them what? The only person who could prove he tried to have Gift killed is dead. Unless you think we have a shot at getting him to give up the names of the original attackers.”
Park snorted. “Not likely.”
“So, we kill him,” Boone said, like he was talking about adding a new course to the curriculum.
“Just like that?” Park asked. “You want us to kill a high-ranking government official in a school full of armed military personnel?”
“Sure,” Archer said. “The armed personnel stay on the outside, there are no surveillance cameras. It will definitely be an easier kill.”
