Zee looked up at him. “Why not?”
“Because it was Lucian’s twenty-eighth birthday.”
She stared at him and back at the picture. “Maybe he mistyped it.”
He didn’t respond right away. His eyes moved fast over the letter, then stopped again. “He says here, ‘I’m writing this at 1300.’”
“Okay?”
He held up the photo. “The timestamp in the corner says 0400.”
Silence dropped between them. She had no idea what to do with any of this information.
None of the discrepancies meant anything to her. The more she looked, the less she felt connected to the box that was far from a final package from a husband to a wife and more like a puzzle shoved into her hands without a key.
Church folded the letter and set his gaze on her. “We need to bring this to the team.”
She could only nod because there was nothing else to do.
When they walked into the Black Heart Security office, only two people were there since everyone was in the field on security detail.
Gabe looked up from the folder opened on the table in front of him. Theo was in the corner, packing a black bag with equipment.
Church laid out everything on the table—the little black card, the letter and two copied photos. “Zee opened the package. These were inside.”
Theo crossed the room and picked up the card. Church relayed everything they knew so far.
Gabe lifted one of the pictures. “What’s the deal with Lucian?”
Church tapped the letter. “Matt buried these things for a reason. He’s trying to tell us to look deeper.”
Suddenly the strange code and numbers felt dark and twisted.
She tangled her fingers. “Someone’s been trying to get their hands on this card. That’s why I’ve had so many break-ins.”
He didn’t answer, but when the tendon in the crease of his jaw fluttered, she felt the shift in him. In the room.
She wrapped her arms around herself, a chill sliding down her spine like a ghost walking over her grave.
She grabbed the letter and skimmed over the strange names of foreign places interspersed with numbers. Letting out a roughlaugh, she looked at Church. “Nothing in the letter sounds like Matt talking to me.” Her words came out as a quiver and stopped the men’s discussion dead. “Nothing except the final line.All my love.”
She laughed again, feeling adrift in a sea she didn’t know how to navigate.
A single tear dripped off her chin onto the paper.
“Honey.” Church slid his arm around her, his big palm cradling her head as he drew her face against his chest. “This is too much for you. I’ll walk you to the room.”
She shook her head. “No. I want to stay.” She curled her fingers around his arm, letting the solid feel of him anchor her.
“Then let’s sit down.” He led her to a seat and took the one beside her, keeping hold of her hand as they tried to make sense of the items.
“Why didn’t he send the package to command?” Gabe wondered.
Church answered. “Looks to me like he suspected someone inside the team was compromised.”
Zee snapped her head up at that. His statement whipped through the room like an icy draft.
She stared at the team photo—one man missing. Lucian Pike. Then at the second image, where he stood next to Matt, singled out in a way that didn’t feel like coincidence.
