CHAPTER 6 The River Never Keeps Secrets
CHAPTER 6
The River Never Keeps Secrets
“No!”
Khloe lunged toward the shattered window before Harrison caught her around the waist.
The leather journal spun through the moonlit air.
For one endless second, everyone watched it fall.
Then—
Splash.
The Harrington Ledger disappeared beneath the dark waters of the Delaware River.
Naomi dropped to one knee.
“Down!”
Another shot shattered the iron lantern above them.
Glass rained across the floor.
Harrison pulled Khloe behind the thick stone wall circling the lighthouse.
“Are you hit?”
She shook her head.
“The ledger…”
Harrison looked through the broken window.
“It’s gone.”
Naomi reloaded calmly.
“No.”
Both siblings looked at her.
“The sniper wanted us to believe it’s gone.”
“What do you mean?”
“The shooter hit the journal, not either of you.”
Harrison frowned.
“That wasn’t an accident.”
“Exactly.”
“If they wanted us dead, they had the shot.”
Khloe stared into the darkness below.
“Then what do they want?”
Naomi’s eyes remained fixed on the river.
“They want us chasing the wrong thing.”
Across the river...
A black speedboat emerged from beneath the shadow of an abandoned bridge.
Two men wearing diving equipment stood ready.
William Mercer lowered a pair of binoculars.
“Retrieve it.”
One diver nodded.
“What if they come after us?”
William smiled.
“They won’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because Harrison Cole thinks like a lawyer.”
“And?”
“He’ll assume I planned for the obvious.”
The divers jumped into the freezing water.
Within seconds they vanished beneath the surface.
Inside the lighthouse...
Khloe refused to move away from the window.
“My father protected that journal for twenty-three years.”
Her voice trembled.
“I can’t lose it now.”
Harrison rested a hand on her shoulder.
“You won’t.”
She looked at him.
“You don’t know that.”
“No.”
He looked toward Naomi.
“But I know she prepared for this.”
Naomi reached into her backpack.
She removed a rugged tablet connected to a waterproof drone.
“You expected this?”
“I expected an ambush.”
She activated the screen.
A sonar image of the river slowly appeared.
Tiny white outlines moved beneath the surface.
Then—
Three larger figures.
Divers.
Khloe leaned closer.
“They’re already searching.”
Naomi nodded.
“Exactly where the journal landed.”
Harrison folded his arms.
“So William knew the sniper would knock it into the river.”
“No.”
Naomi zoomed in.
“He knew the journal would never be left unprotected.”
She tapped another icon.
A second signal appeared farther downstream.
“What’s that?”
“A tracker.”
Khloe frowned.
“We never placed one.”
Naomi smiled slightly.
“I did.”
Both Harrison and Khloe stared at her.
“When?”
“When you picked up the journal.”
Khloe suddenly remembered.
Naomi had steadied it after removing it from the chest.
Only for a second.
Long enough.
“You tagged it?”
“A microscopic transmitter.”
Harrison finally smiled.
“So they’re stealing something we can follow.”
Naomi nodded.
“Assuming they don't discover it first.”
The divers surfaced ten minutes later.
One raised the leather journal above the water.
William accepted it with satisfaction.
“Excellent.”
He carefully opened the cover.
His smile disappeared.
The pages were blank.
Every page.
Hundreds of them.
Blank.
“What is this?”
The diver looked confused.
“It’s the same book.”
William flipped through every page.
Nothing.
Not a single word.
His expression darkened.
“Jonathan…”
He whispered to himself.
“You clever old fool.”
Back in the lighthouse...
Naomi watched the tracker move across the tablet.
“They have it.”
Khloe frowned.
“But if the pages are blank—”
“They aren’t.”
Harrison looked at her.
“You know something.”
Naomi nodded.
“Jonathan Cole was an accountant.”
“So?”
“He specialized in forensic fraud.”
Khloe slowly understood.
“Invisible ink.”
Naomi smiled.
“Exactly.”
The journal looked empty because it wasn’t meant to be read under ordinary light.
Harrison laughed quietly.
“My father-in-law hid billions of dollars in plain sight.”
“No,” Naomi corrected.
“He hid the evidence.”
Khloe suddenly doubled over.
A sharp pain spread across her abdomen.
Harrison caught her immediately.
“Another contraction?”
She nodded.
“It’s stronger.”
Naomi checked her pulse.
“We're leaving.”
“The tracker—”
“I’ll monitor it from the vehicle.”
Khloe gritted her teeth.
“My baby comes first.”
Harrison squeezed her hand.
“That’s the smartest thing you've said all night.”
She managed a weak smile.
They descended the lighthouse stairs quickly.
The patrol boat carried them back across the river.
By dawn they arrived at a private medical clinic hidden inside a renovated monastery.
No signs.
No public entrance.
Only trusted staff.
A gray-haired obstetrician hurried outside before the boat even docked.
“Mrs. Harrington?”
“Yes.”
“I’m Dr. Elena Brooks.”
She looked at the bloodstain on Khloe’s dress.
“We’re taking you straight to ultrasound.”
Thirty minutes later...
The examination room remained silent.
Khloe lay on the hospital bed while the ultrasound probe moved across her stomach.
Neither Harrison nor Naomi spoke.
Dr. Brooks studied the screen carefully.
Finally...
A heartbeat filled the room.
Strong.
Steady.
Khloe burst into tears.
Harrison quietly looked away.
“The baby?” Khloe whispered.
Dr. Brooks smiled.
“She’s fighting.”
Khloe laughed through tears.
“That sounds like my family.”
Dr. Brooks nodded.
“She’s under stress, but she’s alive.”
Relief flooded the room.
Then the doctor's expression changed.
“There’s something else.”
Harrison immediately stepped closer.
“What?”
“She’s no longer in the ideal position.”
Khloe looked at the monitor.
“What does that mean?”
“If labor begins now…”
The doctor paused.
“…you may need an emergency Caesarean section.”
Silence settled over the room.
Naomi’s secure phone vibrated.
She stepped outside to answer it.
Seconds later she returned.
Her face had gone pale.
“Harrison…”
“What happened?”
“They found William Mercer.”
“So soon?”
“No.”
“He wanted to be found.”
Naomi turned the phone toward them.
A live news broadcast filled the screen.
William Mercer stood outside Harrington Commercial headquarters surrounded by reporters.
The caption below read:
FORMER EXECUTIVE RETURNS AFTER 15 YEARS.
A reporter asked, “Mr. Mercer, why come forward now?”
William smiled into every camera.
“Because I can finally tell the truth.”
“What truth?”
He looked directly into the lens.
“Jonathan Cole stole billions from the Harrington family.”
Khloe stared at the television.
“That’s a lie.”
William continued.
“And the only person who knows where the money is…”
He paused dramatically.
“…is Jonathan Cole’s daughter.”
Every camera in Pennsylvania seemed to turn toward one name.
Khloe Cole Harrington.
Within minutes her photograph appeared on every news channel.
Every phone in the clinic began ringing.
Outside, reporters started gathering.
Someone had leaked her location.
Dr. Brooks closed the blinds.
“This clinic has never been found before.”
Naomi looked toward the parking lot.
“It wasn’t.”
“Then how?”
Naomi slowly lowered her phone.
“The tracker.”
Harrison frowned.
“What about it?”
Naomi whispered the words none of them wanted to hear.
“They never stole our journal…”
“They stole my transmitter.”
At that exact moment…
A black helicopter appeared over the monastery.
It hovered low enough to rattle every window.
Then a voice boomed through a loudspeaker.
“Khloe Cole…”
“We know you’re inside.”
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“And this time…”
“…there is nowhere left to run.”
