The card contained everything.
Engineering reports.
Emails.
Settlement ledgers.
Internal audio.
Copies of the Meridian defect analysis.
Photographs.
And one video file.
MEGAN_FINAL.
Taylor could barely press play.
Megan appeared on screen.
Seven years younger.
Hair tied back.
No makeup.
Terrified.
Alive.
Taylor’s hand covered his mouth.
She looked directly into the camera.
“Taylor.”
He broke before she continued.
“If you’re watching this, then somebody finally told you I didn’t leave because I wanted to.”
Sophie began crying beside him.
Megan continued.
“I need you to forgive me for one thing.”
“Not leaving.”
“For letting them make you believe I did.”
Taylor shook his head at the screen.
“I couldn’t tell you.”
“Gregory had people watching.”
“He knew Sophie mattered more to me than anything.”
“So I let him believe threatening you worked.”
“I gave him a fake drive.”
“I agreed to disappear.”
“He promised you and Sophie would be left alone.”
Megan swallowed.
“I did not believe him.”
“So I made another plan.”
Taylor leaned closer.
“Charles Voss is helping me enter a protected channel outside Hawthorne’s reach.”
“If that works, I will come back when I can.”
“If it doesn’t…”
She closed her eyes.
“I love you.”
Taylor sobbed.
Sophie grabbed his hand.
Megan continued.
“Please never tell Sophie I left because she wasn’t enough.”
“She was everything.”
“I left because she was everything.”
The video ended.
But another file existed.
Dated eleven months later.
Taylor froze.
He opened it.
Megan again.
Different room.
Hair shorter.
Older somehow.
“I’m alive.”
Taylor laughed and cried simultaneously.
“The first protection route was compromised.”
“Voss moved me again.”
“Federal prosecutors are not ready.”
“Gregory has people inside contracting offices.”
“I cannot contact Taylor.”
“Every attempt risks Sophie.”
She looked exhausted.
“I keep thinking this will take weeks.”
“It has been almost a year.”
She looked toward the camera.
“Taylor, if you ever see these…”
“I am sorry.”
“I don’t know whether you’ll still love me.”
“I don’t know whether I deserve that.”
“But I love you.”
Another file.
Two years later.
“I am alive.”
Another.
Four years.
Alive.
Then a file dated eleven months ago.
Taylor stopped breathing.
Megan looked older.
Still unmistakably herself.
“I think it is almost over.”
Taylor stood so quickly Sophie startled.
Eleven months.
She had been alive less than a year ago.
Megan continued.
“The independent case collapsed after a witness died.”
“I am being moved again.”
“My handler says I may finally be able to petition for controlled family contact if the Hawthorne evidence becomes public.”
She smiled.
“Sophie would be nine now.”
Sophie began sobbing.
Megan touched the camera.
“I hope she likes books.”
Taylor laughed through tears.
“She does.”
“I hope Taylor learned to cook.”
Sophie said:
“He didn’t.”
Taylor looked at her.
Even Victoria laughed weakly.
Megan continued.
“If you find this archive, send the phrase ORCHARD WINTER through the federal witness coordination desk.”
Dana Brooks stood instantly.
“That is a retrieval authentication phrase.”
Taylor looked at her.
“What does that mean?”
“It means there may be a sealed protection file.”