Nothing.
Whoever had sent the messages knew how to disappear.
Mara stood and walked to the locked cabinet beside her desk.
She entered a six-digit code.
The lock clicked.
Inside were case files.
Most were routine.
Some were classified.
One folder had no label.
Mara pulled it out.
She opened it.
The first page contained a photograph.
A young German Shepherd stood beside a military transport vehicle.
The dog was thinner than Atlas.
Much younger.
But the eyes were unmistakable.
Mara stared at the photograph.
Atlas.
Her hand began trembling.
“No.”
She turned the page.
A training record.
Then another photograph.
Atlas standing beside a younger version of herself.
Mara's face in the photograph was different.
Not physically.
Emotionally.
She was younger.
Harder.
Her hair was longer.
She wore a dark field uniform.
And beside her was a man.
Mara looked at the man's face.
She knew him.
But she couldn't remember from where.
Then she saw his name.
Daniel Ellison.
Her husband.
Mara stopped breathing.
She dropped the folder onto the desk.
“No.”
The office door opened.
Thomas Vance stood there.
Mara turned toward him.
“You're early.”
He closed the door behind him.
“I received your call.”
“I didn't call you.”
His expression changed.
“You didn't?”
“No.”
Vance looked at the red telephone.
Then at the folder on the desk.
“What did you find?”
Mara stared at him.
“Baltimore.”
Vance became very still.
“Where did you get that?”
“From my own file.”
He took one step forward.
Mara immediately raised a hand.
“Don't.”
Vance stopped.
She pointed toward the door.
“Close it.”
He did.
“Lock it.”
He hesitated.
“Lock it.”
He turned the lock.
Mara looked at him.
“Tell me who Daniel Ellison is.”
Vance's face became unreadable.
“You know who he is.”
“My husband.”
“Yes.”
“Why is he in a field photograph with me?”
Vance said nothing.
“Why does Atlas appear in the same file?”
Silence.
“Why does my credential say I was a field asset?”
Vance finally sat down.
“Mara.”
“Don't call me that like you're trying to calm me down.”
He looked at the file.
“You were never supposed to remember.”
Her face hardened.
“That isn't an answer.”
“No.”
“It is the first honest thing you've said.”
Vance sighed.
“Six years ago, you were part of a joint federal operation in Baltimore.”
“What operation?”
“Officially, it never existed.”
“I know.”
“You were assigned to identify a leak inside a protected logistics network.”
Mara stared at him.
“And Daniel?”
“He was part of the technical team.”
“My husband was federal?”
“He was a contractor.”
“What happened?”