"Leave my family alone."
"We just want to ask—"
"You want to ask me? Ask me."
Rachel stared at him.
The reporter turned.
"Is it true that you led classified operations overseas?"
"I worked for the United States military."
"Were you involved in an operation known as North Lantern?"
Thomas's blood went cold.
Nathan hadn't mentioned that name.
Nobody should have had it.
The reporter continued.
"Sources claim a member of your unit disappeared during that mission and that questions remain about—"
Thomas stepped closer.
"Who gave you that name?"
The reporter hesitated.
"I can't disclose—"
"Who?"
Rachel had never seen her father look like that.
Neither had Eli.
The reporter backed up.
"We received documents."
"What documents?"
"Commander Hail—"
Thomas turned to the cameraman.
"Turn it off."
The cameraman didn't.
Thomas looked directly into the lens.
"If you're publishing classified operational names involving living personnel, you need an attorney before you need another interview."
The camera lowered.
The reporter swallowed.
Thomas went inside.
Rachel followed.
"What is North Lantern?"
Thomas didn't answer.
"Dad."
"Not here."
"This is my house."
"Exactly."
Rachel stepped in front of him.
"You don't get to do that anymore."
Thomas stopped.
"Do what?"
"Walk into a room, decide what everybody gets to know, and shut down when somebody asks why."
Eli stood near the stairs.
Thomas noticed him.
Rachel noticed too.
She lowered her voice.
"You taught me my whole life that secrets protect people."
Thomas looked at her.
"Sometimes they do."
"And sometimes they protect the person keeping them."
That hit.
Rachel crossed her arms.
"Mom spent twenty-five years living next to a man she could never fully reach."
Thomas looked away.
"Don't bring your mother into this."
"Why? Because she's dead and can't tell you I'm right?"
Thomas's eyes snapped back.
Rachel immediately regretted it.
But she didn't take it back.
Thomas walked into the kitchen.
Eli remained on the stairs.
Rachel followed her father.
"I loved Mom."
"I know."
"No, you don't get to say that like I don't."
"I know you loved her."
Thomas leaned against the counter.
Rachel's voice softened.
"She worried about you until the day she died."
Thomas stared at the floor.
"She knew about Calvin?"
The name came out before he could stop it.
Rachel noticed.
"Who is Calvin?"
Thomas closed his eyes.
That evening, he told them.
Not everything.
Some things still belonged to people who couldn't give permission for their lives to become stories.
But he told Rachel and Eli about his team.
He told them about Calvin Ross.
He told them about the failed extraction.
He told them he had believed Ross died because Thomas had ordered the team to leave.
Rachel listened.
Eli barely moved.
When Thomas finished, nobody spoke.
Finally Rachel asked, "But he's alive?"
"Apparently."
"And he contacted you?"
"Through Nathan."
"Why won't you see him?"
Thomas stared toward the dark kitchen window.
"Because I don't know what he wants."
Rachel shook her head.
"That's not why."
Thomas looked at her.