Claire had copied the pages.
Ava had already uploaded the scans.
And the book in my hand was the fake, assembled from old financial statements and blank pages thirty minutes before we left.
Samuel realized it at the same time the headlights appeared behind us.
One car.
Then three.
Then six.
Federal agents flooded the ferry station.
Samuel reached into his coat, but Daniel slammed into him before he could pull anything free. They hit the gravel hard. Agents swarmed them. Someone shouted. Claire screamed. June grabbed Ava and pulled her back.
I stood frozen as my father was handcuffed.
He did not look afraid.
He looked offended.
As they dragged him past me, he leaned close enough that I could smell mint on his breath.
“You think this ends with me?”
I said nothing.
His smile returned.
“Ask your brother what he traded.”
Then he was gone.
The agents separated us for questioning as dawn began to stain the river pale gray. Daniel sat on the edge of an ambulance, wrapped in a blanket he did not seem to feel. The girls stood several yards away, staring at him like he was both miracle and wound.
Finally, he approached.
Not too close.
“I don’t expect forgiveness,” he said.
June laughed once, cold and broken. “Good.”
Claire wiped her face. “Were you alive this whole time?”
