Chapter 83

The scene felt familiar. All of us sat around the living room—except Dylan, who was in his room. Leigh had come out of hibernation and sat with her hair hiding her face. Sam paced in front of the fireplace.

The night had turned colder, and even though it was spring, a gentle snowfall covered the ground.

Sam rubbed his neck and took a breath. “I apologize for leaving you hanging. Part of me wanted to tell you everything, but I’ve been counseled that it was better not to. Now I know it’s important you know the truth. Needless to say, you’re going to have to keep this secret your whole lives.”

He pulled out an envelope. “Bryce found this. I thought it was lost.” He handed it to Leigh. “This is a birthday card I sent Leigh’s mother before we were married. Most everything about my life before is gone, erased.” He looked at Bryce. “I’m glad you found that.”

Sam sat with his back to the fire. “My real name is Marshall Faulkner. My parents still live on a farm in West Virginia, but they don’t know where I am, just that I’m alive. I fly over the farm every now and then and wish I could go back.”

“Why can’t you?” I said.

Sam looked at Mom, then continued. “I was in the army, a special antiterrorist tactical unit. They sent us all over the world. It wasn’t a pleasant assignment, but all of us knew it had to be done.

“Many years ago, when Leigh was about Dylan’s age, we caught up to a really nasty guy named Asim bin Asawe. He was responsible for bombings and the deaths of a lot of innocent American civilians, and he had a bunch of followers doing his dirty work. One night my team and I arrested or killed a couple dozen of his people.

“Asawe got away, and he let us know he’d have his revenge. Somehow he found out about me. Had my name because I was the leader of the team.”

Leigh pulled the hair from her face and sat up, staring wide-eyed at her father.

“Years went by and I took a job in Washington for the defense department.” He bit his lip. “Leigh’s mom always wanted to go to England, had dreamed of visiting castles and walking the moors. So we planned a two-week vacation for the four of us. Everybody was excited. By then Leigh was almost 12 and Kayla was going into first grade.

“At the last minute, Leigh got a terrible ear infection. She couldn’t fly until she got an antibiotic, so I told Lynn to go ahead with Kayla, and Leigh and I would catch up with them.”

Sam stood and his chin quivered. “We dropped them off at the airport and went straight to the doctor’s office. In the waiting room everybody was glued to the TV. A plane had gone down.

“We rushed home, listening to the reports, hoping, praying. And then the news came that it was Lynn and Kayla’s plane. The next day the networks reported that Asim bin Asawe had claimed responsibility for the attack. He called it revenge against the American military.”

Sam turned to Bryce and me. “That’s why I said I killed your father. He was also on that plane, and the bomb that destroyed it was put there to kill me.”