Page 54 of When the Silence Breaks

“Well, what did he say?”

“He said that it represented a pact between friends. And later, when I was older, not long before he died, he said, ‘If you ever find the other half, you’ll know the truth.’”

Twenty-One

Sarah looked at the medallion half. “I must have misunderstood. It sounds like you’re sayingyourgrandfather knewmygrandfather.”

“Thatiswhat I’m saying. Think about it, Sarah. It makes sense. The only difference is that my grandfather never gave me a deathbed confession. He died suddenly, so who knows, maybe he would have if given the chance.”

“He didn’t leave a letter or a map,” she said. “Even if you do have the other half of this, maybe your grandfather never knew what this was really about. They could have met, sure, but what does that mean, if anything?”

“He knew the truth. He said that I would know the truth too if I found the other half. I think we’re close to uncovering the secret. We now know that the plane crashed on the mountain, when it was reported lost at sea. I think it’s possible my grandfather helped yours escape the crash. Maybe he even helped him hide in that cave or escape and leave the cave. Assisted him to get somewhere safe and off the mountain. It’s not something easily done without help. Even if I didn’t have the coin or believe my grandfather was there to help, I would suspect someone had helped yours to survive.”

Ryder was probably right, but she wasn’t sure and needed to understand. Considering his words, she angled her head to one side then the other. “I guess it makes sense when you put it like that. But tell me why he didn’t report the crash,” she said. “A plane crash would be something to report, and a priority. Why would he cover it up? Claim the plane hadn’t crashed on the mountain? He lied to you, Ryder. To everyone.”

“I guess the same reason that yours changed his name and let everyone believe he died.”

Touché.

He gestured to her cell. “We should probably listen to that before something happens to it.”

Exhaustion threatened to take her down. Her lids felt so heavy, but the man sitting across from her with his hard stare and apprehensive expression exhilarated her. She should be as anxious as he was to hear the recording, but she wanted to be fully alert and coherent and not thinking about the weird but very likely connection between their grandfathers.

She pressed the button and released a slow, measured breath. Her grandfather’s voice crackled through the tinny speaker, sounding distant and like a ghost crossing time and the veil of silence to reach her. The pain of tears ignited in the back of her throat.

“If you’re listening to this, then I’ve failed to keepthe secret. Or maybe I’ve finally done the right thing. Either way, I won’t be around to explaineverything, so listen carefully. I was the navigator—fresh out of flight school, barely twenty-one. They said it wastop-secret cargo. That we weren’t to ask. The Sentinel One was carrying something. It wasn’t a weaponin the usual sense. It was experimental, biological, developed in a place we never talked about back then. Camp Detrick—what they call Fort Detrick now. You’ll find the rest of it—vialsof it inside the wreckage—or what’s left of it. But you’re not the only one looking. There are people who’ve spentdecades making sure the truth stays buried. Others want to find what was created. I’m told an explosion tookout the lab in Camp Detrick. All the information was lost.”

The recording crackled. Stunned at what she’d heard, she shared a look with Ryder, hoping there was more.

Grandpa Walt’s breathing was ragged over the recording.

“I’ve lived with that horror of what we had developedevery day since. Maybe this was plan B, in case...”The recording crackled again, and his words became garbled. Sarah strained to understand. Then it continued.

“A good man helped me ... Goodwin was his name ... he helped me burythe evidence ... beneath an avalanche. Then he helped me survive.”

Another pause and his voice softened.“I’m sorry. For the secrets. I realize the secret won’t stayburied forever, so it must be destroyed completely. And nowthat you’re this far, you need to find theplane. Destroy what’s inside before someone else finds it. And ... forgive me.”

The message clicked off. The only sound was the crackling fire in the woodstove. Still, even with the heat spilling from the cast iron, a chill closed in around her after what she’d just heard. Sarah stared at her hiking boots, then finally lifted her gaze to meet Ryder’s. She couldn’t read his expression, but if she had to guess, he looked angry.

Confused.

Ryder jumped to his feet and paced the small room, his boots clomping. “Did you know?” he asked.

Her chest tightened. “Of course not. I had no idea.”

But it made sense, didn’t it? Maybe God had been guiding her steps in this all along. Otherwise, how else would she haveended up hiring Ryder? Then again, he knew the mountain, and she’d hired him for that reason—and the fact that he was a hero. That hadn’t hurt. Whatever. Her getting Ryder’s help hadn’t been a coincidence, so she shouldn’t have been surprised at this news. In fact, she should have suspected it. Maybe that thought had been flitting around in her mind all this time, just out of reach.

She dropped her shaking hands to her lap under the table to hide them from Ryder.

Wait a minute.

She could ask him the same thing. “How about you? Did you evensuspectit? After all, your grandfather was around at the time the plane went down and then spent his life dispelling what turned out to be truth with the idea it was a myth, when all along he knew that it crashed on the mountain!”

And now that she thought about it, the very idea infuriated her. “Maybe if he hadn’t spent his life hiding the truth...” None of this would have happened.

Her brother would be alive. No, she was exhausted. Not thinking clearly. She shoved her hair into a ponytail. She was grasping at straws. Making unfounded judgments. Ryder said nothing. Just kept pacing, clearly as upset about this news as she was. Clearly as stunned. There was much more than their grandfathers’ connection going on. Sarah needed to hear Ryder’s take on it.

“Ryder, tell me what you’re thinking.”