"People working for Sloan."
Lily suddenly remembered strange things from childhood.
A black car parked outside school.
A man who had followed her mother through a grocery store.
A telephone call her mother had received every year on Lily's birthday.
She had thought they were coincidences.
They weren't.
"Why wait this long?"
"Because your father told me to."
"Why?"
"Because when you were young, they could use you to reach him."
Lily stood.
"And now?"
"Now you're old enough to choose."
"Choose what?"
Caleb looked at her.
"Whether you want the truth badly enough to risk everything."
Lily didn't hesitate.
"Yes."
Caleb nodded.
"Then tomorrow we go to Montana."
THE MAN IN THE CABIN
They drove for two days.
The landscape changed from crowded highways to open fields, then mountains.
On the third morning, Caleb turned onto a dirt road.
At the end stood a small cabin.
Smoke rose from the chimney.
Lily's heart began racing.
Caleb stopped the truck.
"Stay here."
"No."
"Lily."
"I've waited thirty years."
She stepped out.
Caleb sighed.
Together they approached the cabin.
The door opened.
An old man stood there.
He was thinner than Lily expected.
His hair was white.
He held a cane.
But his eyes were unmistakable.
Lily knew immediately.
She didn't need photographs.
Didn't need DNA.
Didn't need proof.
She knew.
"Emma?"
He whispered the wrong name.
Then he shook his head.
"Lily."
Her eyes filled with tears.
"Dad?"
Daniel Harper lowered the cane.
For several seconds he couldn't move.
Then he walked toward her.
Lily stepped forward.
They stopped inches apart.
She wanted to hug him.
She wanted to hit him.
She wanted to scream.
Instead she whispered:
"Why?"
Daniel closed his eyes.
"I was trying to keep you alive."
"You could have come back."
"I wanted to."
"Then why didn't you?"
"Because every time I got close, they found me."
Lily shook her head.