Chapter 4: The Sheriff’s Call
My phone vibrated in my hand.
*SHERIFF DALE MERCER*
For a moment, I simply stared at the screen.
Cole stepped closer.
“Is that him?””
I nodded.
“Answer it.””
I pressed the button.
“Mercer.””
There was a brief silence.
Then his voice came through.
“Caleb Vance.””
He said my name slowly, as if tasting it.
Not Mr. Vance.
Not Caleb.
He sounded like he'd just confirmed something he'd suspected for years.
“Where is my son?””
“Your son is alive.””
My grip tightened.
“Where?””
“You should be asking yourself another question.””
“I asked where Ethan is.””
“You always were impatient.””
I looked at Cole.
His face had gone rigid.
“You know who I am,” I said.
Mercer laughed quietly.
“Oh, Caleb. I know exactly who you are.””
The parking lot suddenly felt much colder.
“Then you know what happens next.””
“Do I?””
I looked toward the road where the black SUV had disappeared.
“You took my son.””
“No.””
“You're lying.””
“I didn't take Ethan.””
“Then tell me who did.””
Mercer was silent.
“That's the problem,” he finally said.
“You don't understand what you've stepped into.””
I almost laughed.
“Stepped into?””
My voice hardened.
“You shot a seventeen-year-old boy through both knees.””
“I did.””
Cole's eyes widened.
Mercer continued.
“And if you think that was the worst thing that happened tonight, you're going to be disappointed.””
My jaw clenched.
“Why did you shoot him?””
“Because he was carrying something.””
“Ethan doesn't carry weapons.””
“I didn't say a weapon.””
Silence.
“What was he carrying?””
Mercer exhaled slowly.
“Ask your wife.””
I looked through the glass doors of the hospital.
Laura was sitting alone in the waiting area.
“What does Laura have to do with this?””
“You really haven't told her anything, have you?””
My heart sank.
“Tell me where Ethan is.””
“You have one hour.””
“One hour for what?””
“Come to the old quarry.””
I said nothing.
“Come alone.””
“Or what?””
Mercer’s voice dropped.
“Or the next time you see your son, he'll be in a coffin.””
The call ended.
I kept the phone against my ear.
Cole stared at me.
“What did he want?””
“The old quarry.””
Cole shook his head.
“You're not going there.””
“I am.””
“Caleb, he just admitted shooting Ethan.””
“And threatened to kill him.””
“You don't know whether that call was real.””
I turned toward him.
“Neither do you.””
“We need backup.””
“No.””
He stepped in front of me.
“You cannot go alone.””
“That's exactly what he expects.””
Cole stared at me.
“Then what do you suggest?””
I looked at the folder.
The photographs.
The surveillance reports.
The note.
*ASK CALEB WHAT HAPPENED IN KANDAHAR.*
“I suggest we find out why a county sheriff knows the name of a military operation that officially never happened.””
Cole's expression changed.
“You really were Special Operations?””
I didn't answer.
“Caleb.””
“My old life is not relevant.””
“It became relevant when your son was shot.””
He was right.
I hated that.
I walked back toward Laura.
She looked up when she saw me.
“Was that him?””
“Yes.””
“What did he say?””
“He knows where Ethan is.””
Laura stood immediately.
“Where?””
“The quarry.””
Her face went pale.
“No.””
I frowned.
“You know it?””
“I know the name.””
She pressed a hand against her forehead.
“Caleb…”
“What?””
She looked around the waiting room as if someone might be listening.
“Three days ago, Ethan asked me something.””
“What?””
“He asked if you had ever worked at Black Mesa.””
The question hit me like a punch.
Black Mesa.
A place no one in Livingston County should have known.
A classified training site I'd been sent to before my final deployment.
I looked at Laura.
“What exactly did he say?””
“He asked why someone had left a package in our garage.””
“What package?””
“I don't know.””
“You didn't open it?””
“I didn't know about it until Ethan told me.””
“Where is it?””
Laura shook her head.
“It's gone.””
“Gone how?””
“He said someone came back for it.””
I stared at her.
“Why didn't you tell me?””
“I thought it was some stupid prank.””
“Laura.””
“I was scared.””
Her eyes filled with tears.
“You've kept so much from me for seventeen years, Caleb. You think I know when something is serious?””
I stepped back.
She was right.
I had spent seventeen years protecting my family by keeping them outside the walls of my old life.
But somewhere along the way, those walls had become a prison.
“What was in the package?””
“I don't know.””
“Did Ethan tell you anything else?””
She hesitated.
Then she reached into her purse.
“I found this in his room.””
She handed me a small photograph.
I stared at it.
It showed a younger version of me.
Twenty years earlier.
Military uniform.
Standing beside three men.
One was Marcus.
Another was someone I remembered instantly.
Captain Adrian Vale.
My oldest friend.
My former commanding officer.
And the fourth man—
I stopped breathing.
Sheriff Dale Mercer.
Twenty years younger.
Wearing a military uniform.
Cole stepped beside me.
“That's him.””
I nodded.
“You knew him?””
“I knew the man before he became sheriff.””
Laura looked between us.
“Caleb, who is he?””
I folded the photograph.
“A mistake I thought I'd buried.””
“What happened?””
I looked at the old photograph.
Then at my wife.
“Mercer wasn't always a sheriff.””
Cole said quietly, “What was he?””
I answered.
“An operator.””
“Military?””
“Yes.””
“Your unit?””
I hesitated.
“Different command.””
Cole looked at the photograph again.
“What happened in Kandahar?””
I said nothing.
The question had been sitting in that folder for less than ten minutes.
But it felt like it had followed me for twenty years.
Laura moved closer.
“Caleb.””
I looked at her.
“Kandahar was where I lost everyone.””
Her face softened.
“You told me you served overseas.””
“I did.””
“You never told me what happened.””
“I was trying to give you a life where you didn't need to know.””
She whispered, “And now?””
I looked at the photograph of Mercer.
“Now you may need to know everything.””
I pulled a chair toward her.
“Stay here.””
“No.””
“Laura—”
“I am not staying in a hospital while someone has our son.””
I knelt beside her.
“I need you alive when I come back.””
She stared at me.
“Come back?””
“I will.””
“How can you promise that?””
I thought about Ethan.
His legs.
His fear.
His whisper.
Dad… I don't think I'll ever walk again.
“I've kept promises before.””
Laura touched my cheek.
“Then promise me one more.””
“What?””
“Bring our son home.””
I nodded.
“I will.””
Cole cleared his throat.
“There's another problem.””
I looked at him.
“What?””
He held up his phone.
“We just got a call from county dispatch.””
“What now?””
He looked uncomfortable.
“Mercer has declared you a person of interest in the shooting.””
I almost smiled.
“Of course he has.””
“He's ordered every deputy in the county to find you.””
“Alive?””
Cole stared at me.
“He didn't specify.””
That was all I needed.
I walked toward the exit.
“Where are you going?””
“To get Ethan.””
Cole followed.
“You're heading to the quarry.””
“Yes.””
“Alone?””
I stopped.
Then looked at him.
“No.””
He seemed surprised.
“You're coming?””
“I wasn't talking about you.””
He frowned.
“Then who?””
I reached into my pocket and pulled out my old phone.
I hadn't switched it on in seventeen years.
The screen was scratched.
The battery was nearly dead.
But one number was still saved.
*MARCUS VALE — RED CHANNEL*
Cole watched me.
“Who's Marcus Vale?””
I looked toward the hospital doors.
“Someone who owes me a favor.””
“That sounds bad.””
“It is.””
I turned the phone on.
One contact remained.
One number.
One life I had promised never to return to.
I pressed call.
It rang once.
Twice.
Then someone answered.
“Who is this?””
I said four words.
“It's Caleb Vance.””
Silence.
Then the voice on the other end changed.
“Caleb?””
“Yes.””
“What happened?””
I looked back at Laura.
“Our son was shot.””
The silence returned.
Then Marcus asked the only question that mattered.
“Who?””
I stared into the darkness beyond the hospital entrance.
“Dale Mercer.””
Another pause.
Then Marcus's voice became very quiet.
“Oh, God.””
“What?””
“Caleb…”
He took a breath.
“You need to leave town.””
“Why?””
“Because Mercer isn't the man you think he is.””
“I know.””
“No.””
His voice sharpened.
“You don't.””
I waited.
Marcus whispered the next sentence.
“Kandahar wasn't a failed operation, Caleb.””
I felt the floor disappear beneath me.
“What was it?””
“It was an extraction.””
“Of who?””
Marcus didn't answer immediately.
Then he said,
“Of the man who became Sheriff Dale Mercer.””
The call went dead.
May you like
And for the first time in seventeen years, I wasn't afraid of what Mercer might do to me.
I was afraid of what he might reveal about what I'd done to him.
