“Okay.” Now I could follow where Sam was going. “So, you hacked into the hospital server to find any records of Henry and his accident?”
“Yeah. According to the paperwork on file, Henry was in a car accident, and his parents died.” I watched Sam exchange a look with Jakob, who nodded at him. “Um, it’s just. There wasn’t any car accident documented anywhere in the tri-state area.”
“And that raised red flags, and had you dig deeper?” His nod was so small if I weren’t looking at him, I would have missed it. Suddenly I couldn’t breathe properly, so I loosened the knot of my tie. After all my years as a victim’s rights lawyer, I heard stories like this before. People would disappear after dangerous accidents, or some victims staged their deaths to get away from their abusers. My mouth opened, but I couldn’t make words come out. I cleared my throat and tried again. “What did you find?”
“I didn’t find a car accident, but…” Sam stopped and looked at Jakob before he kept on talking. “The same day Henry was admitted to the hospital here in New York, a fourteen-year-old died in Kentucky from identical injuries. Identical.”
“Ok. Then I am assuming you found a connection.” They had to have found a connection. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be here and telling me all this. “What about Ava? She got custody, right?”
“She did, yes. But Ava isn’t Ava either,” Jakob answered, and if I had any doubts that we were talking about something serious, I would believe it now. “Thirty years ago, Ava or Andrew Reed didn’t exist either.”
“But she’s his aunt?”
“According to Des, she is, yes. And Des told us that Ava, well she went by Andrew back then, came to New York and changed his name. He ran away from home when he was twenty.” Jakob exchanged a look with Sam, who’d started to cry again. “Andrews's real name is Peter Altmann. The young kid who died in Kentucky was Michael Altmann, his nephew.”
“So what? You think that Henry is Michael Altmann?” Suddenly I wished I had asked Olivia to bring something stronger to drink. This conversation called for a more potent drink.
“We know that he is Michael Altmann, Caden.” Jakob pulled Sam onto his lap and just held him until his sobbing quieted down. “When Sam told me what he found out, I knew he would dig in deeper and do something stupid. Like hacking the FBI.”
“He hacked the FBI?”
“Well kind of, yeah. The FBI investigated the case of the murder of Michael Altmann.”
“Murder?” I had a hard time following what they were telling me. Henry wasn’t Henry. The involvement of the FBI. His…fake death. Because Henry was well and alive, not exactly well, but he was alive. “What the hell, Jakob?”
“I called a guy I know in Quantico. All he could tell me was that it was all hush, hush. But he knew the FBI decided to let Michael Altmann die that night. They got him out of Kentucky and faked his death. That was all he could say because everything else is classified,” Jakob said. Then Sam sat up and looked at me.
“But that was enough information for me to work with. It wasn’t hard to find the trial records. Robert Altmann was charged with first-degree murder but pled guilty to manslaughter and got twenty years. Robert…he’s…he’s Henry’s brother.” More tears spilled over, then Sam sobbed out, “His brother tried to beat him to death because he’s gay.”
“Shh, Sam. Remember that Michael is not dead, Baby.” Jakob tried to calm him down again. “He’s okay and alive. Henry is okay and alive.”
“I know, but…his brother.”
“That’s how he lost his hearing.” That was probably why he never talked about how he got his injuries. He was horrified that his brother had beaten him almost to death. Henry had only shared with me that he nearly died that night. God. I rubbed my face, took a deep breath.
“That’s not everything,” Jakob said quietly, getting my attention again.
“There’s more? Isn’t a faked death and new identity enough?”
“I’m sorry, Caden,” Jakob said with a sigh. “But I think you need to know everything.”
“Okay.” As far as I was concerned, I knew enough already. But I knew Jakob wouldn’t put me through this if it weren't necessary.
“Michael Altmann was…is the son of Richard Altmann. Ava’s older brother.” Jakob took a deep breath before he continued, “Richard Altmann is some sort of…leader.”
“Leader? Are we talking about some sort of cult?” Of course. That would make perfect sense and explain why both Henry and Ava had to escape.
“Worse. It’s a cult, yes, but not a religious one. We’re talking about a white supremacy cult. That’s why the FBI marked the file classified,” Jakob explained, and all I could do was stare at him. My mind was having a hard time comprehending what he was saying. “The compound is in Northern Kentucky, and the cult had been on the FBI’s watchlist for years, but they never had enough to shut it down. They’ve been gathering evidence for years. Henry’s assault was not simply homophobic, Caden. It was a real hate crime because he’s gay. They’re Nazis, Caden. They’ve built their world on this compound with only white, straight people living there.”
“And…Henry grew up there?”
“Yes. Henry did not attend a public school either. The compound has it’s own school to teach their ways.”
“Is he…safe?” Suddenly all the security systems Henry had installed made much more sense.
“According to my contact within the FBI, he is, yes. No one ever looked into his death, and it was twelve years ago.” Jakob nodded and tried a reassuring smile. “I didn’t
