“How long?”
“At least nine years.”
Grace felt cold despite the room.
Declan continued.
“They approached companies holding infrastructure software, logistics patents, port leases, agricultural routing systems. Usually founder-controlled businesses.”
Rebecca stared.
“And?”
“Within two or three years, those companies were sold under financial pressure.”
“To Harbor Crown?”
“Not always under that name.”
Grace looked back at the image of her father’s plane.
“You think my father discovered something.”
“Yes.”
“What?”
Declan hesitated.
“Possibly the same thing you discovered tonight.”
Grace pressed one hand to her stomach.
The baby moved.
Strongly this time.
A hard kick.
Grace looked at the image again.
Her father’s final Christmas flashed through her mind.
Daniel Bennett standing alone on her back porch in Connecticut.
Snow falling behind him.
Coffee in one hand.
His voice unusually serious.
Never surrender the patents completely, Gracie.
She had laughed.
Dad, nobody wants your old code that badly.
