I clicked on my secondary monitor to run the facial recognition sequence.

I pulled up the federal arrest records from Operation Broken Crown.

Hector Vance’s file was classified at the highest level, but my credentials cleared the firewall.

I scrolled past the mugshots of his lieutenants until I reached the family registry.

The name Vanessa Vance was listed under the immediate relatives.

There was only one photo of her from her teenage years in Guadalajara.

I dragged the grainy, black-and-white image into the comparison software next to a high-definition freeze-frame of Vanessa Vale.

The computer began to overlay the skeletal structures of their faces.

A progress bar crawled across the bottom of the screen.

Twenty percent. Forty percent.

On the video feed, Vanessa bent down to Lily’s eye level.

She reached out and pinched Lily’s chin, forcing the child to look at her.

“Your mother was very clever,” Vanessa whispered. “But she made a promise she couldn’t keep.”

My hands clenched into fists, the plastic casing of my tablet creaking under the pressure.

The database chimed.

The screen flashed green.

*Biometric Match: 99.4%.*