Chapter 4 - The Name on the List
A screen flickered on by itself.
Green letters appeared.
WELCOME, ADMIRAL HAYES.
Catherine stared at the message.
Rebecca stepped backward.
“No.”
“What?”
“He found the system.”
Mercer raised his weapon.
“Can Kane control this remotely?”
Rebecca shook her head.
“Not remotely.”
Richard went still.
“What does that mean?”
“It means he's inside the property.”
The screen changed.
A file directory opened.
K-17.
Catherine moved toward the keyboard.
Rebecca grabbed her arm.
“I told you not to.”
“And I heard you.”
“If you open the list—”
“If Kane is already here, we're past caution.”
Catherine selected the file.
A password prompt appeared.
Three attempts.
She remembered her mother's letter.
The bluebird never landed.
She typed BLUEBIRD.
ACCESS GRANTED.
Names filled the screen.
Hundreds.
Contractors.
Accountants.
Government employees.
Foreign buyers.
Catherine scrolled.
Several were familiar.
Some were retired officers.
Some were dead.
Some were powerful people still serving.
Then she found Hayes Aeronautical Systems.
Richard leaned toward the monitor.
“Who authorized that?”
A line appeared beneath the company name.
EXECUTIVE CONTACT: R. HAYES.
Catherine looked at her father.
Richard went white.
“I didn't do this.”
Rebecca stared at him.
“You're on the list.”
“I can see that.”
Catherine said, “Keep scrolling.”
Another field appeared.
STATUS: UNWITTING ACCESS.
Catherine paused.
Rebecca frowned.
“What does that mean?”
“Kane used him,” Catherine said.
Richard stared.
“For what?”
Catherine opened the associated files.
Invoices.
Shipping manifests.
Component transfers.
Someone had used Hayes Aeronautical purchase orders to move restricted navigation modules through civilian accounts.
Richard's company had been a pipeline.
But the authorization signatures were forged.
Richard sat heavily in a chair.
“He used my company for twenty years.”
Rebecca said quietly, “Evelyn suspected it.”
Richard looked at her.
“Did she know I wasn't involved?”
“Yes.”
His face broke.
For fourteen years, Richard had carried the fear that his wife had died believing he betrayed her.
Rebecca gave him the answer he had never expected to receive.
“She spent her last months trying to protect you.”
Richard covered his mouth.
Catherine continued scrolling.
Another name appeared.
MARTIN VOSS.
STATUS: COERCED.
Then:
SAMUEL KANE.
STATUS: CONTROLLER.
Catherine scrolled farther.
One final entry sat beneath Kane.
No name.
Only a title.
PRIMARY GOVERNMENT ASSET.
Mercer leaned closer.
“Open it.”
Catherine clicked.
ACCESS RESTRICTED.
Rebecca whispered, “That's the person Evelyn was afraid of.”
The basement door above them creaked.
Mercer signaled everyone silent.
Footsteps.
Slow.
One step.
Another.
Then a voice called through the floor.
“Catherine.”
Her blood froze.
Not because the voice belonged to Samuel Kane.
Because she knew it.
Her mother's voice.
Richard's face collapsed.
“Evelyn?”
Rebecca looked terrified.
“No.”
Richard ran toward the stairs.
Catherine caught him.
“Wait.”
“You heard her.”
“Yes.”
“That's your mother.”
“We don't know that.”
The voice came again.
“Catherine, please.”
Richard pulled against her.
Catherine held firm.
“Dad.”
His eyes were full of tears.
“Fourteen years.”
“I know.”
“If that's her—”
“If Kane has her voice, he wants us upstairs.”
Richard stopped.
Catherine turned toward Rebecca.
“Did Kane ever record Mom?”
“Constantly. Meetings. Calls.”
“So it could be fake.”
Rebecca nodded.
Mercer checked a service passage at the far wall.
“There's another exit.”
“Where?”
“Storm tunnel to shoreline.”
Catherine looked at the drives.
“We take everything.”
Rebecca laughed bitterly.
“That's twelve terabytes.”
“Take the physical server.”
“You can't carry it.”
Richard moved toward the equipment rack.
“I can.”
Catherine looked at him.
“What?”
“I built an aerospace company from a rented machine shop. I can carry a computer.”
Despite everything, Catherine almost smiled.
They disconnected the storage array.
Richard and Mercer lifted it.
Rebecca grabbed the drives.
Catherine covered the passage entrance.
Above them, the basement door opened.
Footsteps descended.
They entered the tunnel.
Mercer pulled the hatch shut.
The passage smelled of saltwater and rust.
They moved quickly.
Halfway through, gunfire echoed behind them.
Bullets struck metal.
“Move!”
They ran.
The tunnel opened near a rocky shoreline.
A Navy security team approached by boat, alerted through Mercer's emergency beacon.
Within minutes they were aboard.
Catherine looked back.
Smoke began rising from Rebecca's cottage.
Kane was destroying evidence.
But not all of it.
Richard sat beside the storage array, breathing hard.
“You saved the server,” Catherine said.
He looked at her.
“Your mother would kill me if I dropped it.”
It was the first joke he had made all day that didn't hurt somebody.
Catherine sat beside him.
“Dad.”
“Yes?”
“When did you stop asking about my career?”
He looked at the water.
“After your first promotion.”
“Why?”
“Because I realized you were succeeding without me.”
Catherine waited.
Richard's voice became quiet.
“I spent my entire life building something I thought my children would inherit. When you chose something else, I treated it like rejection.”
“You treated me like failure.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
“Yes.”
He looked at her.
“I thought if I made your choice sound foolish long enough, eventually you would come back.”
Catherine's anger softened, but did not disappear.
“You missed thirty years.”
“I know.”
“I became an admiral.”
“I know that now.”
“My mother knew.”
He nodded.
“She always knew.”
The boat reached a secure naval facility.
Technicians immediately began imaging Rebecca's server.
Catherine joined Mercer in a secure operations room.
The President's call had been delayed almost two hours.
This time, Catherine answered.
The President appeared on the encrypted screen.
“Admiral Hayes.”
“Mr. President.”
“I understand your family celebration became complicated.”
“That is one word for it.”
His expression remained serious.
“Your discovery connects directly to the intelligence I was calling about.”
Catherine leaned forward.
“What intelligence?”
“We intercepted a communication six hours ago.”
“From Kane?”
“We believe so.”
“To whom?”
“That is what concerns us.”
The President looked offscreen briefly.
Then back.
“The recipient holds one of the highest security clearances in the United States.”
Catherine's stomach tightened.
“The government asset.”
“Yes.”
“Do we have a name?”
“We have a partial identifier.”
A document appeared on Catherine's screen.
Two letters.
DH.
Catherine stared.
Mercer stopped breathing beside her.
Catherine noticed.
She turned.
“Major?”
Mercer's face had gone pale.
“Do you recognize it?”
He did not answer.
“Daniel.”
He finally looked at her.
“My father's initials were D.H.”
Catherine frowned.
“Your father?”
Mercer's voice dropped.
“David Mercer Hayes.”
Richard, who had entered behind them, froze.
Catherine slowly turned.
Her father stared at Major Mercer as if seeing a ghost.
“No.”
Mercer looked at Richard.
“You know that name?”
Richard could barely speak.
“David Hayes was my brother.”
Catherine's world narrowed.
“You told us Uncle David died before I was born.”
Richard stepped backward.
“I thought he did.”
Mercer's radio suddenly crackled.
A security officer shouted through it.
“Breach in medical wing!”
Catherine grabbed the radio.
“Who?”
“Martin Voss is missing.”
A second voice came through.
“Admiral, we found a message in his room.”
“What message?”
The officer hesitated.
“It says: DAVID HAYES IS COMING HOME.”
May you like
Richard stared at Catherine.
Then every alarm in the facility began screaming.
