Chapter 4 - The Man Silas Trusted
“Silas.”
The voice echoed through the abandoned depot.
General Ror’s face changed instantly.
Not fear.
Recognition.
Cal raised his pistol.
Cross moved beside the railcar door.
I held the recorder.
My father’s message continued beneath the sound of footsteps.
“If he finds you before you find him, do not believe anything he says.”
Ror whispered one name.
“Adrian.”
A man stepped into view.
Around sixty-five.
Silver hair.
Expensive dark coat.
No weapon visible.
Ror stared at him.
“Secretary Vale.”
I knew enough about government to understand the title.
Secretary of Defense Adrian Vale.
One of the most powerful men in the country.
He looked toward me.
“Eli Mercer.”
Cross aimed at him.
“Hands where I can see them.”
Vale stopped.
“You believe I came alone?”
Cross said, “Did you?”
“No.”
That was not the answer anybody wanted.
Cal checked the opposite side.
Movement outside.
Several people.
Vale looked at Ror.
“You’ve caused an extraordinary problem.”
“You tried to bury me.”
“Harlan tried to bury you.”
“On whose order?”
“Not mine.”
The recorder played on.
My father’s voice:
“Vale will tell you he tried to stop it.”
Vale’s face tightened.
“He’ll tell you Harlan acted alone.”
Ror looked at the recorder.
Then at Vale.
The recording continued.
“He’ll even tell you I trusted him.”
Vale whispered, “Nathan.”
“He’s alive?” I demanded.
Vale’s eyes moved to me.
“I don’t know.”
“You’re lying.”
“Your father was very good at disappearing.”
Cross said, “And you were very good at hunting him.”
Vale ignored her.
“Silas, there are armed men surrounding this depot. Some belong to Harlan. Some belong to me. You have perhaps sixty seconds before they stop distinguishing between us.”
“Why should I trust you?”
“You shouldn’t.”
That answer startled everyone.
Vale continued.
“But if I wanted you dead, I would not have walked into this building.”
Gunfire erupted outside.
Cross pulled me down.
Glass shattered.
Vale shouted, “Back exit!”
Cal returned fire through a broken window.
Ror grabbed my shoulder.
“Move!”
We ran through the railcar.
Bullets struck metal behind us.
The far door opened onto an old service platform.
Three black vehicles blocked the street.
Vale’s people?
Harlan’s?
Nobody knew.
We turned south along the tracks.
Cross fired twice behind us.
Cal stumbled.
Blood appeared on his leg.
Ror caught him.
“I’m fine.”
“You’re limping.”
“I said I’m fine.”
We reached a maintenance tunnel beneath the depot.
Vale followed.
Cross almost shot him.
“Don’t.”
“You expect us to let you come?”
“I know where the tunnel exits.”
“So do I.”
“Not that tunnel.”
He pointed toward a bricked wall.
One section had a metal plate.
He entered a code.
The wall released.
Behind it was a narrow passage.
My father’s recorder still sat in my hand.
The message had stopped.
I pressed play again as we moved.
His voice returned.
“Silas, Vale was part of the original program.”
Ror stopped.
Vale did too.
“He funded it,” Nathan said.
Cross aimed at Vale.
Vale closed his eyes.
“But he was not the one who corrupted it.”
Everyone waited.
Nathan continued.
“The program began after coordinated attacks exposed weaknesses in military logistics. Vale believed a domestic tracking system could protect senior commanders during national emergencies.”
Vale said quietly, “That is true.”
“But someone turned protection into control.”
Ror asked, “Who?”
The recorder crackled.
“Malcolm Harlan.”
Cross looked confused.
“You said Harlan wasn’t at the top.”
Nathan’s voice continued as though answering her.
“Because Harlan serves someone else.”
My heartbeat accelerated.
Vale stared at the recorder.
Nathan said:
“The real architect is Colonel Peter Voss.”
Ror went pale.
Cal whispered, “Voss died.”
Vale nodded.
“Fifteen years ago.”
Nathan’s voice:
“No, he didn’t.”
The tunnel seemed colder.
Voss had supposedly died two years after the safe-house fire.
He had been Nathan’s commanding officer.
He was also the man who trained both Harlan and Cal Reese.
Cal’s face turned white.
“Impossible.”
Vale looked at him.
“Is it?”
Cal leaned against the wall.
“No body was recovered.”
Ror asked, “Why fake his death?”
Vale answered.
“To disappear inside the machine he built.”
Nathan’s message explained.
Voss believed elected governments were too unstable to control military intelligence.
He created a secret network within contractors, intelligence officers, and defense officials.
Not a coup.
Something quieter.
Control information.
Control movement.
Control careers.
Destroy anyone who resisted.
The surveillance program became his weapon.
Nathan discovered it.
Vale tried to shut it down.
Ror arranged the meeting.
Voss burned the safe house.
Then disappeared.
My father’s voice softened.
“Eli, your mother helped me protect the final key.”
My throat tightened.
“She was braver than anyone ever knew.”
I swallowed hard.
Vale watched me.
“What final key?”
The recorder clicked.
Nothing.
End of message.
I shook it.
“That’s it?”
Cross examined it.
“There may be another file.”
Before she could check, Cal said:
“We need to move.”
His voice sounded wrong.
Ror noticed too.
“Cal?”
Cal raised his pistol.
And pointed it at Vale.
“I’m sorry.”
Nobody moved.
Ror stared at him.
“Cal.”
“I said I’m sorry.”
Cross aimed at Cal.
“Drop it.”
Cal laughed bitterly.
“I can’t.”
“You can.”
“No.”
He looked at me.
There were tears in his eyes.
That frightened me more than the gun.
“Eli, I need the key.”
My hand went instinctively to my neck.
Ror stepped between us.
“You were tracking us.”
Cal nodded.
“The second tracker?”
“I put it in his jacket at the cabin.”
I felt sick.
“You took my picture?”
“No.”
“Then who did?”
“Voss.”
The name echoed through the tunnel.
Ror’s voice became low.
“How long?”
Cal looked destroyed.
“Fourteen years.”
“You worked for him?”
“He had my daughter.”
Cross said, “Cal—”
“Not had. Has.”
He pulled out his phone.
A photograph showed a young woman tied to a chair.
Today’s date.
“I help him, she lives.”
Vale said, “He’ll kill her anyway.”
“I know.”
Cal’s hand shook.
“But knowing and watching are different things.”
Ror moved closer.
“Give me the gun.”
“I can’t.”
“You can.”
“I’m sorry, Silas.”
A shot cracked.
I ducked.
Cal fell.
Cross had fired into his shoulder.
His pistol slid away.
Ror rushed to him.
“You idiot.”
Cal gasped.
“They know where we are.”
Vale said, “Then we have seconds.”
Cross picked up Cal’s phone.
A new message appeared.
BRING THE BOY TO FORT HORIZON.
Ror stared.
“Fort Horizon was closed ten years ago.”
Vale looked grim.
“Officially.”
Another message arrived.
COME ALONE OR THE GIRL DIES.
Attached was a live video.
Cal’s daughter.
Behind her stood a tall older man.
Thin.
White hair.
Military posture.
He stepped toward the camera.
Ror whispered, “Voss.”
Peter Voss smiled.
Then another person was dragged into frame.
A man with gray at his temples.
A crooked smile.
My breath stopped.
My father.
Alive.
Voss placed a hand on Nathan Mercer’s shoulder.
May you like
And looked directly into the camera.
“Bring me my grandson.”
