Chapter 4 - The General Who Chose Me
General Warren Pike looked older than Rebecca remembered.
He walked slowly.
No security detail.
No entourage.
Rebecca stepped into the corridor.
“General.”
“Colonel.”
Daniel emerged behind her.
Pike's eyes shifted toward him.
“Daniel.”
“You threatened my daughter.”
Pike didn't deny it.
Rebecca positioned herself between them.
“You have sixty seconds before I call federal security.”
Pike smiled sadly.
“You've always given generous deadlines.”
“Fifty-five.”
“Cassandra has the prototype.”
“I know.”
“She intends to activate Nightglass.”
“I know that too.”
Pike studied her.
“But you don't know why your credentials are inside it.”
Rebecca said nothing.
Pike glanced at the hospital room.
“Not here.”
“You don't choose the location.”
“Then arrest me.”
Rebecca almost did.
Instead, twenty minutes later, Pike sat inside a secured federal interview room.
Cole recorded everything.
Pike placed his hands on the table.
“Twelve years ago, Cassandra developed the core architecture for Nightglass.”
“As a back door?”
“No. Originally it was a failsafe.”
Pike explained that the system was intended to preserve military navigation during catastrophic cyberattacks.
“But Cassandra became obsessed with control,” he said. “She believed decentralized command was weakness.”
“She modified it.”
“Yes.”
“And you protected her.”
Pike looked down.
“She was my daughter.”
Rebecca's voice hardened.
“You threatened mine.”
Pike closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
Daniel stood abruptly.
Rebecca raised a hand.
He stopped.
“Why my credentials?” Rebecca asked.
“Because Cassandra needed an authorization identity that the system would trust.”
“Why me?”
“You had access across multiple command architectures.”
“So she stole my credentials.”
“Not exactly.”
Rebecca stared.
Pike continued.
“You signed an emergency authorization package before your deployment.”
Rebecca remembered stacks of documents.
“You buried it in paperwork.”
“Yes.”
“So legally—”
“You authorized a prototype without knowing what it really was.”
Rebecca felt sick.
“My signature created Nightglass.”
“It helped.”
“And you sent me overseas afterward.”
“To keep Cassandra from using you again.”
Rebecca laughed once without humor.
“You expect gratitude?”
“No.”
Pike reached into his coat.
Cole immediately moved.
Pike slowly removed a small key.
“Safe-deposit box.”
“Where?”
“Federal archive facility.”
“What is inside?”
“The missing authorization record.”
Rebecca took the key.
“Why give it to me now?”
“Because Cassandra believes I destroyed it.”
“And you didn't?”
“No.”
“Why?”
Pike looked at Daniel.
“Because one day I hoped I'd become brave enough to fix what I did.”
Daniel's expression remained cold.
“Eleven years late.”
“Yes.”
Rebecca stood.
“We're going to the archive.”
Pike shook his head.
“Cassandra will expect that.”
“Good.”
“Rebecca—”
“She wants my authorization. Let her come.”
The archive facility was beneath an administrative building outside Washington.
Cole's team secured the perimeter.
Rebecca, Daniel, Hale, and Pike descended.
The key opened compartment 417.
Inside was a single envelope.
Rebecca opened it.
Original Nightglass authorization.
Her signature.
Cassandra's signature.
And a third.
Rebecca stared.
Thomas Hale.
She slowly looked at the deputy secretary.
Daniel stepped backward.
Pike closed his eyes.
Hale didn't move.
“Explain,” Rebecca said.
Hale's face had gone pale.
“I was program counsel.”
“You told me you didn't know who authorized it.”
“I didn't know what Cassandra had changed afterward.”
“You lied.”
“Yes.”
Cole moved toward him.
Hale raised his hands.
“I didn't create the back door.”
“Then why hide your signature?”
“Because I knew what it would look like.”
Rebecca stepped closer.
“What else have you hidden?”
Hale hesitated.
That hesitation told her enough.
“What?”
“Nightglass isn't just navigation.”
Pike looked sharply at him.
Hale continued.
“It can reroute emergency communications.”
Rebecca understood.
“Command traffic.”
“Yes.”
“If Cassandra activates it, she could make legitimate orders appear false and false orders appear legitimate.”
“Yes.”
Daniel whispered, “My God.”
Rebecca's phone rang.
Unknown number.
She answered.
“Rebecca.”
Cassandra Pike.
Rebecca had met her twice.
“Where are you?”
“You found the authorization.”
Rebecca looked around.
“How do you know?”
Cassandra laughed softly.
“Because Nightglass is already watching.”
Rebecca glanced at the security cameras.
“Then you know this ends tonight.”
“No. It begins tonight.”
“What do you want?”
“You.”
“You already stole my credentials.”
“I need biometric confirmation.”
Rebecca understood.
Her voice.
Her face.
Perhaps fingerprint authentication.
“Not happening.”
“Then your daughter pays for your stubbornness.”
Rebecca's blood turned cold.
“Emily is protected.”
“Is she?”
Rebecca called Emily.
No answer.
Daniel called.
Nothing.
Cole shouted into his radio.
A response came.
The protection team at Daniel's house was intact.
Emily, however, was gone.
A camera recording showed her leaving voluntarily.
With someone.
Rebecca watched the footage.
Emily walked toward a dark SUV.
The driver stepped out.
Lauren.
Daniel stared.
“She left the hospital.”
Rebecca called Lauren.
No answer.
Then Emily's number sent a message.
MOM, LAUREN SAYS SHE CAN PROVE EVERYTHING. I'M SORRY.
A location followed.
Pike stared at it.
“I know that address.”
“Where?”
“Old Nightglass development facility.”
Rebecca grabbed her coat.
Pike caught her arm.
“Rebecca, Cassandra wants you there.”
“I know.”
“You'll be giving her exactly what she needs.”
Rebecca looked at him.
“She has my daughter.”
She headed for the door.
Her phone vibrated again.
This time it was a photograph.
Emily sat inside a control room.
Lauren stood behind her.
And reflected faintly in the dark glass behind them was a third figure.
Cassandra Pike.
Beneath the photograph were five words:
BRING YOUR VOICE AND HAND.
May you like
Then another message appeared.
OR WATCH YOUR DAUGHTER DISAPPEAR.
