Chapter 5 - 12:03 Was Never an Accident
Rebecca refused to go alone.
Cassandra had demanded it.
Rebecca ignored her.
Cole's team surrounded the abandoned development facility while Rebecca, Daniel, and Pike approached through an underground service corridor Pike remembered from years earlier.
“Why 12:03?” Rebecca asked as they moved.
Pike stopped.
“What?”
“The number. Daniel's file. Tonight's communication. 12:03.”
Pike looked troubled.
“That was the original activation time.”
“Eleven years ago?”
“Yes.”
Rebecca stared at him.
“Christmas night.”
Pike nodded.
“Cassandra planned the first live test for 12:03 a.m. You discovered inconsistencies hours before activation.”
Rebecca remembered that Christmas.
She had been overseas, angry at herself for missing Emily opening presents.
Meanwhile people in Washington had been manipulating her life.
“Daniel stopped it.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“He removed the physical prototype.”
Daniel spoke behind them.
“I stole it.”
Rebecca turned.
Daniel's face was grim.
“I broke into the testing room after Pike warned me what Cassandra intended.”
Pike looked at him.
Rebecca understood something.
“You two worked together.”
“For one night,” Daniel said.
“Then why threaten Emily?”
Pike answered.
“Because Cassandra discovered Daniel had taken the prototype. She told me she'd destroy all of us if it wasn't returned.”
“So you chose her.”
“I chose cowardice.”
They continued.
Inside the facility, old equipment had been replaced with modern servers.
Cassandra had been preparing for this.
Rebecca's earpiece crackled.
Cole whispered, “Thermal shows three people in central control.”
Emily.
Lauren.
Cassandra.
Rebecca entered.
Emily stood immediately.
“Mom!”
Cassandra held no weapon.
That surprised Rebecca.
Lauren stood beside Emily.
“Rebecca, listen—”
“Move away from my daughter.”
Lauren obeyed.
Cassandra smiled.
“Colonel Vance.”
Rebecca looked at Emily.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“Did anyone force you here?”
Emily hesitated.
“No.”
Rebecca stared.
Emily continued quickly.
“Lauren told me there was proof Dad wasn't involved. I thought I could help.”
“You could have been killed.”
“I know.”
Cassandra interrupted.
“Family reunion later.”
Rebecca faced her.
“You wanted me.”
“I need you to finish what you started.”
“I didn't start anything.”
Cassandra pointed toward a terminal.
“Your signature says otherwise.”
“You stole informed consent.”
“History doesn't care.”
Daniel and Pike remained hidden outside.
Rebecca needed time.
“What happens if I authenticate?”
“Nightglass wakes up.”
“And then?”
“For twelve minutes, selected military communication routes come through this facility.”
“You could falsify orders.”
“I could correct them.”
Rebecca studied her.
“You think you're saving the country.”
“I know I am.”
“That's usually what dangerous people tell themselves.”
Cassandra's smile vanished.
“Your Pentagon has spent decades depending on systems nobody fully understands. Nightglass creates certainty.”
“It creates one person deciding what everyone else is allowed to believe.”
“One capable person.”
“You.”
“Yes.”
Rebecca almost pitied her.
Almost.
“Why involve Daniel tonight?”
“I needed the prototype.”
“Lauren brought it?”
Cassandra looked at Lauren.
Lauren's face tightened.
“She lied to me,” Lauren said. “She told me she was going to destroy it.”
Daniel stepped into the room.
Lauren stared.
“Daniel?”
Cassandra's expression changed.
Pike entered behind him.
“Hello, sweetheart.”
For the first time Cassandra lost composure.
“You.”
Pike looked devastated.
“This ends now.”
“You don't get to decide that.”
“No. Rebecca does.”
Cassandra reached toward the console.
Cole's team entered.
“Hands!”
Cassandra froze.
Rebecca exhaled.
Then every monitor turned red.
AUTOMATED ACTIVATION SEQUENCE.
11:57 REMAINING.
Hale's voice came through Rebecca's earpiece.
“She triggered it remotely!”
Rebecca looked at Cassandra.
“You said you needed me.”
“I do.”
“Then stop it.”
“I can't.”
The timer continued.
11:42.
Rebecca approached the console.
“What happens at zero?”
“Nightglass attempts full authentication.”
“And if I refuse?”
“It searches archived biometric records.”
Rebecca's stomach dropped.
“You already have my voice.”
“Twenty-one years of recordings.”
“My face.”
“Personnel databases.”
“So why bring me here?”
Cassandra smiled.
“Because it needs something archived databases can't provide.”
“What?”
“A live stress-response signature.”
Rebecca stared.
Cassandra had needed her frightened.
Angry.
Under pressure.
This entire night had been engineered to generate it.
Emily's call.
The Pentagon alert.
The threats.
Rebecca suddenly understood.
“You caused the call at 12:03.”
“Yes.”
“You wanted me emotionally activated.”
“Yes.”
“You used my daughter.”
Cassandra said nothing.
Rebecca's anger became frighteningly calm.
“You made one mistake.”
“What?”
“You thought emotion made me easier to control.”
Rebecca turned to Briggs through the secure channel.
“Captain, remember the command redundancy exercise in October?”
“Yes, ma'am.”
“Execute Black Lantern.”
Cassandra's face changed.
“What is that?”
Rebecca smiled faintly.
“A system you don't control.”
Across Washington, backup communication nodes began isolating themselves.
Nightglass lost one route.
Then another.
Cassandra rushed toward the console.
Cole restrained her.
Timer:
04:17.
Hale reported, “It's still accessing legacy channels.”
Rebecca looked at Pike.
“How do we kill the original architecture?”
Pike pointed toward the prototype.
“Physical destruction.”
Daniel grabbed it.
Cassandra screamed.
“No!”
Daniel raised the module.
Rebecca stopped him.
“Wait.”
Everyone stared.
Rebecca looked at the code display.
“If we destroy it, we destroy the evidence.”
Cassandra laughed.
“Then choose, Colonel. Truth or safety.”
Rebecca stared at the timer.
02:08.
There had to be another way.
Lauren stepped forward.
“Daniel copied it.”
Daniel turned.
“What?”
“Years ago. You told me you made an image before hiding the prototype.”
Rebecca looked at Daniel.
He nodded slowly.
“Encrypted drive.”
“Where?”
“At home.”
Rebecca took the prototype.
Timer:
00:43.
Cassandra watched.
Rebecca placed it on the concrete floor.
00:31.
She lifted a heavy steel equipment case.
00:19.
Cassandra screamed.
Rebecca brought it down.
The module shattered.
Every monitor went black.
Silence.
Then emergency lights returned.
Hale's voice came through.
“Nightglass is offline.”
Emily ran to Rebecca.
Rebecca held her.
For the first time that night, she allowed herself to shake.
Then Daniel's phone rang.
He answered.
His expression changed.
“What?”
Rebecca looked at him.
Daniel slowly lowered the phone.
“The encrypted copy.”
“What about it?”
“Someone just accessed it from our house.”
Rebecca stared.
Federal agents were supposed to have secured the property.
Daniel swallowed.
“There's only one person besides me who ever knew where I hid that drive.”
Rebecca waited.
Daniel looked toward Lauren.
Lauren went pale.
May you like
Then he said the name.
“Emily.”
