Chapter 5 - The Name Behind Thirteen
We had twenty-three seconds.
Ava attacked the emergency panel.
Nothing.
Rex barked.
I looked around.
The vault wasn't going to explode.
That would destroy the evidence.
The Director wanted the archive.
The countdown was for something else.
"Gas."
Ava looked at me.
"What?"
"They won't burn their own records."
She understood.
Ventilation.
A faint hiss began overhead.
Ava shot the control panel.
Nothing.
Rex scratched at a lower vent.
I crawled toward it.
Every movement hurt.
Together, we tore the grate loose.
The opening was barely large enough.
"You first," Ava said.
"Rex."
He went through.
Then me.
Ava pushed from behind.
We crawled as gas filled the vault.
The vent emptied into an adjacent maintenance room.
Ava collapsed beside me.
Alive.
I grabbed her vest.
"Who?"
She coughed.
"Mara—"
"Who is the Director?"
A gunshot sounded outside.
We froze.
Then Hale's voice.
"Mara!"
I opened the door.
He saw me on the floor.
"What happened?"
"Ava's Unit Thirteen."
Hale raised his weapon.
"No!" I shouted.
Ava lifted her hands.
"I'm embedded."
"By whom?" Hale demanded.
"Elias."
My father appeared behind him.
Free.
He looked at Ava.
"You told her?"
"Part of it."
I stared at him.
"You recruited Ava?"
"Seven years ago."
"You told me to trust her because she's your spy."
"Yes."
"And the Director?"
Silence.
"Tell me."
My father looked at Hale.
Then at me.
"General Nathan Cross."
I knew the name.
Everyone did.
Cross was the commander of Fort Calder.
Decorated.
Respected.
He had signed my promotion.
He had spoken at my mother's funeral.
He had once carried me on his shoulders when I was six.
"Uncle Nate?"
My voice sounded small.
Elias nodded.
"He created Unit Thirteen."
I wanted to reject it.
Then memories rearranged themselves.
Cross recommending my career.
Cross approving Rex's assignment.
Cross pushing the special liaison position.
Cross scheduling Training Bay Four.
He had been close enough to control everything.
"Why me?"
"Because of me," Elias said.
Cross had spent twenty-two years searching for the archive.
He suspected Elias had left a path for his daughter.
He was right.
My entire career had been manipulated to bring me closer to the evidence.
Even Rex.
Operation Lantern hadn't been coincidence.
Cross had deliberately exposed Rex to the marker, hoping the dog could later locate Elias's archive.
But Cross underestimated the bond between handler and dog.
When I rejected Unit Thirteen, Cross couldn't simply take Rex.
A military working dog would not cooperate reliably with strangers.
So they needed me.
Alive.
Dependent.
Broken.
My shattered knees weren't random cruelty.
They were leverage.
"Where is Cross?"
Hale checked his watch.
"Command center."
Ava shook her head.
"No. He'll leave."
"Then we stop him."
The base alarms activated.
A voice came over the speakers.
General Cross.
"Captain Vance."
Every corridor fell silent.
"I know you can hear me."
My skin crawled.
"You have something that belongs to me."
Elias whispered, "The archive."
Cross continued.
"Bring Rex to Hangar Six. Come alone."
Then another monitor activated.
Nine soldiers appeared on-screen.
The soldiers from Training Bay Four.
Bound.
Cross stood behind them.
"If you aren't here in fifteen minutes, one dies every sixty seconds."
Hale swore.
"It's a trap."
"Obviously."
"You can't go."
"Obviously I can."
"Mara, you can't even walk."
I looked at the wheelchair.
"Then I'll roll."
My father stepped forward.
"No."
I looked at him.
"You lost twenty-two years with me because of Cross."
"Mara—"
"Don't lose the next twenty minutes trying to protect me."
He closed his eyes.
Then nodded.
Hangar Six was enormous.
Cross waited in the center.
No army.
No dramatic line of guards.
Just him.
The hostages.
And Kessler.
Alive.
Ava's shot had hit body armor.
Cross applauded when I entered.
Rex walked beside my chair.
"There she is."
I stopped twenty feet away.
"Let them go."
"After Rex opens the final compartment."
"There's more?"
Cross smiled.
"Elias never told you?"
My father had hidden one last piece of evidence.
A physical ledger.
Names of government officials, contractors, intelligence officers.
The network beyond Unit Thirteen.
Rex could locate it.
Cross needed it destroyed.
"Why not kill me?"
"Because Rex won't work for me."
Cross crouched.
"Remarkable animal."
Rex stared at him.
"Your father thought loyalty couldn't be engineered."
Cross smiled.
"I disagree."
He produced a small device.
A high-frequency tone sounded.
Rex flinched.
I felt rage rise.
"What did you do?"
"Conditioning."
Cross had been experimenting with commands outside human hearing.
Rex trembled.
"Come," Cross ordered.
Rex didn't move.
Cross increased the signal.
Rex whined.
I put my hand on his neck.
"Easy."
Cross increased it again.
Rex stepped forward.
My heart sank.
"Rex."
He took another step toward Cross.
Kessler smiled.
Cross opened his arms.
"Good dog."
Rex reached him.
Stopped.
Then turned around.
He walked back to me.
Cross's smile disappeared.
I whispered, "You can't program love."
Cross's face hardened.
He drew his pistol.
The lights went out.
Hale's team moved.
Gunfire erupted toward equipment, not people.
Sprinklers activated.
Hostages dropped.
Rex pulled one soldier away from Kessler.
Ava tackled another operative.
I rolled behind a steel crate.
Cross disappeared.
By the time emergency lights activated, Kessler was down.
Hostages were free.
Cross was gone.
But he'd left something behind.
His phone.
A message was open.
From an unknown contact.
EXTRACTION READY. BRING ELIAS'S DAUGHTER IF POSSIBLE.
Below it:
THE LEDGER IS UNDER HER MOTHER'S GRAVE.
I stared at the words.
My mother.
Cross hadn't just attended her funeral.
He knew exactly where she was buried.
Then another message arrived.
Cross had already reached the cemetery.
And the security camera showed he wasn't alone.
A woman stepped from his vehicle.
My father saw her.
His face went white.
"No."
I looked at him.
"Who is she?"
May you like
He whispered one word.
"Your mother."
