Chapter 5 - My Sister's Name Was on the List
Gabriel positioned himself between his sister and Daniel.
Margaret Moretti stopped.
"What are you doing?"
"Don't move."
She stared at the gun in his hand.
"Gabriel?"
Elena moved closer to Daniel.
Cole shut the door.
Gabriel showed Margaret the tablet.
Her face changed.
Not guilt.
Fear.
"Where did you get this?"
"Isabel."
Margaret whispered her sister-in-law's name.
"You knew."
Margaret sat down.
"Not everything."
"Start talking."
Years earlier, Margaret had worked as a civilian analyst for a defense medical contractor.
Guardian recruited her to process data.
She believed it was research.
Then she found unexplained deaths.
Children.
Mothers.
Service families.
She tried to leave.
They threatened Gabriel.
Then Isabel discovered the program independently.
"Why is your name listed as director?"
"Because someone used my credentials."
Gabriel almost laughed bitterly.
"Everyone's credentials seem to be getting used tonight."
Margaret looked at Elena.
"They did it to her too."
Gabriel waited.
Margaret removed a necklace.
Inside was a tiny storage chip.
"I've kept this for six years."
"Why?"
"Because Isabel made me promise."
The chip contained payroll records.
Guardian payments.
Dr. Mercer.
Hospital administrators.
Private security contractors.
And one recurring authorization.
A.M.
Gabriel thought of his father.
Anthony Moretti.
Could he still be running Guardian?
Hale insisted no.
"Anthony tried to destroy it."
"Then why is he alive?"
"Because he went underground."
Gabriel looked at the photograph.
The address on the back belonged to a farmhouse outside Albany.
Daniel couldn't travel yet.
Gabriel refused to leave him.
But Elena surprised him.
"Go."
Gabriel looked at her.
"If your father knows how to stop this, find him."
"I won't leave Daniel."
"I'm here."
"So is my team."
"And they got through your team once."
That landed.
Elena leaned closer.
"They won't get through me."
Gabriel looked at the broken mop handle propped beside the wall.
For the first time that terrible night, he smiled.
"You really are stubborn."
"So I've been told."
Gabriel left Cole with Daniel and took Hale north.
The farmhouse stood isolated among trees.
No lights.
Gabriel approached cautiously.
The brass key opened the front door.
Inside were photographs.
Hundreds.
Guardian victims.
Investigators.
Doctors.
Children.
Gabriel found Daniel's picture on a wall.
Beside it was Elena.
He stared.
"Why is she here?"
Hale didn't know.
Then an elderly voice came from behind them.
"Because Elena Cruz was never supposed to survive Guardian either."
Gabriel turned.
An older man stood in the doorway.
Gray hair.
Thin face.
A scar along his jaw.
Gabriel hadn't seen him since childhood.
But he knew him instantly.
"Dad."
Anthony Moretti lowered his weapon.
"Hello, son."
Gabriel hit him.
One punch.
Anthony fell.
Hale didn't intervene.
Gabriel stood over his father.
"Thirty years."
Anthony wiped blood from his mouth.
"I deserved that."
"You let us bury an empty coffin."
"I was trying to keep you alive."
"You abandoned us."
"Yes."
Gabriel's anger shook him.
"My wife is dead."
Anthony's eyes lowered.
"I know."
"My son was poisoned."
"I know."
"And now you show up?"
Anthony looked at him.
"Because Guardian activated the final protocol."
"What protocol?"
Anthony walked toward the wall.
He pointed to Daniel's photograph.
"Your son has something they need."
"What?"
"Proof."
Gabriel frowned.
Anthony explained that Isabel had discovered Guardian's experimental treatments created a distinctive genetic marker.
Daniel carried it.
So had Mateo Cruz.
Living subjects could prove the program existed.
"But Mateo died," Gabriel said.
Anthony looked at Elena's photograph.
"No."
Gabriel froze.
"What?"
"Elena was told Mateo died."
Anthony opened a drawer.
He removed a recent photograph.
A man in his mid-twenties stood outside a medical facility.
Written beneath it:
MATEO CRUZ — SUBJECT 08 — ACTIVE.
Gabriel stared.
Elena's brother was alive.
Then his phone rang.
Elena.
Gabriel answered immediately.
But Elena wasn't speaking.
A man's voice came through.
"Colonel Moretti."
Gabriel recognized Dr. Mercer's voice from hospital recordings.
"We have your son."
Gabriel's world stopped.
Mercer continued.
May you like
"And Elena Cruz is coming with him."
Then the line went dead.
