Chapter 4 - Someone Wanted Her Humiliated
Evelyn closed the folder.
Cole moved beside the door.
No weapon.
No radio.
No backup.
The handle turned fully.
The door opened.
Samuel Vance stood there.
“Move.”
Evelyn didn’t.
“How did you get through the signal block?”
“Found the jammer.”
“You knew where it was?”
“No.”
Cole stared at him.
Evelyn watched Vance’s face.
“You followed me.”
“Yes.”
“I told you not to.”
“You also knew I wouldn’t listen.”
Fair.
Vance noticed the folder.
“What did you find?”
Evelyn didn’t hand it over.
“Who currently commands Aegis?”
Vance’s expression changed.
That was enough.
“You knew.”
“I suspected.”
“Say the name.”
“Evelyn—”
“Say it.”
Vance looked at Cole.
Then back at her.
“General Thomas Calder.”
Cole whispered a curse.
Evelyn felt something inside her harden.
General Thomas Calder had been her mentor for six years.
He had helped rebuild her career after Harlow.
He had recommended her promotion.
He had sat with her mother during surgery.
He knew where Evelyn lived.
He knew who she loved.
He knew what frightened her.
“He replaced Rourke?” she asked.
“We believe so.”
“When?”
“Five years ago.”
“Why didn’t Daniel tell me?”
“Because Daniel doesn’t know who he can trust.”
“Apparently neither do I.”
Vance accepted that.
Cole leaned against the wall.
“My father worked for these people.”
“Yes,” Vance said.
“Is he alive?”
“I don’t know.”
Cole grabbed his jacket.
“Don’t lie to me.”
Evelyn stepped between them.
“Cole.”
He released Vance.
Barely.
Evelyn opened the folder again.
Pages contained names.
Operations.
Financial transfers.
False casualty reports.
She photographed each page.
Then she reached a section marked:
MERCER EVENT
The bar address appeared.
Tonight’s date.
Her blood went cold.
The attack had been planned in detail.
Arrival: 20:00.
Provocation: 20:12–20:20.
Physical escalation: 20:17.
Public recognition: 20:18.
Emotional destabilization.
Memory trigger.
Daniel response probability: 78%.
Evelyn looked at Cole.
“You were never the target.”
“No.”
“Neither was I.”
Vance understood.
“Daniel.”
“They wanted him to see what happened.”
Cole frowned.
“How?”
Evelyn pointed upward.
A small camera sat above the doorway.
“The bar was being watched.”
Walter’s invitation had brought Evelyn.
Cole’s assault created spectacle.
The photograph triggered recognition.
Then someone leaked the incident into whatever channels Daniel monitored.
A perfect trap.
“Daniel contacted me because he thought I was in danger,” Evelyn said.
Vance nodded.
“And now whoever runs Aegis knows he’s alive.”
A phone rang.
Not Evelyn’s.
Cole checked his pocket.
His phone had somehow remained there.
Unknown caller.
Evelyn said, “Speaker.”
Cole answered.
“Hello?”
A man spoke.
“Travis.”
Cole’s face changed.
“Dad?”
Silence.
Then:
“You were supposed to follow instructions.”
Cole nearly dropped the phone.
“My father is dead.”
The voice laughed softly.
“So was Daniel.”
Cole stared at Evelyn.
“Where are you?”
“You disappointed me tonight.”
Cole’s shock turned into anger.
“You paid me to attack her?”
“I gave you an opportunity to prove you could follow a simple order.”
“You knew who she was.”
“Of course.”
Cole’s hands trembled.
“You used me.”
“You’ve been useful your entire life.”
The cruelty of it silenced him.
Evelyn stepped closer to the phone.
“William.”
A pause.
“Colonel Mercer.”
“So you are alive.”
“For the moment.”
“Where’s Daniel?”
“You always were impatient.”
“Where?”
“Closer than you think.”
The call ended.
Cole stood motionless.
Evelyn recognized the expression.
Betrayal didn’t always arrive dramatically.
Sometimes it simply removed the floor beneath everything a person believed.
“Cole.”
He looked at her.
“Your father made his choices. You make yours.”
He nodded slowly.
Vance checked his watch.
“We need to leave.”
They took the Aegis folder.
Outside, Vance’s two men were waiting.
No resistance.
Too easy.
Evelyn hated easy.
Back at the bar, Walter had cleared everyone except Ray and three Marines who had served under Evelyn years earlier.
Walter looked at her shoulder.
“You all right?”
“I’ve had worse.”
He looked toward Cole.
Cole couldn’t meet his eyes.
Evelyn placed the Aegis folder on the bar.
“We have a problem.”
Ray locked the doors.
Evelyn explained only what they needed to know.
Rourke.
Aegis.
False deaths.
Calder.
Daniel.
Nobody interrupted.
When she finished, Walter removed his glasses.
“So what now?”
“We find Daniel before Calder does.”
Vance shook his head.
“Daniel has stayed hidden eight years.”
“Not anymore.”
Evelyn showed him her phone.
A new message had arrived during the drive.
Not anonymous.
This time it came from a secure contact code she recognized.
Daniel’s old emergency identifier.
EVIE. I REMEMBER WHERE WE PUT THE ORIGINAL HARLOW FILE.
Then:
CALDER DOESN’T KNOW.
Then:
MEET ME WHERE SENTINEL BEGAN.
Evelyn knew the place.
Camp Redstone.
A training base closed after a fire seven years ago.
Walter looked at her.
“You’re going?”
“Yes.”
Vance said, “It could be another trap.”
“It probably is.”
“That doesn’t bother you?”
“It bothers me considerably.”
Cole stepped forward.
“I’m coming.”
“No.”
“My father is involved.”
“That’s why you’re not coming.”
“I can help.”
“You assaulted me two hours ago.”
Cole lowered his head.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“You don’t earn trust because you discovered someone lied to you.”
“I know.”
“You earn it slowly.”
He nodded.
Evelyn looked at him.
“But you can start now.”
Cole raised his eyes.
“Stay here. Protect Walter and Ray.”
It clearly wasn’t the assignment he wanted.
Which was precisely why she gave it.
“Yes, ma’am.”
At 1:30 a.m., Evelyn and Vance left.
Camp Redstone sat behind rusted fencing and pine trees.
They entered through a breach in the western perimeter.
The old headquarters building was partially burned.
Evelyn remembered training there before Sentinel officially existed.
Daniel had been twenty-seven.
She had been twenty-six.
They thought they knew everything.
Inside, dust covered the floors.
They reached the basement.
A single lamp was burning.
“Daniel?”
No response.
Evelyn saw a metal case on a table.
Her initials were scratched into it.
EM.
She remembered doing that.
Memory returned in fragments.
Daniel laughing.
Rourke entering unexpectedly.
A folder being hidden.
Evelyn opened the case.
Empty.
Vance swore.
Then Evelyn saw writing inside the lid.
Fresh.
HE GOT HERE FIRST.
A sound came from behind the wall.
Three knocks.
Pause.
Two knocks.
Pause.
Three knocks.
Evelyn froze.
Sentinel identification code.
She moved to the wall.
Found a concealed latch.
Pulled.
A narrow door opened.
Darkness beyond.
“Daniel?”
A weak voice answered.
“Evie?”
She entered.
A man was sitting against the wall.
Older.
Thinner.
Blood on his shirt.
But alive.
Daniel Cross looked up at her after eight years.
Evelyn dropped beside him.
“Daniel.”
His eyes filled.
“You came.”
“Who did this?”
He grabbed her wrist.
“Listen to me.”
“We need to get you out.”
“No.”
“Daniel—”
“Calder doesn’t command Aegis.”
Evelyn stopped.
“What?”
Daniel struggled to breathe.
“Rourke didn’t choose Calder.”
“But the succession file—”
“Fake.”
“Then who?”
Daniel looked terrified.
“That’s what I was trying to tell you.”
Footsteps sounded above them.
Many footsteps.
Vance raised his weapon.
Daniel tightened his grip on Evelyn.
“The person running Aegis knew you before Harlow.”
The basement door opened upstairs.
A familiar voice called down.
“Evelyn?”
May you like
She knew that voice.
And the last person she expected to hear was walking toward them.
