Chapter 3 - The Shot That Changed Everything
I turned toward Brock.
"Who did you shoot?"
His gun lowered.
Nobody spoke.
Rook stood between us.
Finally Brock said, "Daniel."
The word hit harder than any lie.
I slapped him.
He didn't stop me.
Dr. Price gasped.
I stepped back.
"You shot my brother?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because he told me to."
I almost laughed.
"That's your explanation?"
"It's the truth."
"Then start talking."
Outside, Mercer remained silent.
Listening.
Brock holstered his weapon.
"Daniel survived Black Harbor. He discovered the operation had been compromised before the ambush and changed the extraction route. Rook got him out."
"Why declare him dead?"
"Because whoever compromised the mission controlled the recovery team."
"Mercer?"
"We suspected him."
"You suspected?"
"We needed proof."
Brock pointed toward the photograph.
"Daniel contacted me three months later. He was wounded, hiding in Germany. I helped him disappear."
"And then?"
"For almost two years, we followed the network."
"What network?"
"Private weapons shipments. Stolen military technology. Intelligence sold through contractors."
"And Mercer ran it?"
"Daniel thought Mercer protected someone higher."
I looked toward the door.
Mercer said nothing.
"Then Romania happened," Brock continued. "We arranged a meeting with a source. It was a trap."
His voice became quieter.
"Daniel was hit."
My hands shook.
"You shot him."
"After he was hit."
"Why?"
"Because the men coming for us needed to believe he was dead."
I stared.
Brock swallowed.
"He had body armor. I shot him where he told me to."
"That is insane."
"It worked."
"Then where is he?"
Brock looked at Rook.
"I don't know."
He explained that Daniel had escaped through a service tunnel while Brock drew pursuit away.
Rook had refused to leave Daniel.
Later Brock found the dog alone near a river, badly injured.
No Daniel.
No body.
Nothing.
"Why rename Rook?"
"Someone tried to poison him during transport. I realized his chip was being tracked."
"So you erased him."
"I hid him."
"Then why bring him here to be euthanized?"
Brock's face twisted.
"I wasn't going to euthanize him."
He pointed at the paperwork.
"I needed a civilian veterinarian to discover the forged identity independently."
Dr. Price stared.
"You used my clinic."
"Yes."
"Why Pine Ridge?"
Brock looked at me.
"Because Maya worked here."
My anger stalled.
"You planned this?"
"I needed Rook to tell me whether Daniel still trusted me."
"The sign."
He nodded.
"I didn't know what it was."
"And now?"
"Rook didn't choose me."
I remembered Daniel's words.
Ask Rook where home is.
The dog hadn't chosen Brock.
He had led us to Daniel's evidence.
Evidence hidden in my workplace.
Which meant Daniel had been here.
I looked at Dr. Price.
"How long has that cabinet been there?"
"Years."
"Who installed it?"
Her face changed.
"I don't know."
She checked an old maintenance sticker.
Four years earlier.
Two weeks after Daniel's reported death.
Someone had hidden that photograph while I was still mourning him.
A knock came from the door.
Mercer.
"You've heard his story. Now hear mine."
"No."
"Maya, Brock left out one important detail."
Brock sighed.
"He always does this."
"What detail?"
Mercer answered through the door.
"Daniel wasn't running from me."
Brock raised his head.
"He was running from Brock."
"That's a lie."
"Then show her the Romanian footage."
Brock froze.
I saw it.
"What footage?"
"Maya—"
"What footage?"
Mercer said, "There's video of the night Daniel vanished."
I looked at Brock.
"Do you have it?"
He didn't answer.
I grabbed the flash drive.
"Is it here?"
"Parts of it."
Dr. Price inserted the drive into an offline laptop.
Folders appeared.
BLACK HARBOR.
ROMANIA.
K9.
CALDER.
I opened ROMANIA.
One video.
The footage was grainy security-camera video from an industrial warehouse.
Daniel appeared.
Older.
Bearded.
Alive.
My breath disappeared.
Rook walked beside him.
Then Brock entered frame.
They argued.
No audio.
Daniel shoved Brock.
Brock drew his weapon.
Daniel raised his hands.
Then Brock fired.
Daniel collapsed.
I stopped the video.
"You said he told you."
"He did."
"He had his hands up."
"It was part of the plan."
"How convenient."
"Keep watching."
I did.
Brock knelt beside Daniel.
Seconds later armed men entered.
Brock stepped away.
One checked Daniel's pulse.
Then the footage cut.
"Where is the rest?"
"Deleted."
"By whom?"
"I don't know."
Mercer spoke through the door.
"I have it."
Brock cursed.
Mercer slid a phone beneath the door.
The next section began.
Daniel lay motionless.
The armed men left.
Then he opened his eyes.
Relief hit me.
He stood.
Brock returned.
They spoke.
Then Daniel handed Brock something.
A small case.
Rook suddenly reacted to something outside frame.
Daniel turned.
The footage ended.
"That's all?" I asked.
Mercer answered, "No."
Another file appeared.
Different camera.
Daniel ran through a corridor.
A masked man followed.
Rook attacked the pursuer.
Daniel escaped through a door.
The masked man removed his face covering.
Colonel Mercer.
I stared toward the door.
"You were there."
"Yes."
"You chased him."
"I was trying to reach him."
"With armed men?"
"They weren't mine."
Brock laughed.
"Of course."
Mercer sounded tired.
"Maya, your brother trusted the wrong person. So did I."
"Who?"
Silence.
Then Mercer said, "Open Daniel's personnel file."
Brock stiffened.
"Don't."
I opened it.
Most pages were normal.
Until the final section.
A sealed investigative report.
Daniel had filed a complaint before Black Harbor.
The subject's name was redacted.
But a handwritten note remained.
IF I DISAPPEAR, FOLLOW PROJECT ORPHEUS.
"What is Orpheus?"
Brock shook his head.
"Never heard of it."
Mercer said nothing.
I searched the drive.
One folder appeared.
ORPHEUS.
Password protected.
I tried everything.
Nothing.
Rook began pacing.
Then he stopped beside Brock's backpack.
He sniffed it.
Growled.
Brock frowned.
"What?"
Rook scratched the bag.
Brock opened it.
Inside were ordinary supplies.
Then Rook shoved his nose into a seam.
Brock cut the lining.
A tiny tracking device fell out.
His expression changed.
"I didn't put that there."
Mercer laughed softly outside.
"Now you're learning."
A red light blinked.
Someone had tracked Brock to Pine Ridge.
Not Mercer.
Because Mercer looked genuinely surprised when Brock slid the device beneath the door.
"That's not mine."
"Sure."
"I'm serious."
Then the clinic lights died.
Complete darkness.
Kelly screamed from the hallway.
Emergency lights flickered red.
Rook barked.
Once.
Twice.
Then he sprinted toward the rear corridor.
I followed.
"Maya!" Brock shouted.
Rook stopped outside the surgical storage room.
The door stood open.
Someone had entered the clinic from the back.
On the floor lay Kelly's phone.
Its screen was cracked.
A new message glowed.
One photograph.
It showed me standing inside Exam Room Two.
Taken less than five minutes earlier.
Beneath it:
ROOK FOUND HER. BEGIN CLEANUP.
Footsteps sounded inside the dark storage room.
Brock raised his gun.
The footsteps stopped.
Then a man's voice whispered:
"Maya?"
I knew that voice.
May you like
I hadn't heard it in four years.
My brother was standing somewhere in the darkness.
