Chapter 5 - The Betrayal Inside the Command
The first person I looked at was Reed.
I hated myself for it.
He noticed.
"Fair."
Sarah shook her head.
"Not Walker."
Reed blinked.
"Nice to see you too."
Her eyes moved to Mercer.
Mercer didn't move.
"Sarah."
"Thomas."
Twelve years of history existed in the way they said each other's names.
I looked between them.
"If it isn't Reed—"
"It's not Mercer either."
Mercer exhaled.
I frowned.
"Then who?"
Sarah looked upward.
"The person listening."
Cross laughed through the speakers.
"Still dramatic, Sarah."
"Still hiding behind cameras, Nathan."
A side door opened.
Special Agent Mara Vance walked in.
My stomach dropped.
She carried a pistol.
Not pointed at us.
Yet.
Mercer stared.
"Mara."
She smiled.
"Admiral."
I remembered the evidence box.
The file.
Her convenient arrival.
Her answers.
Her access.
"Your ONI credentials."
"Real."
"The evidence?"
"Mostly real."
"Mostly?"
Vance stepped closer.
"That's what makes good deception work."
Reed shifted slightly.
She raised the pistol toward him.
"Don't."
He stopped.
I looked at Sarah.
"She betrayed you?"
Sarah nodded.
"Twelve years ago."
Vance's smile faded.
"I followed orders."
"You sold our location."
"I preserved an operation."
"You got two people killed."
"They knew the risks."
Sarah laughed bitterly.
"That's what cowards say when other people pay the price."
Cross's voice interrupted.
"Enough."
Vance touched an earpiece.
"Sir."
That one word told me everything.
Cross wasn't merely someone she cooperated with.
He commanded her.
I looked at Mercer.
"Your credential."
"Cloned," he said.
Vance nodded.
"Years ago."
"How?"
"Your security habits are predictable."
Mercer almost smiled.
"Apparently."
I turned toward Sarah.
"Why did you stay hidden?"
Her face changed.
"Because Vance survived the original investigation."
"You knew?"
"Not immediately."
"When did you find out?"
"Six years ago."
"Why didn't you come home?"
She looked toward the screen showing our mother.
"Because Cross threatened both of you."
My anger cracked.
"You could have told us."
"No."
"You don't get to decide that."
"I know."
"Do you?"
My voice rose.
"I buried you, Sarah."
Her eyes filled.
"I know."
"Dad died believing you were gone."
"No."
I froze.
"What?"
Sarah took one step closer.
"Dad knew."
Everything inside me stopped.
"He knew you were alive?"
"Yes."
"For how long?"
"Until he died."
I laughed once.
It sounded broken.
"So everyone knew except me and Mom."
"Mom knew too."
That hurt almost beyond words.
"My mother knew?"
"Part of it."
I turned toward the monitor.
Mom sat watching us.
Her face told me Sarah was telling the truth.
I felt suddenly alone.
Not because my family had abandoned me.
Because they had protected me so completely that they had erased my right to choose.
Cross laughed softly.
"Beautiful, isn't it? Families built on classified lies."
"Shut up," I said.
"Your father said the same thing."
I looked toward the camera.
"You killed him."
Cross didn't answer.
Sarah did.
"Yes."
My breath caught.
"How?"
"Poison."
Mercer closed his eyes.
"He suspected."
I turned.
"You knew that too?"
"I couldn't prove it."
"You couldn't prove anything!"
My voice echoed.
"Sarah's crash. Cross. Dad. Vance. Every answer is 'we couldn't prove it.'"
Mercer took it.
He didn't defend himself.
Maybe because I was right.
Vance raised the weapon.
"This reunion is over."
Sarah looked at her.
"What does Cross want?"
"You know."
"Say it."
Vance pointed toward Mercer.
"Task Group Seventeen archive."
Mercer shook his head.
"It was destroyed."
"No."
Cross's voice came through.
"Peter Harlow kept a private copy."
My father.
Of course.
"Where?" I asked.
Sarah looked at me.
That scared me.
"You know."
"No, I don't."
"Yes."
I shook my head.
"Liz, Dad gave you his house."
"So?"
"He left everything else to Mom."
"So?"
"Because the archive is there."
My childhood home.
The place where we celebrated birthdays.
Where Dad taught me algebra at the kitchen table.
Where Sarah's room stayed untouched for years.
"Where?"
Sarah whispered:
"Under the garage."
I remembered a locked storage space.
Dad always called it a foundation access area.
I had never questioned it.
Cross said, "You will retrieve the archive for me."
"And if I don't?"
The monitor zoomed in on Mom.
Vance's weapon moved toward Sarah.
My skin turned cold.
"You lose them both."
I stared at Vance.
"Even if I agree, you won't let us walk out."
"Correct."
Cross chuckled.
At least he wasn't pretending.
I looked at Reed.
He stared at the floor.
His right boot tapped once.
Then twice.
Pause.
Three times.
I recognized it.
A field count.
Three guards outside the west door.
He had heard them.
Mercer's hand moved slightly.
He recognized it too.
Sarah did not react.
Good.
Vance stepped toward me.
"Decision."
I lifted my hands.
"You win."
Sarah stared at me.
"Liz—"
"I said he wins."
I looked directly at the camera.
"I'll get the archive."
Cross went quiet.
"Smart."
"No."
I smiled slightly.
"Practical."
Vance approached with restraints.
That was her mistake.
When she got within reach, Reed moved.
He hit her wrist.
The pistol fired into the ceiling.
Mercer tackled her.
Sarah kicked the weapon away.
I ran for the side wall.
Three guards came through the west door exactly as Reed predicted.
The warehouse exploded into movement.
Vance shouted.
Reed drove the first guard into shelving.
Sarah pulled me behind a steel column.
Mercer fought for Vance's weapon.
A second shot.
Then darkness.
All lights died.
Cross cursed through the speakers.
That told me the blackout wasn't his.
Outside, gunfire cracked.
Vance shouted:
"Who the hell is out there?"
A voice answered through the building's emergency system.
My mother's voice.
"I am."
Emergency lights flickered on.
The monitor showed her chair.
Empty.
Sarah stared.
"Mom?"
A steel side door opened.
Our sixty-eight-year-old mother stood there holding a security access card.
Behind her were six armed federal agents.
She looked at Sarah.
Then me.
"You girls took long enough."
For one absurd second, I almost laughed.
Then Cross screamed through the speakers:
"Kill the feed!"
The warehouse monitors went black.
Vance broke free and ran.
Reed chased her.
I reached Mom.
She pulled me into her arms.
"Are you hurt?"
"I've had better lunches."
She touched the bruise on my face.
Her expression sharpened.
"Who did that?"
Reed shouted from across the warehouse:
"Long story!"
Mom looked at him.
"Was it him?"
"Mom."
"Later."
Sarah approached slowly.
Our mother's face changed.
Twelve years.
No words could carry it.
She held out her arms.
Sarah collapsed into them.
I turned away.
Not because I didn't want to see it.
Because I did.
Too much.
Mercer appeared beside me.
"Cross is moving."
"Where?"
"Private dock."
I wiped my eyes.
"Then we're not done."
We ran.
Outside, rain had started.
Cross's vehicle tore toward the dock.
Reed was fifty yards ahead.
Vance ran beside Cross.
A speedboat waited at the water.
We were too far away.
Then Sarah appeared behind us carrying a rifle taken from one of the guards.
She aimed.
Mercer said, "Don't."
She fired.
Not at Cross.
At the boat engine.
The round shattered something metallic.
Smoke erupted.
Cross stopped.
Turned.
For the first time, I saw him in person.
Sixty.
Silver hair.
Perfect posture.
A man who looked like every official portrait of respectable power.
He raised a pistol.
Not at Sarah.
At me.
Reed shouted.
Cross fired.
Someone slammed into me.
I hit the ground.
A second shot followed.
Then silence.
I opened my eyes.
Reed lay beside me.
Blood spreading across his uniform.
"Walker!"
He looked down.
Then at me.
His face went pale.
"Guess we're even."
His eyes closed.
At the dock, Cross disappeared through another door.
Sarah shouted for a medic.
I pressed both hands against Reed's wound.
"Stay with me."
His breathing became shallow.
Mercer ran after Cross.
My mother screamed my name.
Then Reed opened his eyes one more time.
He grabbed my sleeve.
"Don't let Mercer go alone."
"Why?"
He coughed.
"Because Cross isn't running."
My blood went cold.
May you like
Reed tightened his fingers.
"He's going to the command bunker."
