Chapter 9 - Warden
Rebecca Bennett had spent twenty-eight years waiting.
She blamed Claire.
She blamed Vale.
Most of all, she blamed Harbor Light.
Rebecca had been a young systems engineer on the project.
When Claire exposed Kessler, Rebecca helped copy the archive.
But during the explosion, Claire escaped with Elena.
Rebecca was trapped.
Kessler found her first.
He kept her working for years.
Eventually she escaped.
But by then she trusted no one.
"You manipulated Mercer," Elena said.
Rebecca nodded.
"I needed your scar exposed publicly."
"You could've contacted me."
"And you would've believed a stranger claiming your life was a classified conspiracy?"
Elena had no answer.
Rebecca wanted exposure.
Not revenge, she claimed.
But her methods had nearly gotten people killed.
Mercer stepped forward.
"You turned me into a weapon."
Rebecca looked at him.
"I gave your anger a direction. You chose what to do with it."
Mercer flinched.
Elena knew Rebecca was right about that much.
Mercer had to own the shove.
Rebecca handed Elena the final archive.
"Everything is here."
Elena didn't take it.
"Why me?"
"Because Claire chose silence. Marcus chose institutions. Margaret chose hiding. I chose revenge."
Rebecca's expression softened.
"You need to choose something better."
Elena finally accepted the drive.
Federal investigators arrived hours later.
Rebecca surrendered voluntarily.
Her evidence corroborated decades of crimes.
But the biggest surprise came from Mercer's DNA results.
Vale was not his father.
Mercer stared at the report.
"Then who is?"
Rourke answered.
"Thomas Kessler."
Mercer nearly dropped the paper.
Kessler had lied to him.
Manipulated him.
Used the suggestion that Vale was his father to destabilize everyone.
Vale looked almost disappointed.
Mercer noticed.
"Don't."
"Don't what?"
"Look relieved."
"I'm not."
Mercer swallowed.
"For about twelve hours, I thought maybe I had a father who wasn't a monster."
Vale said quietly, "Blood isn't the only thing that makes family."
Elena looked at him.
It was the first thing he'd said about family that didn't make her angry.
Then investigators found something else.
Kessler's files contained an order.
If arrested, activate a contingency.
The target was Claire Bennett.
Elena immediately called her.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
They raced to the safe house.
The door was open.
Vale entered first.
Empty.
A chair overturned.
Claire's phone lay on the floor.
Elena picked it up.
One message glowed on the screen.
COME TO THE PLACE WHERE YOUR SCAR BEGAN.
ALONE.
Elena looked at Vale.
He shook his head.
"No."
Elena checked the time.
The message had been sent eleven minutes earlier.
Then another arrived.
A photograph.
Claire was alive.
For now.
May you like
Underneath were four words.
BRING THE ORIGINAL ARCHIVE.
