Chapter 6 - The Last Order
Rachel stared at the screen.
Mercer's hands were bound.
Cole stood behind her.
"Where are you?" Rachel demanded.
Cole smiled.
"Still giving orders after being shot. James, you raised an impressive daughter."
James stepped toward the screen.
"You want me."
"I already had you for twenty-two years."
"What do you want?"
"Rachel."
Thomas moved beside her.
"No."
Cole heard him.
"Thomas. Still trying to protect her."
Rachel said, "Tell me where."
James grabbed her arm.
"No."
She pulled free.
"He'll kill Mercer."
"He'll kill you too."
"Then help me make sure he doesn't."
Cole provided coordinates.
An abandoned naval communications facility forty minutes away.
Cross refused to let Rachel go alone.
So they made Cole believe she would.
A tracker went into her boot.
A transmitter beneath her collar.
James gave her one final piece of information.
"Cole believes loyalty is stronger than fear."
Rachel looked at him.
"Is it?"
"Sometimes."
"And his weakness?"
James answered without hesitation.
"He thinks everyone has a price."
Rachel arrived at the facility just before sunset.
Cole waited inside.
Mercer sat nearby.
Pike stood behind her.
The traitor.
Rachel entered with empty hands.
"You came."
"You expected me."
"I expected James."
"Then you don't understand my family."
Cole laughed.
Rachel continued.
"You spent twenty-two years buying people. Promotions. Money. Protection."
"That's how institutions work."
"No. That's how corruption works."
Cole's expression hardened.
"You think you're different?"
"I know I am."
He placed a folder on the table.
"Sign."
Rachel opened it.
A confession.
It blamed James, Thomas, and Mercer for the entire procurement network.
In exchange, Rachel and Linda would supposedly be protected.
Rachel looked at him.
"You really think I'll sign this?"
"I think you'll sign when I explain what happens otherwise."
Pike pressed the weapon against Mercer's head.
Rachel didn't move.
"You're forgetting something."
"What?"
"My stepfather shot me yesterday."
Cole frowned.
Rachel smiled faintly.
"I've had a difficult week."
Mercer almost smiled.
Cole slammed his hand against the table.
"Sign it."
"No."
Pike cocked the weapon.
Rachel looked at Mercer.
Mercer remained perfectly calm.
Then she said:
"Commander Bennett."
Rachel straightened instinctively.
Mercer continued.
"Your first responsibility is to the truth."
Cole turned toward her.
"Enough."
Mercer looked at Rachel.
"That's an order."
Rachel tore the confession in half.
Cole raised his gun.
The windows shattered.
Cross's team entered.
Pike fired.
Mercer knocked his arm aside.
Rachel tackled Cole.
Pain ripped through her wound, but she held on.
Thomas rushed through another entrance with James.
Agents overwhelmed Pike.
Cole reached for his weapon.
James kicked it away.
For the first time in twenty-two years, Nathan Cole had nowhere to run.
Cross handcuffed him.
"It's over."
Cole laughed.
"You think I'm Shepherd?"
Everyone stopped.
James's face changed.
Cole looked directly at Rachel.
"I worked for Shepherd."
Rachel felt cold.
"Who is he?"
Cole smiled.
"You've been standing beside him since yesterday."
Then the lights died.
A single gunshot cracked through the room.
Emergency lights came on.
Cole lay on the floor.
Dead.
Cross turned.
Everyone still held position.
Everyone except one person.
Thomas stared toward an open side door.
"James?"
Rachel turned.
Her father was gone.
On the floor where he had been standing was his old Navy ring.
And beneath it was a note.
Rachel picked it up.
Three words.
I'M SORRY, RACHEL.
May you like
Then her phone rang.
Her father's name appeared on the screen.
