Chapter 4 - Two Survivors and One Lie
Elena moved first.
She grabbed Reeves's wrist.
“Where's the drive?”
“Elena—”
“Where?”
Crawford stepped toward them.
Reeves twisted free but did not run.
“I secured it.”
“With whom?”
“No one.”
“Then show me.”
His silence answered her.
Ellis received another transmission.
“General Mercer is conscious. Michael Hayes is requesting Elena Ward come alone.”
Reeves laughed once.
“Of course he is.”
Elena stared at him.
“You said Michael was hunting you.”
“He is.”
“And Michael says you attacked Mercer.”
“He's lying.”
“One of you is.”
Crawford said, “Possibly both.”
Elena looked at him.
“For once, Admiral, you're useful.”
He almost objected, then decided not to.
They moved toward the loading dock.
Elena walked beside Reeves.
“You're not leaving my sight.”
“Fair.”
“What happened after Nightglass?”
Reeves stared ahead.
“I woke up in Germany under another name.”
“Who was there?”
“Mercer.”
“He told you everyone died?”
“Yes.”
“And you believed him?”
“For eleven years.”
“What changed?”
“I found Michael.”
“How?”
“He found me.”
Elena waited.
Reeves continued.
“He said Mercer had betrayed us. Said Crawford's office ordered the ambush and Mercer cleaned up the survivors.”
“Did you believe him?”
“At first.”
“What changed?”
“Michael started killing people.”
Elena stopped walking.
“Who?”
“Anyone linked to Nightglass. Contractors. Intelligence staff. Two retired officers.”
“Why?”
“He called it justice.”
“Why didn't you stop him?”
“I tried.”
“And?”
“He vanished.”
Elena resumed walking.
At the bottom of the stairwell, armed security waited.
A medic stood beside Mercer.
Blood covered the General's collar, but the wound was superficial.
A bullet had grazed his shoulder.
Beside him stood Michael Hayes.
Elena stopped.
He looked older.
Of course he did.
They both did.
But she recognized the way he stood.
Weight slightly forward.
Left hand loose.
Eyes constantly mapping exits.
Michael saw her.
His face broke.
“Elena.”
She felt seventeen years collapse.
For a moment she wasn't in a loading dock.
She was twenty-six again.
Night vision goggles.
Dust.
Michael whispering over comms.
Angel, breathe.
She forced herself back.
“Don't.”
His expression fell.
“You thought I was dead.”
“So did you.”
“No.”
That answer cut deeper.
“You knew I survived?”
“Yes.”
“For how long?”
“Fourteen years.”
She walked toward him.
Reeves warned, “Elena.”
She ignored him.
Michael stood still.
She stopped inches away.
“Fourteen years.”
“Yes.”
“And you never contacted me.”
“I couldn't.”
She slapped him.
Hard.
The sound echoed across concrete.
Nobody moved.
Michael accepted it.
“You earned another one,” he said.
She nearly hit him again.
Instead she whispered, “Why?”
“Because Mercer threatened to expose your location if I came near you.”
Elena turned toward the General.
Mercer looked exhausted.
“I protected you.”
“Stop calling it that.”
“You had a husband. A life.”
“You decided I couldn't handle the truth?”
“I decided you deserved to survive it.”
Michael pointed at Reeves.
“And he made sure none of us could.”
Reeves stepped forward.
“You're still doing this?”
“Tell her about Prague.”
Reeves stopped.
Elena looked at him.
“What happened in Prague?”
Michael answered.
“Reeves met with Blue Meridian executives.”
Reeves shook his head.
“I infiltrated them.”
“You took money.”
“To build evidence.”
“You killed Samuel Ortega.”
“He pulled a gun.”
“Samuel was an investigator.”
“He was compromised.”
Michael laughed bitterly.
“You hear him? Everyone who dies around Daniel becomes compromised.”
Reeves moved closer.
“And everyone you murder becomes guilty.”
Elena stepped between them.
“Enough.”
She looked at Mercer.
“Start talking.”
Mercer took a breath.
“Blue Meridian was a defense contractor. Officially, transportation and logistics. In reality, a faction inside the company was diverting weapons.”
“Who ran the faction?”
“We never proved it.”
“Crawford?”
Mercer glanced at the Admiral.
“No.”
Crawford looked surprised.
Mercer continued.
“James's office received your report, but I found no evidence he sent the redirect order.”
Crawford folded his arms.
“You might have mentioned that earlier.”
“I didn't know whom I could trust.”
“Apparently your solution was nobody.”
Mercer looked at Elena.
“The Nightglass ambush exposed a leak at a level higher than procurement intelligence.”
“How high?”
“I still don't know.”
Michael stepped forward.
“He does.”
Mercer stared at him.
“You've spent seventeen years blaming the wrong people.”
“And you've spent seventeen years protecting the person responsible.”
Mercer shook his head.
“Michael—”
“Tell her about Director Voss.”
The name landed.
Crawford reacted.
Elena noticed.
“Who is Voss?”
Crawford answered reluctantly.
“Eleanor Voss. Former deputy national security coordinator.”
“Former?”
“Retired twelve years ago.”
Michael laughed.
“No. She disappeared twelve years ago.”
Mercer looked angry now.
“That accusation was never proven.”
“She signed the Blue Meridian exemptions.”
“Under emergency wartime authority.”
“She owned shares through a shell company.”
Mercer went silent.
Elena looked between them.
“You knew?”
“I suspected.”
“When?”
“After Nightglass.”
“You knew enough to hide survivors.”
“I knew enough to fear someone powerful.”
Michael stepped toward Elena.
“Mercer gave us new lives, but he also gave Voss time to erase everything.”
Mercer snapped, “And what would you have done? Marched seven injured operators into Congress with classified evidence while half the intelligence network hunting them was compromised?”
“I would have fought.”
“You would have died.”
Michael smiled coldly.
“Some of us did anyway.”
Elena looked at Reeves.
“The drive.”
He shook his head.
“Elena.”
“Give it to me.”
“It isn't safe.”
“Neither are you.”
Michael said, “He doesn't have it.”
Everyone turned.
Reeves's face hardened.
Michael smiled.
“I took it.”
Elena stared.
“When?”
“When he came through the loading dock ten minutes ago.”
Reeves cursed.
“You—”
Michael produced the tiny drive.
Security raised weapons.
Elena held out her hand.
“Give it to me.”
Michael looked at her.
“You don't know what's on this.”
“I know enough.”
“No. You don't.”
“Then tell me.”
He glanced at Mercer.
“There is one file Reeves didn't open.”
Reeves looked confused.
“What file?”
Michael handed Elena the drive.
“Your husband's.”
Her breathing stopped.
“David?”
“Yes.”
Elena felt the world tilt.
“My husband had nothing to do with Nightglass.”
Michael's eyes filled with something close to pity.
“That isn't true.”
She grabbed his jacket.
“Do not use him.”
“Elena—”
“He died five years ago.”
“I know.”
“He was a high-school history teacher.”
“No.”
She released him.
Michael continued quietly.
“David Ward worked counterintelligence before you met him.”
Elena shook her head.
“No.”
“He was assigned to monitor you after relocation.”
“No.”
“He was supposed to report if your memories returned.”
“Stop.”
“He fell in love with you.”
“STOP.”
Michael did.
Elena turned away.
Images came uninvited.
David burning pancakes.
David fixing the porch railing.
David holding her after nightmares.
David sitting through chemotherapy.
David telling her, days before he died, There are things I wish I'd been brave enough to tell you.
She had thought he meant fear.
Regret.
Death.
Not this.
Mercer spoke softly.
“David asked me to release him from the assignment two years after he met you.”
Elena turned.
“You knew him?”
“Yes.”
“All those years?”
“Yes.”
She walked toward Mercer.
He did not move.
“You came to my husband's funeral.”
“I know.”
“You stood beside me.”
“I know.”
“And you said nothing.”
“I promised David.”
Elena's eyes burned.
“Everyone keeps making promises about my life without asking me.”
No one answered.
Then Ellis received a message.
“Sir.”
Crawford turned.
“What?”
“We have a security breach upstairs.”
“Another one?”
Ellis looked at Elena.
“A woman entered using executive clearance.”
“Name?”
He swallowed.
“Eleanor Voss.”
Mercer went pale.
Michael drew a pistol.
Security instantly aimed at him.
Elena looked toward the elevators.
A bell sounded.
The freight elevator doors began to open.
Mercer whispered, “She can't be here.”
Elena tightened her fingers around the memory drive.
A pair of black shoes appeared behind the widening doors.
May you like
Then a woman's voice came from inside.
“Angel, I think it's time you finally learned why your husband was really chosen for you.”
