Chapter 5 - The Second Name
The flashlight beam moved across Hale's face.
Then Voss's.
Then Jade's.
Rebecca stood at the tunnel entrance.
She wasn't alone.
Captain Reeves was behind her.
His pistol was pressed against her side.
"Nobody moves," Reeves said.
For a moment nobody understood.
Then Voss did.
"Oh."
Reeves smiled.
"Always hated you."
Hale's face hardened.
"Captain."
"General."
Jade stared at him.
"You were the leak?"
Reeves laughed.
"Eight years ago? I was a lieutenant."
"That's not an answer."
"No."
He pushed Rebecca forward.
She stumbled.
Mercer moved.
Reeves raised the pistol.
"Try it."
Mercer stopped.
Jade looked at Rebecca.
"Why are you here?"
Rebecca's eyes filled.
"Your apartment."
Jade's face changed.
"The capsule."
Rebecca slowly opened her hand.
A small metal cylinder rested in her palm.
Reeves smiled.
"Key three."
Voss whispered, "How did you—"
"I've known where she hid it for years."
Jade stared at him.
"Then why wait?"
"Because nobody could use it without you."
His eyes went to her scar.
"And Voss."
Jade looked at Hale.
"Second name."
Reeves smiled.
"Wouldn't you like to know?"
Hale stepped forward.
Reeves pressed the weapon harder against Rebecca.
"Stay."
Hale stopped.
"You won't leave this tunnel."
"I don't need to."
Reeves nodded toward the terminal.
"I just need the archive open."
Voss said, "Why?"
Reeves laughed.
"Because the people who paid Calder want every copy destroyed."
Jade's eyes sharpened.
"Calder works for you?"
"No."
"For them."
"Who's them?"
Reeves smiled.
"Names are expensive."
Hale said, "You're talking yourself into life imprisonment."
"Only if you leave alive."
The lights came back.
Not all of them.
Enough.
Voss's hand was near his coat.
Reeves saw it.
"Don't."
Voss raised both hands.
Jade sat very still in the wheelchair.
Her rifle rested across her lap.
Reeves focused on Hale and Voss.
That was his mistake.
Jade's right hand slipped under the sling.
Her thumb touched the safety.
Mercer saw it.
He shifted one inch left.
Blocking Reeves's view.
Reeves said, "Rebecca, key."
She didn't move.
"Now."
She looked at Jade.
For eight years, Rebecca had lied.
Protected.
Hidden.
Failed.
Loved.
All of it sat in her face.
Then she threw the capsule.
Not to Reeves.
To Jade.
Everything happened at once.
Reeves fired.
Mercer tackled Rebecca.
Jade caught the capsule against her chest.
Voss drew.
Hale moved.
I heard two shots.
Reeves fell backward against the tunnel wall.
His pistol dropped.
For half a second, nobody moved.
Then Rebecca screamed.
Mercer rolled off her.
Blood covered his shoulder.
"Not mine," he said.
Reeves was alive.
Barely.
One bullet had hit his thigh.
The other struck the wall.
Voss stood over him with his pistol aimed.
"Who is the second general?"
Reeves smiled through the pain.
"Too late."
Hale grabbed him by the vest.
"Name."
Reeves looked at Jade.
"He raised you."
Jade froze.
"What?"
"Ask Hale."
Jade turned.
Hale's face told her enough.
"Who?"
Hale didn't answer.
Jade shouted.
"Who?"
"Your father."
Silence.
Jade's mouth opened.
Nothing came out.
Rebecca began sobbing.
Hale continued.
"General Peter Monroe."
Jade stared.
"My father died when I was twelve."
"No."
That was Rebecca.
Jade turned toward her.
"No?"
Rebecca shook her head.
"He disappeared."
Jade looked sick.
"Why did you tell me he died?"
"I didn't. Your mother did."
"My mother died too."
Rebecca's face crumpled.
"Jade."
Jade's eyes widened.
"No."
Nobody spoke.
"Don't."
Rebecca whispered, "Your mother is alive."
Jade gripped the wheelchair arms.
Everything she believed was collapsing too quickly to process.
Her brother had been alive.
Her father wasn't dead.
Her mother wasn't dead.
Red Hollow had been deliberate.
Her entire life had become a file someone else had written.
Voss said, "We need the archive."
Jade looked at him.
For once, he sounded gentle.
"Answers first," he said. "Pain later."
She breathed.
Then nodded.
Rebecca handed her the capsule.
Jade placed it in the terminal.
The screen lit.
KEY THREE ACCEPTED.
ARCHIVE READY.
A second prompt appeared.
FULL DECRYPTION REQUIRES LIVING AUTHORITY.
Jade looked at Voss.
He shook his head.
"Not me."
Hale said, "Calder."
"No," Voss replied. "Archive authority was assigned before Calder took command."
Jade stared at the screen.
A name appeared.
PETER MONROE.
Her father.
Alive.
Somewhere.
Reeves began laughing from the floor.
"Now you understand."
Jade turned.
"Where is he?"
Reeves smiled.
"Close."
Hale crouched beside him.
"How close?"
"Ask Calder."
The radio crackled.
Calder.
"Marcus."
Hale grabbed the radio.
"Where is Peter?"
Calder laughed.
"Finally asking the right question."
Jade took the radio.
"Where is my father?"
Silence.
Then Calder said, "At the place you became Sparrow."
Red Hollow.
Jade closed her eyes.
Eight years.
The valley.
The blood.
The seven numbered bodies.
Her brother.
Hale said, "We are not going."
Jade opened her eyes.
"Yes, we are."
"Calder wants you there."
"I know."
"He needs you."
"I know."
"Then why give him exactly what he wants?"
"Because he has my father."
Hale shook his head.
"You don't know that."
Jade looked at him.
"No. I don't know anything anymore."
That silenced him.
Mercer said, "Then we go learn."
Collins nodded.
"So do I."
Jade looked at him.
"You don't owe me anything."
He glanced away.
"I know."
Then he looked back.
"But I owe myself the chance not to be the guy who laughed at the wrong person and stayed that guy forever."
Jade almost smiled.
"Fair."
Reeves groaned.
Voss tied his hands.
Hale contacted military police through the restored radio.
The engineers were moved south.
Reeves would go with them.
Eli remained under guard in the medical vehicle.
Before we left, he asked to see Jade.
She sat beside his stretcher.
"I remembered something," he said.
"What?"
"Number Seven gave me a message before they took me."
Jade leaned closer.
"He said if you ever learned about Peter, don't trust the first thing he tells you."
"Why?"
Eli's eyes filled.
"Because Nathan believed your father ordered Red Hollow."
Jade went still.
"That's what Reeves said."
"Reeves lies."
"Did Nathan?"
Eli shook his head.
"Never to you."
Jade stood.
"Rest."
"Sparrow."
She paused.
Eli reached for her hand.
"Your brother loved you."
Jade swallowed.
"He never told me."
"He couldn't."
"He could have."
"He thought secrecy kept you safe."
Jade looked toward Rebecca.
"Everybody did."
Eli had no answer.
We left for Red Hollow before sunset.
Voss drove.
Hale beside him.
Mercer sat with Jade.
Rebecca insisted on coming again.
Hale argued.
She said, "If Peter is there, I need to see him."
Jade looked at her.
"You knew him?"
Rebecca nodded.
"Better than you think."
The road narrowed.
Mountains closed around us.
Jade became quieter with every mile.
At one point, she touched the scar on her wrist.
Mercer noticed.
"You okay?"
"No."
"Good answer."
She looked at him.
He shrugged.
"People always say they're fine when they're clearly not. Drives me crazy."
Jade smiled faintly.
"Then no. I'm not fine."
"Want me to sing?"
"No."
"Probably wise."
Darkness came.
Red Hollow appeared just after 2000.
The valley looked empty.
Ruined stone structures.
Old blast marks.
Overgrown roads.
Jade stared through the windshield.
Her breathing changed.
Mercer placed a hand on her shoulder.
She didn't pull away.
We stopped near an abandoned command shelter.
A light glowed inside.
One light.
Hale raised his weapon.
Jade lifted hers.
Voss whispered, "Calder."
We approached.
The door stood open.
Inside was a table.
Two chairs.
And an old man sitting alone.
Gray hair.
Thin face.
Hands folded.
Jade stopped in the doorway.
The man looked at her.
His eyes filled with tears.
"Jade."
She couldn't breathe.
He stood slowly.
"My daughter."
Jade raised the rifle.
"Don't call me that."
The old man stopped.
"I understand."
"No. You don't."
"I know what you were told."
"You know nothing about what I was told."
Peter Monroe looked at Hale.
Then Rebecca.
Then Voss.
"All three of you."
Jade stared.
"What?"
Peter's face hardened.
"They're the reason you survived."
Jade lowered the rifle slightly.
May you like
Peter looked at her.
"And I'm the reason Red Hollow happened."
