Chapter 10 - REBECCA
Sarah recognized her sister’s breathing before she saw her face.
A controlled inhale.
A faint catch on the exhale from an old rib injury.
Rebecca had suffered it during a training fall at twenty-six. Sarah used to tease her about the tiny whistle it created when she ran in cold air.
The emergency lights returned.
Rebecca stood ten feet away.
She was thinner than Sarah remembered, her dark hair cut to her jaw. A black civilian jacket covered body armor. A suppressed pistol rested in both hands.
The muzzle pointed at Mercer.
Sarah shifted between them.
Rebecca’s expression changed.
Not softened.
Changed.
“You still do that,” she said.
“Do what?”
“Put yourself between everyone else and the consequences.”
Mercer kept his weapon down but ready.
“Lieutenant Commander Rebecca Mitchell?”
“That name died in Monterey.”
Vale groaned behind the cabinet.
Rebecca’s eyes moved toward him.
“He was warned not to talk.”
Sarah understood.
“You shot him.”
“I stopped him from giving you a false name.”
“What name was he going to give?”
Rebecca looked at the storage drive lying near the wall.
“Pick it up.”
“No.”
“Sarah.”
“You have been alive for three years. You let me bury you.”
Pain flashed in Rebecca’s eyes, quickly concealed.
“You buried a ring.”
“I buried my sister.”
“You buried the version of me that followed orders.”
The corridor alarm pulsed overhead.
Mercer spoke.
“Whatever grievance you have, this base is under attack. Civilians and service members are at risk.”
Rebecca glanced at him.
“This base has been under attack for five years. You simply never noticed.”
“Then explain it.”
“You would not believe me.”
“Try.”
Rebecca kept the weapon steady.
“The officer in the video runs a classified continuity program. He moves equipment, personnel, and weapons through Navy facilities without standard oversight. Calder Point is one of seven transfer nodes.”
Sarah stared at her.
“What kind of continuity program?”
“One designed to survive the collapse of civilian command.”
Mercer’s voice sharpened.
“That is sedition.”
Rebecca smiled without warmth.
“That depends on who writes the history.”
Sarah’s fingers tightened around the edge of the cabinet.
“Why the filtration units?”
“The underground sections must remain habitable if the surface base is sealed.”
“For whom?”
Rebecca did not answer.
Jake, Marcus, and Noah stood farther down the corridor under guard. All three were listening.
Sarah stepped closer to her sister.
“Was Teresa Thompson taken?”
“Yes.”
Jake’s face crumpled.
“Where is she?”
Rebecca’s gaze found him.
“Your mother accepted money to provide personal information about recruits. She did not know what it would be used for. When she tried to stop, they detained her.”
Jake shook his head.
“My mom wouldn’t do that.”
“She was behind on her mortgage. You complained about it to the man you believed was Ethan.”
Jake’s anger dissolved into shame.
“Is she alive?”
“For now.”
Sarah looked at Rebecca.
“Take us to her.”
“I can’t.”
“Won’t.”
“Can’t. Her location changes every six hours.”
“Who controls the transfers?”
Rebecca’s grip tightened.
“The admiral.”
Mercer asked, “Which admiral?”
Rebecca ignored him.
Sarah watched her sister’s face.
“You came for the drive.”
“Yes.”
“Because the dossier is on it.”
“Part of it.”
“And the rest?”
“In a physical file Adrian hid before Monterey.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
Sarah almost laughed.
Three years of grief, a hidden base network, stolen equipment, and a dead officer alive somewhere beyond the walls—and Rebecca still expected obedience without trust.
“You expect me to hand you the only proof I have.”
“I expect you to understand that opening the remaining folders will alert the admiral.”
“The first folder already did.”
Rebecca’s eyes flickered.
Sarah saw it.
“You didn’t know I opened it.”
“No.”
“Then someone else shut down the command center.”
Rebecca glanced toward the ceiling.
The implication settled over them.
A third faction was inside Calder Point.
Mercer’s radio crackled back to life.
“Captain, we have armed personnel entering through the western gate. Their credentials identify them as Naval Criminal Investigative Service.”
Mercer answered. “Were they requested?”
“No, sir.”
Rebecca’s face changed.
“Do not let them reach this level.”
“Why?” Mercer asked.
“Because they are not NCIS.”
A blast door began descending at the end of the corridor.
Rebecca fired into its control box.
The door stopped halfway.
“Move,” she said.
Sarah did not.
Rebecca’s voice broke for the first time.
“The man leading them is Admiral Conrad Hale.”
Mercer stared at her.
“Vice Chairman Hale?”
Rebecca shook her head.
“Not anymore.”
Footsteps echoed from beyond the half-lowered door.
A polished pair of black shoes stopped on the other side.
A four-star collar came into view.
May you like
Then a man’s voice filled the corridor.
“Commander Mitchell, step away from the traitor you call your sister.”
