Chapter 12 - THE MOST IMPORTANT EVIDENCE
Gunfire erupted in darkness.
Ranger launched toward the nearest guard.
A man screamed.
I threw myself sideways, smashing the chair against the concrete until one plastic cuff snapped.
Emergency lights flickered red.
Mercer entered through the side door with Barrett behind him.
Barrett shouted, “Ranger!”
The dog ignored him.
He was protecting Emily.
Not me.
The choice almost broke my heart.
He remembered the child too.
Mercer shot the weapon from a guard’s hand.
I freed my other wrist and tackled Vale before he reached the table.
He struck me twice.
I drove my elbow into his throat.
Emily crawled beneath the table, still clutching the capsule.
“Rachel!” Mercer shouted.
I looked up.
Major Everett Cole stood on the upper catwalk with a rifle.
He fired.
Mercer shoved me aside.
The bullet tore through his shoulder.
He fell.
I grabbed Vale’s dropped pistol and fired toward the catwalk.
Cole disappeared behind the railing.
Barrett reached Mercer.
“You’re hit.”
“I know.”
I moved toward Emily.
She backed away, terrified.
“It’s okay.”
“No,” she whispered. “He made me open it before.”
“Open what?”
“The archive.”
Her hands shook around the capsule.
“It isn’t a key.”
“What is it?”
“A recorder.”
My breath stopped.
She pressed a seam along the titanium shell.
A tiny projection appeared on the floor.
Video footage.
Shah Dara.
My helmet camera.
I saw myself carrying Emily through smoke.
Ranger ran beside us.
Major Cole shouted behind me.
“Leave the child!”
I ignored him.
The footage jumped.
Inside the clinic, General Vale spoke with armed contractors.
Crates of military weapons filled the room.
Then Thomas Donovan appeared on screen.
My brother.
Alive.
He stood beside Vale months before his reported death.
Thomas said, “Rachel cannot know I’m here.”
Vale replied, “She’ll know when she joins you.”
The recording changed again.
Thomas sat alone before the camera.
His face was bruised.
“If Rachel finds this, tell her I failed to stop them.”
I dropped to my knees.
His voice continued.
“Emily Carter is the only child who survived the first trials. Protect her. The archive is stored in the Federal Medical Defense Network under Project Lighthouse.”
The image flickered.
Thomas leaned closer.
“Daniel Mercer is not the traitor. I ordered him to surrender the false drive. It bought me time.”
I looked toward Mercer.
He was conscious, one hand pressed to his bleeding shoulder.
His eyes met mine.
Thomas continued.
“The real evidence requires three witnesses: Rachel Donovan, Emily Carter, and the dog marked K9-R17.”
Ranger.
Vale had not stolen him because he remembered faces.
He was part of the key.
A biometric scent-identification record had been implanted in his service chip.
Barrett understood first.
“Ranger’s microchip.”
Emily nodded.
“It contains the final access code.”
Vale lunged from the floor.
He grabbed Emily by the hair and pressed a knife against her throat.
“Give me the capsule.”
Ranger growled.
Vale pulled her closer.
“One move and she dies.”
Then Major Cole’s voice echoed from the catwalk.
“No, Henry.”
Vale looked up.
May you like
Cole aimed his rifle directly at him.
“You were never leaving with the evidence.”
