Chapter 13 - THE MEN WHO BUILT THE LIE
Vale stared up at Cole with disbelief.
“You work for me.”
Cole laughed.
“I survived you.”
The rifle remained trained on Vale.
Emily stood rigid beneath the knife.
Ranger’s body lowered toward the floor, waiting.
Mercer whispered, “Rachel, don’t.”
He knew what I was thinking.
Ranger knew too.
I tapped my thigh once.
Not twice.
A different signal.
Distract.
Ranger lunged left.
Vale turned instinctively.
Emily dropped.
Cole fired.
The bullet struck Vale’s arm.
The knife fell.
I crossed the distance and drove Vale to the floor.
Barrett pulled Emily behind cover.
Mercer raised his pistol toward the catwalk.
“Cole! Drop the weapon.”
Cole smiled.
“You still think this is about justice?”
He pressed a remote control.
The hangar doors locked.
Fuel alarms began flashing.
Explosives.
Vale laughed through the pain.
“He’ll burn us all.”
Cole backed toward the upper exit.
“I learned from the best.”
I picked up the capsule.
“Project Lighthouse goes public whether we live or not.”
Cole paused.
“You don’t have network access.”
Emily looked at the laptop.
“Yes, we do.”
Vale’s face changed.
She ran to the table and connected the capsule.
Barrett scanned Ranger’s microchip.
The laptop requested retinal confirmation.
I leaned toward the camera.
ACCESS STAGE ONE ACCEPTED.
Emily placed her thumb on the scanner.
ACCESS STAGE TWO ACCEPTED.
Barrett held Ranger close as the system read his chip.
ACCESS STAGE THREE ACCEPTED.
A progress bar appeared.
UPLOAD TO FEDERAL OVERSIGHT SERVERS: 4%.
Cole fired at the laptop.
Mercer returned fire.
The bullet shattered the light above Cole’s head.
He disappeared through the catwalk exit.
Vale kicked my legs from beneath me and ran toward a maintenance door.
I grabbed his injured arm.
He screamed.
“You destroyed my family,” I said.
His eyes filled with something almost like pity.
“No, Rachel. Your family built this.”
I froze.
“What?”
“Thomas was not investigating Project Lighthouse.”
Vale smiled through blood.
“He designed the first phase.”
The words hit harder than any weapon.
“You’re lying.”
“Ask Emily.”
I looked at her.
She stared at the floor.
My breath stopped.
“Emily?”
Her voice was barely audible.
“Thomas was one of the doctors.”
The upload reached 31%.
The fuel alarm grew louder.
Mercer grabbed my shoulder.
“We need to move.”
I couldn’t.
My brother had left a confession.
But maybe not the confession I wanted.
Vale pulled free and reached the maintenance door.
Ranger attacked his leg before he escaped.
Vale crashed to the floor.
Barrett restrained him.
The upload reached 47%.
Then the laptop screen changed.
REMOTE TERMINATION INITIATED.
Cole was wiping the archive.
Emily’s hands flew across the keyboard.
“I can’t stop it.”
“Can you reroute it?” I asked.
“To where?”
Mercer looked at the security camera above the hangar door.
“Public broadcast network.”
Emily stared at him.
“That would expose classified identities.”
“It would also make the evidence impossible to bury.”
The upload dropped from 47% to 42%.
Then 39%.
I looked at the video of Thomas frozen on screen.
A brother.
A doctor.
A possible architect of the nightmare.
I made the decision.
“Send everything.”
Emily pressed ENTER.
Every monitor inside Fort Talon lit up.
Project Lighthouse began broadcasting live.
Then a new video appeared.
May you like
Thomas Donovan sat beside General Vale.
And he was smiling.
