Chapter 9 - THE SHOT THAT CHANGED EVERYTHINGThe gun fired.
Margaret fell.
Lisa screamed.
Daniel tackled Ryan.
The weapon skidded across the floor.
Sarah ran toward Margaret.
"She's alive!"
Lisa froze.
The bullet had struck Margaret's shoulder.
Blood spread across her jacket.
Ryan stood over Daniel.
"Listen to me."
Daniel hit him.
"You shot her!"
"I missed on purpose."
Daniel stopped.
Ryan pointed toward the ceiling.
"Look."
A red laser was moving through the tunnel.
Another team had arrived.
Professional.
Silent.
Ryan grabbed Lisa.
"Run."
They sprinted through a service corridor.
Sarah followed.
Daniel stayed behind to help Margaret.
Lisa shouted:
"Daniel!"
"I'll find you!"
The corridor opened into the old military communications center.
Ryan slammed the door.
Seconds later gunfire erupted outside.
Lisa turned.
"Who are they?"
"Helena's people."
"Why are they after Margaret?"
"Because Margaret still has the original master key."
Lisa stared.
"Then why did you shoot her?"
"To make them believe she was dead."
"So you could buy us time."
Ryan nodded.
Lisa looked at him.
"You could have told me."
"I tried."
"No."
She stepped closer.
"You lied."
He looked down.
"I know."
"For seven years."
"I know."
"You let me believe our marriage was real."
"It became real."
Lisa stared.
"That's not enough."
Ryan accepted it.
Then the building shook.
A distant explosion.
Sarah opened the hard drive.
"We need to get to Northstar."
Lisa turned.
"Why?"
"The system will lock itself in twelve minutes."
"Can we stop it?"
Sarah nodded.
"Only you can."
Lisa looked at Ryan.
"How?"
He answered:
"Your biometric identity."
She closed her eyes.
Everything was finally connecting.
The hidden room.
Her father.
Margaret.
The marriage.
Daniel.
The company.
The Arch.
She had been walking toward this moment her entire life.
Even when she thought she was making ordinary choices.
Even when she believed her life belonged to her.
It had been designed.
She hated that realization.
But she also understood something else.
If they expected her to obey the design, they had made a mistake.
She was a cybersecurity engineer.
She had spent her life breaking systems.
Now she intended to break the one built around her.
They reached Northstar at 4:19 a.m.
The building was surrounded by unmarked vehicles.
Lisa stopped.
"How did they get inside?"
Sarah looked at her.
"Because someone gave them access."
Lisa thought of the board.
Then the security logs.
Then her missing credentials.
"Who?"
Sarah handed her the hard drive.
"The person who has been signing everything with Margaret Vale's dead credentials."
Lisa stared.
"Helena?"
Sarah shook her head.
"No."
She opened the last file.
A face appeared.
Lisa stopped breathing.
The photograph showed a woman in her fifties.
Blonde.
Elegant.
A scar above one eyebrow.
Her name:
EVELYN BENNETT.
Lisa blinked.
"What?"
Sarah zoomed in.
There was a second photograph.
Same woman.
Twenty-seven years earlier.
Then a third.
Forty years earlier.
Same face.
Lisa whispered:
"That's impossible."
Sarah nodded.
"That's what I thought."
Ryan looked at the screen.
"What does it mean?"
Sarah whispered:
"She isn't sixty-eight."
Lisa stared.
"Then how old is she?"
Sarah looked terrified.
"At least ninety-three."
The Northstar doors opened.
A woman stood inside.
Evelyn.
Smiling.
Behind her were fifty people in military uniforms.
Dead soldiers' names were displayed on giant screens above them.
Evelyn lifted the ceremonial baton.
"This family reunion has taken far too long."
She looked at Lisa.
May you like
"Come inside."
Then the doors locked.
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