Chapter 11: The Order I Never Gave
“No.”
The word came out of me before I could think.
“No. That's not me.”
Evelyn Shaw stood perfectly still, Noah crying in her arms.
“You recognize your own voice.”
“I recognize my voice.”
“Then you recognize the order.”
“I didn't give it.”
Ethan stepped toward me.
“I believe you.”
I looked at him.
His face was pale.
“You do?”
“Yes.”
Evelyn laughed.
“How touching.”
Daniel raised his weapon.
“Put the baby down.”
Evelyn didn't even look at him.
“You're still pretending your weapon matters.”
Daniel's eyes narrowed.
“Try me.”
Evelyn smiled.
Then the chamber doors slammed shut.
Every exit locked simultaneously.
Thomas looked around.
“She has control of the entire facility.”
Evelyn looked at him.
“You always were useful, Thomas.”
He flinched.
“You're supposed to be dead.”
“So is Charles.”
A cold silence followed.
Evelyn walked toward the center of the room.
Noah continued crying.
I couldn't take my eyes off him.
“Give me my son.”
“Not yet.”
“What do you want?”
“You.”
I laughed bitterly.
“Everyone wants me.”
Evelyn's expression became serious.
“Because you're the only person who can tell the world what happened.”
“I don't remember.”
“You will.”
She pointed toward the screen.
“That's why I brought you here.”
The screen turned on again.
Another recording appeared.
This time, it showed me sitting at a desk.
But something was wrong.
I was crying.
My hands were shaking.
Across from me sat Judge Malcolm Reed.
He leaned toward me.
“Say it again.”
My younger self shook her head.
“No.”
“Say it.”
“I won't.”
“You will.”
“I won't kill him.”
Reed slammed his fist onto the table.
“You're going to follow the order.”
My younger self looked terrified.
Then the recording changed.
A man entered the room.
Thomas.
But he looked much younger.
He placed a folder on the table.
My younger self opened it.
Inside was a photograph of Ethan.
Then another photograph.
A pregnant woman.
I stared at the screen.
“Who is she?”
Ethan looked confused.
Thomas whispered,
“My sister.”
I turned toward him.
“You had a sister?”
“Yes.”
“What happened to her?”
“She was killed during Black Compass.”
Evelyn interrupted.
“She was one of the witnesses.”
The recording continued.
Reed pointed at Ethan's photograph.
“If you don't sign, he dies.”
My younger self was sobbing.
“I'll sign.”
I stared at the screen.
The woman holding Noah looked at me.
“You didn't order the assassination.”
I turned toward her.
“What?”
“You were coerced.”
The room went silent.
Ethan stepped closer.
“Then why did you show her the fake recording?”
Evelyn smiled.
“To make her believe she was guilty.”
Thomas nodded.
“They altered the audio.”
I looked at him.
“How do you know?”
“Because I helped create the original.”
My heart sank.
“What was the original?”
Thomas looked at the screen.
“You refused to kill President Monroe.”
I stared at him.
“Then who did?”
He looked at Evelyn.
She answered.
“Black Compass.”
Daniel frowned.
“Who actually pulled the trigger?”
Evelyn looked at him.
“A man named Nathaniel Cross.”
Daniel's expression changed.
“Cross?”
“Yes.”
“That's impossible.”
“What?”
“He died fifteen years ago.”
Evelyn smiled.
“Apparently everyone important in this story has died more than once.”
I looked at Noah.
“Why does the trust need my son?”
Evelyn's face became serious.
“Because Noah carries something you don't.”
“What?”
“A genetic key.”
I frowned.
“That's ridiculous.”
“No.”
She pointed at Ethan.
“Charles's bloodline was used to create the original succession system.”
Then she pointed at Noah.
“He is the first child born after the trust was sealed.”
“What does that mean?”
“He can unlock the final archive.”
Thomas's face went pale.
“The Monroe file.”
Evelyn nodded.
I looked at them.
“What is the Monroe file?”
“The original assassination evidence.”
“Where?”
“Inside the Blackwood Trust.”
Daniel looked at me.
“Then that's what they've been fighting over.”
Evelyn nodded.
“Exactly.”
A sudden alarm sounded.
Evelyn looked toward the ceiling.
Her expression changed.
“They found us.”
“Who?”
“Reed.”
Thomas looked terrified.
“He can't be here.”
“He can.”
Daniel checked his weapon.
“How many?”
Evelyn looked at him.
“Enough.”
The chamber lights switched to red.
Then gunfire erupted outside.
Bullets tore through the metal doors.
Ethan pulled me behind a concrete barrier.
Daniel fired back.
Thomas grabbed a control panel.
“I can open an emergency exit.”
“Do it!”
“I need thirty seconds.”
“You have ten.”
The door began bending inward.
Someone was cutting through it.
Evelyn looked at me.
“Take Noah.”
“What?”
She stepped toward me.
For the first time, I saw something resembling regret in her eyes.
“I was supposed to deliver him.”
“To whom?”
She didn't answer.
“Take him.”
She handed Noah to me.
I pulled him against my chest.
His crying stopped almost instantly.
My son.
My baby.
I kissed his forehead.
“I have you.”
Then Evelyn turned toward the door.
“What are you doing?”
“Buying you time.”
“No.”
She looked back.
“You want the truth?”
“Yes.”
“You're not the target.”
I froze.
“What?”
She smiled.
“Neither are your children.”
“Then who is?”
She pointed at Ethan.
“Your husband.”
I looked at Ethan.
He stared at her.
“Why me?”
Evelyn's voice dropped.
“Because Charles never told you who your real mother was.”
Ethan's face went white.
“What?”
“You've spent your entire life believing Margaret was your mother.”
He shook his head.
“She is.”
“No.”
Evelyn looked at me.
“Margaret adopted him.”
Silence.
Ethan stepped backward.
“That isn't true.”
Evelyn continued.
“His biological mother was a Black Compass witness.”
Thomas whispered,
“Ethan was born inside the program.”
Ethan stared at him.
“No.”
“Your birth records were falsified.”
“Stop.”
“Your mother was killed because she knew the truth about Monroe.”
Ethan's breathing became ragged.
I moved toward him.
“Ethan.”
He looked at me.
“I don't know who I am.”
“You're my husband.”
“I don't even know if that's true.”
I grabbed his hand.
“It is.”
Then the door exploded.
Armed men stormed into the chamber.
Daniel fired.
Thomas ducked.
Evelyn disappeared into the smoke.
Someone grabbed me from behind.
I screamed.
Noah was ripped from my arms.
“NO!”
Ethan lunged toward us.
A gunshot exploded.
He fell.
Again.
I dropped beside him.
“Ethan!”
He wasn't moving.
Blood spread across his shirt.
I screamed his name.
Then someone whispered behind me.
“Don't worry.”
I turned.
Evelyn was standing there.
She was holding Noah.
But she wasn't looking at me.
She was looking at Ethan.
“He's alive.”
I stared at her.
“Then why did you shoot him?”
She shook her head.
“I didn't.”
She pointed toward the armed men.
“They did.”
Then she looked at me.
“And now they know something we didn't.”
“What?”
Evelyn's expression became grim.
“Ethan isn't just the heir to the Blackwood Trust.”
She glanced at the blood on his shirt.
“He's the last surviving witness to the Monroe assassination.”
The room fell silent.
Then Ethan's eyes opened.
He looked directly at me.
May you like
And whispered:
“Mara... I remember everything.”
