Chapter 5 - The Man in the HallwayThe gunshot echoed through the archive.
I dropped instinctively.
General Hale drew his sidearm.
Chase shoved my father behind a concrete pillar.
Another shot struck the metal doorway.
Sparks flew.
Someone screamed outside.
“Stay down!”
The emergency lights flickered red.
General Hale moved toward the corridor.
I grabbed his sleeve.
“No.”
He looked at me.
“Why?”
“The shooter wants us moving.”
“How do you know?”
“Because the archive doors opened at the same time.”
He stared at me for half a second.
Then nodded.
“Everyone stays here.”
Footsteps approached.
Slow.
Measured.
Not panicked.
The steps stopped outside the room.
Silence.
Then a voice.
“General Hale?”
Male.
Calm.
Professional.
Hale raised his weapon.
“Identify yourself.”
“Colonel Pierce.”
General Hale's expression changed.
I knew that name.
Colonel Adrian Pierce.
Former intelligence officer.
He had signed the original Night Lantern debrief.
And six years later, he had disappeared from active service.
Hale opened the door slightly.
Pierce stood in the hallway.
Unarmed.
Hands visible.
“General.”
Hale didn't lower his weapon.
“Where's the shooter?”
“Gone.”
“Where?”
“East stairwell.”
Hale glanced at me.
Pierce followed his gaze.
His eyes landed on me.
He stared for a long moment.
“Captain Ellis.”
“Colonel.”
He looked almost surprised.
“You're still carrying it.”
I froze.
“Carrying what?”
Pierce's expression didn't change.
“The promise.”
General Hale stepped between us.
“What did you mean?”
Pierce ignored him.
“Have you told them?”
“No.”
“Good.”
Hale grabbed his shoulder.
“Start talking.”
Pierce looked at him.
“Your son didn't die because of the enemy.”
Hale's face became stone.
“I know.”
“No.”
Pierce shook his head.
“You don't.”
I felt cold.
“What happened to Evan?”
Pierce turned toward me.
“The helicopter didn't crash.”
“What?”
“The helicopter was brought down.”
“By whom?”
Pierce's answer came softly.
“Us.”
Nobody moved.
My father whispered,
“Why?”
Pierce looked at him.
“Because if the extraction succeeded, the drive would have reached Washington.”
Hale's jaw tightened.
“What drive?”
Pierce looked at me.
“You know.”
I remembered the small black case Evan had carried.
The case I had thought was destroyed.
I looked at General Hale.
“You said the drive was lost.”
Pierce smiled faintly.
“The drive was never lost.”
My stomach dropped.
“Where is it?”
“That's the question.”
A sharp metallic clang sounded somewhere above us.
Pierce looked toward the ceiling.
“We don't have much time.”
General Hale kept his gun raised.
“Who ordered the helicopter strike?”
Pierce hesitated.
Then he said:
“Your commanding officer.”
Hale's expression cracked.
“You're lying.”
“Ask yourself why the official report says the helicopter went down because of enemy fire.”
He looked at me.
“Then ask why the burn pattern shows the missile came from your own side.”
My breath caught.
I had always remembered the helicopter exploding.
I had always thought the enemy had shot it down.
But there had been one detail that never fit.
The smoke had been white.
Not black.
A white smoke column.
Internal munitions fire.
I had ignored it.
Because there had been no time to think.
General Hale lowered his weapon.
Not because he trusted Pierce.
Because he had suddenly realized something.
“Who else knows?”
Pierce looked at Chase.
“Your stepbrother.”
Everyone turned.
Chase's face went blank.
“Me?”
Pierce nodded.
“He was there when the missile was fired.”
I stared at Chase.
“You saw it?”
His voice shook.
“Yes.”
“Then why did you say the enemy did it?”
“I was ordered to.”
“By whom?”
He didn't answer.
I stepped closer.
“Chase.”
He closed his eyes.
“I was told that if I talked, you would be blamed.”
My stomach twisted.
“By who?”
He whispered a name.
I didn't recognize it.
General Hale did.
His face went pale.
“General William Rourke.”
Former theater commander.
Retired four years earlier.
Decorated.
Respected.
And one of the men who had personally signed Chase's commendation.
My father's voice trembled.
“But why would a general destroy his own helicopter?”
Pierce answered.
“Because Evan's drive contained financial records.”
“Financial records?”
“Payments.”
“To whom?”
“Foreign intelligence.”
Silence.
“And the source inside the military?” I asked.
Pierce looked directly at me.
“The source was not one person.”
My heart sank.
“How many?”
“Seven.”
A terrible realization hit me.
“Seven people.”
Pierce nodded.
“Seven people involved.”
I thought of the photograph.
Seven soldiers standing beside the burning helicopter.
Six men.
One woman.
Pierce looked at the photograph.
“Exactly.”
The room went silent.
The seven people in the photograph were not random members of the rescue team.
They were seven people who had known the truth.
One by one, they had disappeared from public records.
One had retired.
Two had died.
One had vanished.
One had gone into intelligence work.
And one…
I looked at Chase.
One had become my family's hero.
Pierce's voice dropped.
“And one of the seven is still lying.”
Before anyone could speak, his phone rang.
He answered.
“Hello?”
A pause.
His face changed.
May you like
Then he looked at me.
“They found your house.”
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