Chapter 14 - WHAT NATHAN KNEWDaniel couldn't move.
Nathan was alive.
Again.
Another impossible twist.
Sarah covered her mouth.
Eli ran forward.
“Dad!”
Nathan's face broke.
“My boy.”
Daniel rushed to him and cut the restraints.
Nathan nearly collapsed.
“You're alive.”
“Barely.”
“You were shot.”
“It wasn't a real bullet.”
Daniel stopped.
“What?”
Nathan showed him the blood packet under his shirt.
“It was staged.”
Daniel stared at the door.
“Then who shot you?”
“Someone I trusted.”
“Martin?”
Nathan shook his head.
“No.”
A monitor flickered.
Chief Martin appeared.
“You finally opened it.”
Daniel turned.
“Where are you?”
Martin smiled.
“Everywhere.”
The screens changed.
Security cameras appeared.
Airport.
Police headquarters.
City streets.
Homes.
Hospitals.
Thousands of feeds.
Daniel stared.
“This thing was watching everyone.”
Martin corrected him.
“Not everyone.”
He looked toward Eli.
“Only the ones who mattered.”
Nathan stepped toward the terminal.
“That is exactly why you failed.”
Martin laughed.
“You think exposing us destroys the network?”
“No.”
Nathan shook his head.
“It destroys the reason people obeyed you.”
Martin's face hardened.
“You have five minutes.”
“For what?”
“The archive purge.”
Daniel looked at Nathan.
“Can we stop it?”
Nathan nodded.
“But only Eli can unlock the evidence.”
Eli stepped forward.
“How?”
Nathan crouched beside him.
“Remember the game.”
Eli's eyes narrowed.
“The numbers.”
“Yes.”
“Seven, two, nine, four?”
Nathan shook his head.
“Not numbers.”
“What then?”
“Words.”
Eli closed his eyes.
“The game Mom played.”
He whispered:
“Blue.”
Pause.
“Gate.”
“Seven.”
“Runway.”
“Home.”
The system accepted the sequence.
A green indicator flashed.
IDENTITY VERIFIED.
Martin's expression disappeared from the screens.
Instead, thousands of documents began downloading.
Names.
Dates.
Photographs.
Bank records.
Transport manifests.
Witness files.
Every hidden piece of the network.
Daniel stared.
“We got them.”
Nathan shook his head.
“No.”
“What?”
“They know we've opened it.”
The lights turned red.
A warning appeared:
PHYSICAL PURGE INITIATED.
The server room doors locked.
The floor began vibrating.
Water rushed into the lower facility.
Daniel looked at Nathan.
“What are they doing?”
Nathan answered:
“Flooding the archive.”
“How long?”
“Three minutes.”
Daniel grabbed the portable drives.
“Then we move.”
Rex barked.
The dog ran to the far wall.
There was another door.
Daniel opened it.
A narrow escape tunnel.
Everyone followed.
Then Nathan stopped.
“Daniel.”
“What?”
“You need to know something.”
Daniel turned.
Nathan looked at Rex.
“Your father didn't die sixteen years ago.”
Daniel's face went blank.
“What did you say?”
Nathan whispered:
“He vanished.”
“Why?”
“Because he was the first person to discover the Director.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“Who was the Director?”
Nathan swallowed.
Before he could answer, a gunshot echoed from the tunnel.
Nathan collapsed.
Daniel caught him.
The lights flickered.
A man's voice came from the darkness.
“Ask me.”
Daniel raised his weapon.
The figure stepped forward.
May you like
And Daniel recognized him.
His father.
