Chapter 14 - THE FINAL COMMANDGunfire tore through the boathouse.
My father dropped behind a wooden crate.
Cole returned fire.
Titan moved to me.
Shaw stood in the doorway surrounded by armed men.
“You've made this unnecessarily difficult.”
I aimed at him.
“You killed Marcus.”
“No.”
“You manipulated the tree.”
“Yes.”
“You kidnapped Sophie.”
“No.”
“Then where is she?”
Shaw smiled.
“With someone you know.”
The words barely left his mouth before a phone rang.
My phone.
Unknown number.
I answered.
Sophie was crying.
“Mason?”
“Where are you?”
“I don't know.”
A man's voice spoke.
“Tell Titan to come home.”
I looked at Shaw.
He wasn't holding the phone.
He wasn't even looking at me.
Then I realized the truth.
Someone else was controlling everything.
Shaw wasn't the final enemy.
He was just another piece.
I lowered the phone.
“What do you want?”
The voice answered.
“The drive.”
“Take it.”
“And Titan.”
“No.”
“Then Sophie dies.”
Titan looked at me.
His eyes were steady.
The same eyes I had trusted for five years.
I remembered the park.
The table.
The falling branch.
Titan hadn't been crushing Sophie.
He had been protecting her.
He had known the danger before I did.
He had refused my command because he knew obeying me would kill her.
That realization hit me harder than any weapon.
Sometimes loyalty meant refusing the wrong order.
I looked at Titan.
Then I gave him a command.
“Stay.”
He stayed.
Shaw stepped forward.
“You've always been predictable.”
“No.”
I threw the microdrive toward him.
He caught it.
At that exact second, Titan lunged.
He slammed into Shaw.
The drive flew across the room.
Cole tackled one guard.
My father tackled another.
Chaos erupted.
I grabbed the drive.
Titan pinned Shaw.
Then stopped.
He looked at me.
Waiting.
I looked toward the doorway.
A little shadow appeared.
Sophie.
She ran toward me.
I grabbed her.
“How did you get here?”
She cried into my chest.
“The man let me go.”
“What man?”
She pointed outside.
A figure stood in the trees.
Then disappeared.
Titan suddenly pulled free and ran after him.
I chased.
We reached the shoreline.
A small boat was already moving away.
Inside was a man.
Gray jacket.
Dark hat.
He turned.
I saw his face.
It wasn't my father.
It wasn't Shaw.
It wasn't Kane.
It was Marcus.
My legs nearly gave out.
Impossible.
But Titan barked.
Not in recognition.
In fury.
Marcus raised something in his hand.
The microdrive's matching key.
Then he shouted across the water:
“You were never supposed to find this!”
The boat vanished into the fog.
Sophie grabbed my hand.
“Mason?”
I stared at the empty lake.
“What?”
She pointed down.
Something was lying in the mud.
A badge.
Marcus's badge.
May you like
And on the back were three scratched words.
HE ISN'T MARCUS.
