Chapter 14: The General
“Evacuate!””
Price’s voice echoed through the vault.
Technicians disconnected drives while military police swept the corridor.
I stayed in front of the screen.
“Dad, shut it down.””
“I’m trying.””
“You built this?””
“No. Your grandfather did.””
“My grandfather has been dead twenty years.””
My father’s face tightened.
“That’s what Rebecca believes.””
I turned toward Mom.
She stared at the screen.
“No.””
My father whispered, “Arthur Mercer is alive.””
My mother stepped backward.
“I buried him.””
“You buried a body.””
“David…”
“You never saw his face after the explosion.””
Her expression told me he was right.
My maternal grandfather.
General Arthur Mercer.
Founder of the original network.
The man whose funeral I vaguely remembered from childhood.
The General.
Not Keane.
Not William.
Not my mother.
A dead man who had never died.
Price shouted from the servers.
“We have an external connection!””
My father looked away from his camera.
“He’s here.””
“Arthur?””
“Yes.””
“Where?””
Before he answered, the screen went black.
Gunfire erupted above us.
My mother grabbed my arm.
“Behind me.””
“No.””
“Audrey!””
“I’m commanding this operation.””
“You’re my daughter.””
“And I’m not sixteen anymore.””
We moved into the corridor.
Military police held the stairwell.
Price received a radio message.
“Three armed suspects detained. One escaped toward the east tunnel.””
“Description?””
“Elderly male. Gray hair.””
Mom closed her eyes.
“Father.””
We followed the tunnel.
At the far end stood an underground loading bay.
A black SUV waited with its engine running.
Sarah Whitmore sat against a pillar.
Alive.
Her hands were bound.
Lieutenant Colonel Harris stood beside her holding a pistol.
“Stop!””
Harris turned.
Price raised his weapon.
“Drop it.””
Harris laughed nervously.
“You have no idea what you opened.””
Sarah shouted, “He’s heading for the aircraft!””
Harris grabbed her.
Price moved.
Harris fired.
The shot struck concrete.
Military police returned fire.
Harris collapsed, wounded in the shoulder.
Sarah crawled away.
I ran to her.
“Audrey.””
She was crying.
“I’m sorry.””
“For what?””
“Your schedule. The photographs. I gave them everything.””
“Why?””
“They had my brother.””
Price cut her restraints.
“Where is Arthur Mercer?””
Sarah pointed toward the tunnel.
“Private airfield.””
My mother was already running.
Outside, rain had begun.
We reached the airfield as a small jet prepared for departure.
A man stood beside the stairs.
Old.
Tall.
Straight-backed.
He wore a dark overcoat.
No uniform.
He didn’t need one.
My mother stopped twenty feet away.
“Father.””
The old man smiled.
“Rebecca.””
My skin crawled.
Arthur Mercer looked at me.
“Audrey.””
“You don’t get to say my name.””
He smiled.
“You have spirit.””
“You threatened my baby.””
“I protected a legacy.””
“My daughter is not your legacy.””
His smile disappeared.
“Everything you have exists because of this family.””
“No.””
I touched my command insignia.
“I earned this.””
His eyes moved toward it.
“So did your husband believe.””
“Grant believed rank meant ownership.””
“And you believe rank means virtue?””
“No.””
I stepped closer.
“It means responsibility.””
Arthur looked almost disappointed.
“You could control Sentinel.””
“I’m going to destroy it.””
“You think your government will thank you?””
“I don’t care.””
“You should.””
He opened his coat.
Not a weapon.
A small drive.
“Every secret. Every payment. Every officer who accepted favors.
Every politician who looked away. Every contractor who profited.””
Price raised his weapon.
“Put it down.””
Arthur ignored him.
“This is power, Audrey.””
“No.””
I looked at the drive.
“That’s evidence.””
For the first time, Arthur looked angry.
My father emerged from behind the hangar.
“Step away from her.””
My breath caught.
He was real.
Not a screen.
Not a voice.
My father stood twenty yards away.
Arthur laughed.
“David.””
My father raised a pistol.
“This ends tonight.””
Arthur slowly reached into his coat again.
“Don’t!”” Mom shouted.
Everything happened at once.
Arthur pulled something free.
My father fired.
Arthur fell.
The object slid across the wet pavement.
Not a gun.
A remote detonator.
Its red light was blinking.
Price grabbed it.
“Bomb squad!””
Arthur coughed.
Blood darkened his shirt.
He looked at me.
“You think you won?””
I knelt several feet away.
“No.””
His breathing weakened.
“You don’t even know what your husband did.””
I froze.
“What?””
Arthur smiled.
“The banquet wasn’t Grant’s failure.””
My stomach turned.
“It was the signal.””
“What signal?””
Arthur’s eyes drifted toward my belly.
“The final operation began the moment he put his hands on you.””
Then his eyes closed.
Price shouted for a medic.
I stood slowly.
My father looked horrified.
“Final operation?””
Sarah suddenly gasped behind us.
“Oh God.””
She had recovered Harris’s phone.
On its screen was a countdown.
Twenty-three minutes.
May you like
Below it were two words:
*MATERNITY WING.*
