Chapter 10 - THE MAN BEHIND THE GHOSTTwenty-nine seconds.
That was how long Mercer gave me.
Twenty-nine seconds to choose between a compromised archive that could endanger national security and the life of the man who had betrayed me.
The figure beside Ethan’s hospital bed held the syringe above his IV port.
Mercer began counting.
“Twenty-eight.”
Cross whispered, “We’re alerting hospital security.”
“Too slow.”
“Twenty-seven.”
Holloway spoke into the radio.
“Womack lockdown now.”
“Twenty-six.”
I stared at the monitor.
Something was wrong.
The hospital room number.
Ethan had gone to surgical recovery.
Not a regular room.
“What room is Ethan actually in?”
Cross checked.
“Post-op 6.”
I looked at the video again.
Mercer was bluffing.
Or using prerecorded footage.
“Twenty-two.”
I smiled.
Mercer stopped counting.
“You taught me better than this, Uncle Tom.”
Silence.
“The video is fake.”
The figure moved.
Mercer said, “Are you willing to bet his life?”
“Yes.”
I hit the keyboard.
The monitor went black.
For two seconds, nothing happened.
Then radio traffic exploded.
“Suspect detained in post-op corridor!”
Cross looked at me.
“Real operative.”
My stomach tightened.
So the room video was fake.
The threat wasn’t.
Mercer had positioned someone near Ethan and used false footage to control timing.
Smart.
But not enough.
Holloway turned.
“Operative had a syringe.”
“What was in it?”
“Unknown.”
I looked toward the dark relay facility.
“Mercer is here.”
Cross frowned.
“How do you know?”
“Because he needed real-time reactions.”
“He could be remote.”
“No. This place matters to him.”
My father had worked here.
Mercer had worked here.
Ghosts liked familiar rooms.
We split into teams.
I moved down an old concrete corridor toward the equipment vault.
The silver pin was not with me.
It was locked inside a mobile secure safe outside the facility.
Mercer didn’t know exactly where.
Hopefully.
The corridor ended at a steel door.
Open.
Inside, old radio equipment filled the room.
One man stood near the far wall.
Gray hair.
Tall.
Older than Patricia remembered.
Thomas Mercer.
Uncle Tom.
The man who taught me how to change a tire.
The man who attended my father’s funeral.
The man who might have caused it.
He held no visible weapon.
“Grace.”
I raised mine.
“Hands where I can see them.”
He lifted both hands.
“I’m glad you came.”
“You threatened my husband.”
“You’re leaving him anyway.”
Rage flashed through me.
“You don’t know anything about my marriage.”
“I know everything about your marriage.”
“That sentence is why you’re going to prison.”
Mercer smiled sadly.
“You still think this ends in courtrooms.”
“Usually does.”
“Your father believed that too.”
I stepped closer.
“Did you kill him?”
Mercer’s eyes changed.
Not guilt.
Pain.
“No.”
“Vane says you did.”
“Vane killed Samuel.”
My pulse stopped.
“He says you did.”
“Of course.”
“Proof?”
Mercer gestured slowly toward a metal case on the table.
“Recording inside.”
“Don’t move.”
“I won’t.”
Cross and another agent entered behind me.
Mercer looked at them.
“So much for alone.”
“You stopped deserving courtesy when you threatened Ethan.”
He nodded almost approvingly.
I hated it.
Cross opened the case carefully.
Old digital recorder.
Encrypted drive.
Paper documents.
“Check everything.”
Mercer looked at me.
“Your father discovered Vane was selling access to procurement vulnerabilities.”
“Vane says he was trying to stop you.”
“He would.”
“Rebecca Sloan?”
“Alive.”
My eyes narrowed.
“Where?”
“Safe.”
“You kidnapped her?”
“I extracted her before Vane could.”
“Your language doesn’t improve your crimes.”
Mercer sighed.
“You sound exactly like Samuel.”
“Stop saying that.”
“Why?”
“Because you don’t get to use my father to manipulate me.”
For the first time, his calm slipped.
“I loved your father.”
“Then why destroy his daughter’s life?”
“I didn’t.”
“You engineered my marriage.”
“I created an opportunity.”
“You targeted Patricia.”
“I approached Patricia because Vane was already watching Ethan.”
That stopped me.
“What?”
“Vane’s people identified your future husband first.”
“Why?”
“Because Ethan’s unit eventually touched procurement channels Vane wanted.”
“That was six years ago.”
“Yes.”
“You’re saying Ethan actually was a target.”
“Initially.”
The photograph said HE WAS NEVER THE TARGET.
“Then why leave that photograph?”
“To make you understand that after you met Ethan, everything changed.”
My mind raced.
“Vane saw me.”
“Yes.”
“And shifted focus.”
“Yes.”
“Vanessa worked for you.”
“Yes.”
“You ordered her to seduce Ethan.”
Mercer’s jaw tightened.
“I ordered her to establish access.”
“Did that include sleeping with him?”
“No.”
I almost laughed.
“You expect me to believe you cared?”
“I cared because emotional entanglement creates unpredictability.”
Cold.
Clinical.
Of course.
“She violated orders?”
“Yes.”
“Yet you kept using her.”
“She was effective.”
There was the real Mercer.
Ends justified means.
People as tools.
Just like Vane.
“You and Vane are the same.”
Mercer’s face hardened.
“No.”
“You both manipulate people. You both break laws. You both decide who can be sacrificed.”
“I stopped Vane from selling American defense access to foreign buyers.”
“And how many Americans did you sacrifice doing it?”
Silence.
“Exactly.”
Cross examined the encrypted drive.
“Colonel, this may contain the archive key.”
Mercer smiled.
“It contains much more.”
I kept my weapon trained.
“Tell me about Kandahar.”
His smile disappeared.
“Vane ordered the ambush.”
“Why?”
“He wanted the courier you were transporting.”
“Why?”
“The courier had financial ledgers proving Vane’s network.”
“And you knew?”
“Not until afterward.”
“Three soldiers died.”
“I know.”
“Did you help cover up the leak?”
“Yes.”
The admission hit me like a bullet.
“Why?”
“Because exposing the leak would have revealed Nightglass before it was mature.”
I stepped closer.
“You let me believe I failed those men.”
His face tightened.
“I regret that.”
“Regret?”
My voice rose for the first time.
“Sergeant Willis died beside me.”
Mercer said nothing.
“Specialist Kane bled out while I held pressure on his neck.”
“Grace—”
“Lieutenant Carter’s wife was six months pregnant.”
“I know.”
“You knew the ambush was compromised and buried it.”
“To protect a larger investigation.”
I stared at him.
“There is always a larger investigation with men like you.”
His face hardened.
“That investigation saved thousands of lives.”
“Then why are you running from your own government?”
“Because governments become political. Weak. Temporary.”
“And you think you’re permanent?”
“No.”
He looked almost tired.
“But threats are.”
That was the entire disease.
Mercer believed institutions could not be trusted, so he replaced law with himself.
Vane probably believed the same.
My father had tried to stop both.
“What did Samuel want?”
Mercer looked away.
“He wanted Nightglass turned over to formal oversight.”
“And you?”
“I knew it would be compromised.”
“So you fought him.”
“Yes.”
“Did you kill him?”
“No.”
“Did you know Vane planned to?”
Mercer did not answer.
My heart sank.
“Did you know?”
“I knew Vane was angry.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
“I suspected Samuel was in danger.”
“And you did nothing.”
Mercer looked at me.
“I warned him.”
“Not enough.”
“No.”
The answer was quiet.
Real.
That hurt more.
“You attended his funeral.”
“Yes.”
“Knowing Vane may have killed him.”
“Yes.”
“You held my mother while she cried.”
Mercer closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
“And then you watched me join the Army.”
“Yes.”
“You shaped my assignments.”
“A few.”
“You had no right.”
“I was protecting you.”
“No.”
I lowered my weapon slightly.
“Protection without consent becomes control.”
Something changed in his expression.
Maybe he finally heard my father’s voice too.
Cross’s radio crackled.
“Movement outside!”
Gunfire erupted.
Mercer turned toward the sound.
“Vane.”
“That’s impossible. He’s in custody.”
Mercer looked at me.
“No.”
Cross swore.
The man captured at the farmhouse.
Biometrics had matched Elias Vane’s old records.
But records could be manipulated.
Especially by the man who created the system.
Mercer lunged toward the equipment console.
I raised my weapon.
“Don’t!”
“He’s triggering the relay!”
“What relay?”
“The original Orpheus uplink!”
Lights flickered on across the facility.
Old servers hummed.
Impossible after years of supposed decommissioning.
A hidden system came alive.
Cross shouted into the radio.
“Find the intruders!”
Mercer typed rapidly.
I moved beside him.
“What is happening?”
“Vane has remote access.”
“What can he do?”
“If he gets the archive—”
“He doesn’t have the pin.”
Mercer looked at me.
“He doesn’t need it anymore.”
My stomach dropped.
“Why?”
“Because your father built a failsafe.”
“What failsafe?”
“If Shepherd becomes compromised, the archive can be released automatically.”
“Released where?”
“Every oversight body. Congress. Defense Department. Intelligence committees.”
“That sounds good.”
Mercer shook his head.
“Not the redacted archive.”
I understood.
“Everything.”
“Every name.”
Agents.
Sources.
Foreign assets.
Protected witnesses.
Everyone.
Vane wasn’t trying to steal it.
He was trying to burn the entire network to protect himself.
A countdown appeared on the terminal.
06:00.
Five fifty-nine.
Mercer stared.
“If that reaches zero, thousands of identities go public.”
I raised the radio.
“Holloway, get the pin.”
Mercer grabbed my arm.
“No.”
I pointed the weapon at him.
“Explain.”
“The pin can stop the release.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
“You’ll need to authenticate.”
“Yes.”
“And once you do, Shepherd gains full access for ten seconds.”
My blood ran cold.
Vane could steal everything during the shutdown.
“Can we isolate?”
“Maybe.”
“How?”
Mercer stared at the old circuitry.
“Someone has to physically sever the external relay while you authenticate.”
“Where?”
He pointed toward the far end of the facility.
“Sublevel.”
“How dangerous?”
Mercer smiled bitterly.
“You wouldn’t ask if you didn’t already know.”
Cross said, “I’ll go.”
Mercer shook his head.
“You won’t know which lines.”
“I do,” Holloway said through the doorway.
We turned.
Marcus entered carrying the secure case containing the silver pin.
He looked at Mercer.
For the first time, decades of history passed between them without a word.
Then Holloway looked at me.
“You authenticate.”
He handed me the pin.
“I cut the relay.”
Mercer stepped forward.
“You won’t make it back if the overload hits.”
Holloway shrugged.
“Then I guess you owe me a drink.”
Countdown:
04:51.
I grabbed Holloway’s arm.
“No.”
He looked at me.
“Grace.”
“I can send technicians.”
“No time.”
“I can go.”
“You’re the only person whose biometrics can authenticate.”
He was right.
I hated him for it.
He smiled faintly.
“Your father would be proud of you.”
My throat tightened.
“Come back and tell me yourself.”
He nodded.
Then ran toward the sublevel.
Countdown:
04:18.
I pressed the silver pin into the reader.
The screen requested biometric verification.
Palm.
Retina.
Voice.
I completed each.
ACCESS PENDING.
Mercer stood beside me.
Cross covered the door.
Gunfire sounded below.
Countdown:
01:07.
Holloway’s voice crackled.
“Found the relay.”
“Marcus?”
“Still here.”
“Can you cut it?”
“Working.”
Thirty seconds.
Twenty.
Ten.
“Marcus!”
“Do it!”
I hit AUTHENTICATE.
The system unlocked.
At the same moment, an explosion rocked the floor.
The lights went out.
Then came back.
The countdown froze at:
00:02.
Silence.
Cross stared at the screen.
“Did we stop it?”
Mercer leaned closer.
The archive status changed.
EXTERNAL RELAY OFFLINE.
My knees weakened.
“Holloway?”
No answer.
“Marcus!”
Static.
Then a weak voice.
“You always were impatient.”
I closed my eyes.
Alive.
Cross laughed.
For the first time in twenty-four hours, I almost did too.
Then another message appeared.
ARCHIVE TRANSFER DETECTED.
My heart stopped.
“How?”
Mercer stared.
“Internal transfer.”
“To where?”
The destination appeared.
LOCAL DEVICE.
We all turned.
Mercer’s encrypted drive.
Cross grabbed it.
Mercer looked genuinely shocked.
“That wasn’t me.”
Then a voice came from the doorway.
“Of course it was.”
Patricia stood there.
Everyone froze.
May you like
She held a pistol.
And behind her, wounded but very much alive, stood Vanessa Brooks.
