Chapter 13 - The Original Program
Hale entered with his weapon raised.
Two federal agents followed him.
Nobody had been hit.
The gunshot had struck the wall.
Hale looked at me.
"Are you hurt?"
"No."
His eyes moved to the recorder.
"Turn it off."
I stared at him.
"Why?"
"Because every second that recording plays puts you in greater danger."
"You're the reason I'm in danger."
He flinched.
"Maybe."
Victor stepped between us.
"Hale, tell her."
"Tell her what?"
"Everything."
Hale looked exhausted.
"I can't."
"Then I'll tell her."
A new voice came from the hallway.
The Secretary of Defense himself appeared on the security monitor.
Not physically.
A live feed.
His face was calm.
"General Hale."
Hale stared at the screen.
"Mr. Secretary."
"You've exceeded your authority."
"You ordered an unlawful operation."
"You're mistaken."
"No."
Hale's voice hardened.
"I have the original files."
The Secretary smiled.
"You don't."
Hale looked at me.
I realized then that he was bluffing.
He didn't have them.
He had something else.
"What do you have?" I asked.
Hale didn't answer.
The Secretary's smile faded.
"Colonel Caldwell, your mother was emotionally unstable."
I stepped toward the monitor.
"You don't get to call her that."
"She believed she had uncovered a conspiracy."
"She did."
"She manufactured evidence."
"My father confessed."
The Secretary glanced toward Victor.
"Your father confessed to fraud."
"He confessed to Meridian."
"He was paid."
"By you."
The Secretary's expression didn't move.
"Be careful."
I laughed.
It came out bitter.
"You spent twenty-six years hiding my mother, using my father, and now you're threatening me."
"I am warning you."
"About what?"
"About what happens when you open a door that was sealed for a reason."
The screen went black.
Hale immediately turned to the agents.
"Disconnect the network."
They moved.
Blake picked up the recorder.
"The tape is almost finished."
I looked at Victor.
"You said my mother survived."
"Yes."
"You saw her."
"Yes."
"Why did she tell me not to trust Hale?"
Victor looked at him.
"Because Hale was the one who moved her."
Hale nodded.
"Yes."
"To protect her."
"Yes."
"Then why would she think you betrayed her?"
"Because someone made it look like I did."
"Who?"
"We don't know."
Adrian's voice came from the doorway.
"You do."
Everyone turned.
He was being escorted by two officers.
He shouldn't have been out of the holding room.
But apparently he had convinced them that he knew how to stop the network breach.
Hale raised his gun.
"Back up."
Adrian ignored him.
He looked at me.
"Eleanor trusted someone else."
"Who?"
"Your mother's closest friend."
I froze.
"I don't know her."
"Exactly."
Victor's eyes widened.
"Adrian."
"Her name was Evelyn Shaw."
My mind searched the old memories.
Nothing.
"Who is she?"
Adrian smiled.
"That's the problem."
Hale whispered, "Evelyn Shaw died fourteen years ago."
Adrian laughed.
"No."
He looked at me.
"She changed her name."
The federal network suddenly went dead.
Every monitor turned black.
Adrian continued.
"She became Lorraine."
Everyone turned toward her.
Lorraine stood in the doorway, pale.
I stared.
"No."
She looked at me.
"Maya..."
"You're Evelyn."
She began crying.
"I wanted to tell you."
Victor stepped toward her.
"You've been lying to her?"
"I was protecting her."
"By pretending to be someone else?"
"Yes."
Blake raised his weapon.
"Don't move."
Lorraine lifted both hands.
"I never meant to hurt anyone."
I couldn't hear anything except the blood pounding in my ears.
"Did my mother trust you?"
Lorraine nodded.
"More than anyone."
"Did she survive?"
"Yes."
"Where is she?"
Lorraine looked toward the ceiling.
"She moves every seventy-two hours."
"Why?"
"Because they keep finding her."
"Who?"
"Meridian."
I shook my head.
"Meridian isn't supposed to exist."
"It exists."
"How?"
Lorraine pointed at Victor.
"He never shut it down."
Victor's face hardened.
"I tried."
"You failed."
"I destroyed the American division."
"You destroyed one division."
She looked at me.
"There are others."
"How many?"
"I don't know."
The answer terrified me more than any number could have.
Hale stepped closer.
"Where is Eleanor now?"
Lorraine hesitated.
Then she looked directly at me.
"She wants to meet you."
My breath caught.
"Where?"
"Not yet."
"Why not?"
"Because she thinks you're being watched."
"By whom?"
Lorraine's expression changed.
"Your father."
I turned.
Victor looked devastated.
"No."
Lorraine shook her head.
"Not by his choice."
Then she handed me an envelope.
"Eleanor left this for you."
I opened it.
Inside was a photograph of me as a child.
I turned it over.
Written on the back:
Maya, when they tell you I died, believe them.
For your own safety.
But if they ever tell you I am alive—
Run.
I looked at Lorraine.
"Why would she tell me to run from her?"
Lorraine's voice trembled.
"Because she knows what follows her."
A phone rang.
Not mine.
Hale's.
He answered.
His face changed.
"What?"
He listened.
"Repeat that."
Silence.
Then:
"The Secretary has issued a national security alert."
"For who?"
May you like
Hale looked at me.
"For you."
