Chapter 12 - The Officer Who Died
Glass shattered across the chapel floor.
Ethan pulled Claire down before the first round struck the wall behind them.
Everyone scattered.
Richard dropped behind a stone pillar.
Madison screamed.
Daniel grabbed her and pushed her toward the side entrance.
Claire crawled behind the altar.
“Stay down!”
A second burst of gunfire tore into the wooden pews.
But something was wrong.
No one was firing back.
The shots were coming from outside.
Suppressed weapons.
Controlled.
Professional.
Then, suddenly, silence.
Claire lifted her head.
“Why did they stop?”
Daniel peeked over the pew.
“They're inside.”
A shadow crossed the stained-glass window.
Then another.
Ethan motioned toward the rear corridor.
“We move now.”
They ran.
Claire carried the brass key and envelope.
Daniel stayed beside her.
Madison followed, terrified.
Richard was last.
They reached a narrow maintenance hallway behind the chapel walls.
Ethan slammed the door shut.
“Keep moving.”
They hurried through darkness until they reached a concrete stairwell.
Claire looked over her shoulder.
“Where are Sarah and Harrington?”
“No idea,” Ethan said.
“They disappeared.”
“So did Sloane.”
Daniel's face was grim.
“They weren't running.”
Claire looked at him.
“What?”
“They knew the lights would go out.”
“How?”
Daniel shook his head.
“Because Sloane planned it.”
They reached the bottom.
A metal door opened into an underground garage.
Three vehicles waited.
One was Richard's.
One belonged to the chapel.
The third was a black government SUV.
Claire stopped.
“How did that get here?”
Daniel looked at the windshield.
There was a small Army decal in the lower corner.
“Someone arranged an extraction.”
Ethan drew his weapon again.
“Which means the question isn't who is helping us.”
He stared at Claire.
“It's who wants us alive.”
Richard walked toward the SUV.
“Don't get in that car.”
Claire turned.
“Why?”
“Because Mercer used government vehicles.”
Richard's voice shook.
“And because Elizabeth told me something about him.”
“What?”
“He never needed to chase people.”
Claire waited.
“He made other people chase them for him.”
A sudden engine roar echoed through the garage.
A black sedan burst through the far gate.
Ethan pushed Madison aside.
The sedan smashed into a parked truck and stopped.
Two men jumped out.
Gunfire erupted.
Ethan returned fire.
Daniel pulled Richard behind a concrete column.
Claire looked around for another exit.
Then she saw a security door.
“Over there!”
They ran.
The door opened into a tunnel beneath the old chapel.
Claire remembered nothing about it from her childhood.
The tunnel smelled of damp stone and oil.
Ethan led them through.
Behind them came shouting.
Claire's breathing became harder.
“Where does this go?”
Richard answered.
“The old military rail line.”
Claire stopped.
“What?”
“The property was used during the Cold War.”
Richard pointed ahead.
“At the end of the tunnel, there's a service platform.”
They emerged beneath an abandoned rail station.
A single overhead light flickered.
An old train stood on the far track.
Claire looked at it.
“How is that running?”
“It isn't.”
Daniel pointed toward the control booth.
Someone was inside.
The figure turned.
Claire raised her weapon.
“Identify yourself.”
The figure stepped into the light.
A woman.
Short gray hair.
Army uniform.
No insignia.
Claire stared.
“I know you.”
The woman looked at her.
“You should.”
Claire's mind raced.
Colonel Miriam Vale.
Former Army intelligence.
Retired six years earlier.
She had worked with Claire during an anti-corruption investigation.
Claire lowered her weapon slightly.
“What are you doing here?”
Miriam smiled.
“Waiting for you.”
Daniel cursed.
“Mercer.”
Miriam's expression hardened.
“Yes.”
Ethan raised his weapon.
“Were you working for him?”
“For twenty years.”
Everyone went silent.
Claire's heart pounded.
“Then why are you helping us?”
“I'm not.”
Miriam reached inside her coat.
Ethan aimed directly at her chest.
Miriam removed a small data drive.
“I'm giving you your mother's last message.”
Claire stared.
“What?”
Miriam held out the drive.
“She knew I would eventually have to choose.”
Claire stepped toward her.
“Choose what?”
Miriam looked directly into Claire's eyes.
“Whether to save you.”
She handed over the drive.
“Or save the country.”
Claire's face tightened.
“What is on it?”
Miriam looked toward the tunnel.
“The evidence that Sentinel Dawn wasn't an operation.”
Claire frowned.
“It was a massacre.”
Miriam nodded.
“Of our own people.”
A distant siren echoed.
Miriam suddenly stepped back.
“They found us.”
“Who?”
“Mercer's people.”
Miriam reached for a pistol.
“Take the drive and go.”
Claire grabbed her arm.
“You're coming with us.”
Miriam smiled sadly.
“No, Colonel.”
Then she pushed Claire backward.
A shot cracked through the station.
Miriam jerked.
Blood spread across her uniform.
Claire caught her.
“Miriam!”
Miriam collapsed into her arms.
Daniel looked toward the tunnel.
“Sniper.”
Claire pressed her hands against the wound.
“Stay with me.”
Miriam coughed.
“You need to understand something.”
Claire leaned closer.
“What?”
“Mercer isn't the head.”
Claire froze.
Miriam whispered:
“He works for someone else.”
“Who?”
Miriam's eyes moved to the brass key.
“Your mother knew.”
Then she died.
Claire sat frozen.
Ethan looked at the drive.
“We need to move.”
Daniel crouched beside Miriam.
He checked her pulse.
Nothing.
Then he found something inside her hand.
A folded piece of paper.
He opened it.
One sentence was written across it.
THE FIRST BROTHER IS NOT DANIEL.
Claire looked at him.
“What does that mean?”
Daniel stared at the words.
“I don't know.”
Claire took the paper.
Behind them, the lights went out.
A voice came through the station speakers.
“Claire.”
She recognized it immediately.
Mercer.
“You have something that belongs to me.”
Claire slowly turned toward the darkness.
May you like
Mercer continued.
“And now I know exactly where you are.”
