Chapter 25 - The Authority
By sunrise, the country had started to change around us.
News alerts appeared every few minutes.
NORTHSTAR DOCUMENTS LEAKED.
MILITARY OFFICER ACCUSED OF SECRET DATA OPERATION.
MYSTERY NETWORK LINKED TO FEDERAL CONTRACTS.
My name was everywhere.
Mara Ellison.
Civilian intelligence contractor.
Military fraud suspect.
Decorated operative.
Potential whistleblower.
Potential traitor.
The headlines contradicted each other.
The comments were worse.
I read one.
SHE THINKS TWO SILVER STARS MAKE HER SPECIAL.
I closed my phone.
For years, I had dreamed about proving people wrong.
Now I realized how meaningless that was.
You could prove the truth and still be called a liar.
My father sat across from me at the table.
His shoulder had been bandaged.
“You can't read those.”
“I know.”
“You're still reading them.”
“Yes.”
Evan stood near the window.
Mercer was outside.
Torres was checking the vehicle.
My mother sat alone.
She looked smaller than I remembered.
Not weak.
Just exhausted.
I placed the Northstar drive on the table.
“What's the next step?”
My father looked at it.
“You decide.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“What happens if I do nothing?”
“Northstar's legal structure remains in place.”
“And if I release everything?”
“People die.”
I stared.
“You've said that before.”
“Because it's true.”
“Who?”
“Witnesses. Informants. Deep-cover agents. Families.”
“How many?”
“Hundreds.”
I swallowed.
“And if I release nothing?”
“The people who built Northstar keep control.”
I hated the answer.
“There has to be a third option.”
“There is.”
“What?”
“Selective disclosure.”
“Who decides?”
“You.”
I laughed.
“That's exactly what Northstar did.”
“Yes.”
“So you want me to become them.”
“No.”
He looked at me.
“I want you to understand why they were wrong.”
I said nothing.
He continued.
“They believed information was power.”
“Isn't it?”
“They believed power justified secrecy.”
“And you don't?”
“I believe secrecy should protect people, not institutions.”
I stared at him.
“What would you release?”
“The evidence that proves the crimes.”
“And hide the rest.”
“The rest would get people killed.”
I thought about Evan.
About my mother.
About the people Northstar had buried.
Then I asked, “Who gets to decide whose life is worth the secret?”
My father answered, “You don't.”
“Then who?”
“The people whose lives are at risk.”
That changed something.
Not enough.
But something.
Mercer entered.
“We have a problem.”
Everyone turned.
He dropped a folder on the table.
“The federal court issued an emergency order.”
My stomach tightened.
“Against me?”
“Yes.”
“What does it say?”
“You're prohibited from accessing Northstar systems.”
I almost smiled.
“They think I'm going to hack the system?”
Mercer shook his head.
“They don't.”
He opened the file.
“They think you already did.”
I stared.
A signature appeared at the bottom.
Mine.
An authorization.
Date: three days earlier.
I felt the room go silent.
“I didn't sign that.”
“I know.”
My father looked at the document.
“That's real.”
“What?”
“The authorization is real.”
Mercer frowned.
“Impossible.”
“No.”
My father pointed.
“That's an original Northstar legal seal.”
Torres looked at me.
“Could someone have copied her signature?”
“Not like this.”
I felt dizzy.
“How?”
My father stared at the page.
“Blood.”
“What?”
“The legal seal doesn't use ink.”
He pointed to a small symbol beside my signature.
“It uses biometric confirmation.”
I looked at my hands.
“I wasn't anywhere near the system three days ago.”
My father nodded.
“Which means someone used your genetic authorization.”
Evan stepped closer.
“How?”
Silence.
Then he said, “Because they have something of hers.”
My mother stood abruptly.
“No.”
Everyone looked at her.
She was pale.
“What?”
She shook her head.
“No.”
My father stared.
“Evelyn.”
She looked at me.
“When you were little, Northstar took blood samples.”
“How old?”
“Three.”
“Why?”
“They said it was for medical records.”
My father cursed.
My mother continued.
“I thought they destroyed them.”
Evan whispered, “They didn't.”
I felt cold.
“They've had my blood for twenty years.”
“Yes.”
“And they can use it?”
My father nodded.
“On the legal system.”
“So Sloane can sign things as me.”
“Not exactly.”
“Then explain.”
“He can create authorization that appears to originate from you.”
I stood.
“Then my identity isn't mine.”
My father looked at me.
“Not anymore.”
I walked toward the window.
Outside, cameras had appeared across the street.
News crews.
Police.
People watching.
Again.
Always watching.
Mercer stepped beside me.
“You need to leave.”
“Where?”
“Somewhere they can't find you.”
Evan laughed.
“There isn't such a place.”
He looked at the blood document.
“They already know who she is.”
I turned.
“How do we take that authority away?”
Nobody answered.
Then my mother said, “You don't.”
I stared.
“What?”
“You don't take it away.”
She stepped toward the table.
“You prove it was never his.”
“How?”
“The original authority was divided.”
“Between whom?”
“Three people.”
She looked at my father.
“Me.”
Then me.
“And you.”
“And?”
She turned toward Evan.
“Him.”
Evan went still.
“No.”
My mother nodded.
“Yes.”
“What are you talking about?”
She pointed to the document.
“Northstar never intended for one successor.”
I looked at Evan.
“It intended for two.”
My father whispered, “And neither could act alone.”
The lights flickered.
The Northstar drive turned on by itself.
A single message appeared.
TWO SUBJECTS.
ONE CHOICE.
May you like
Then the screen changed.
THE VOTE BEGINS AT MIDNIGHT.
