Chapter 26 - The Vote
At 11:42 p.m., every phone in the safehouse lost service.
At 11:43, the power went out.
At 11:44, the Northstar drive started counting down.
FIFTEEN MINUTES.
Evan stared at the screen.
“What happens at zero?”
My father said, “The succession process begins.”
“What does that mean?”
“Every surviving Northstar authority holder receives a vote.”
“In what?”
“Who becomes successor.”
My stomach tightened.
“To what?”
“The network.”
I stared.
“This is insane.”
“No.”
My father looked at me.
“This is what Sloane has been building.”
“Why would anyone vote for me?”
“They won't.”
“Then why me?”
He didn't answer.
Evan did.
“Because Sloane knows fear.”
I looked at him.
“What does that mean?”
“He doesn't need to win the vote.”
“Then what does he need?”
Evan pointed at the screen.
“He needs you to believe you have to win.”
I frowned.
“That doesn't make sense.”
“It does.”
He walked toward me.
“Northstar has spent twenty-three years studying how you respond under pressure.”
“You mean my whole life.”
“Yes.”
“The experiment.”
“Yes.”
“What is he trying to make me do?”
Evan hesitated.
“Choose.”
I stared at him.
“Choose what?”
“Power.”
The timer dropped.
12:03.
12:02.
My mother sat down.
“He always wanted this.”
“Wanted what?”
“To see whether you would become him.”
My father stepped toward me.
“You don't have to participate.”
“What happens if I don't?”
“The system will assign authority to the other subject.”
Evan looked at me.
“Me.”
I shook my head.
“No.”
He nodded.
“Exactly.”
The timer continued.
11:17.
I looked at Evan.
“You don't want it.”
“No.”
“Then we refuse together.”
He gave me a sad smile.
“We can't.”
“Why?”
“Because one of us will be recognized.”
“By whom?”
“Northstar.”
“And if neither of us accepts?”
“The system automatically activates the highest biological match.”
“My father?”
Evan shook his head.
“No.”
“Who?”
He looked at me.
“You.”
Silence.
I stared at my father.
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because every time I told you the truth, someone died.”
I stared at him.
“That can't be true.”
“It is.”
He sat down.
“When I told your mother I had moved you, Northstar found her.”
“When I warned your grandfather, they killed his security team.”
“When I tried to extract Evan, three operatives disappeared.”
“Then why keep fighting?”
He looked at me.
“Because I couldn't stop.”
The timer hit eight minutes.
My mother stood.
“There is something else.”
Everyone looked at her.
She reached into her pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper.
“I found this in the second archive.”
She handed it to me.
It was handwritten.
My grandfather's handwriting.
I knew it immediately.
Mara,
If you are reading this, Gabriel failed to keep you away from Northstar.
Do not punish him.
He gave you the one thing Northstar never understood.
Choice.
Beneath that, another paragraph.
Victor will tell you he built Northstar to protect the country.
He is lying.
Gabriel will tell you he built it to protect you.
That is only partly true.
I read the next line.
The original purpose of Northstar was neither protection nor intelligence.
It was succession.
My hands shook.
Succession to what?
Power?
Money?
Government?
I kept reading.
Your biological father did not create Northstar.
He inherited it.
That sentence changed everything.
I looked at my mother.
“What does this mean?”
She started crying.
My father looked away.
I turned toward him.
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
“Who created it?”
He didn't answer.
“Dad.”
His voice was barely audible.
“Your grandfather.”
I stared.
“My grandfather created Northstar?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To keep your family's influence alive after the military abandoned him.”
My stomach turned.
“He created a private power network.”
“Yes.”
“And Sloane inherited it.”
“Yes.”
“Then why me?”
My father looked at me.
“Because your grandfather wanted it to end with you.”
I stared at him.
The timer hit five minutes.
I felt something breaking open inside me.
All those years.
All those stories about service.
Honor.
Duty.
Family.
And underneath them had been a private machine designed to survive generations.
I turned toward the screen.
“Then I refuse.”
My father looked up sharply.
“What?”
“I refuse the vote.”
Evan's eyes widened.
“You can't.”
“Yes, I can.”
“The system won't allow—”
“I don't care.”
The timer stopped.
Everything went black.
Then one message appeared.
SUCCESSION REJECTED.
The screen changed.
FAILSAFE ACTIVATED.
My father stood.
“No.”
“What?”
He looked terrified.
“Now it chooses the blood heir.”
I stared at the screen.
A name appeared.
VICTOR SLOANE.
I felt the blood leave my face.
My father whispered, “We just gave him everything.”
The safehouse doors slammed shut.
Then the emergency speakers came alive.
May you like
Sloane's voice filled the room.
“Thank you, daughter.”
