Chapter 9 - The Name on the Board
The person who promoted me was a name I had trusted for years.
General Thomas Wren.
My mentor.
The officer who had written my first recommendation for flag rank.
The man who had stood beside me at my promotion ceremony and told me, in front of my entire family, that I represented everything honorable about the Corps.
I had defended him more times than I could count.
Now Brooks was telling me he was at the center of the conspiracy.
I drove back to headquarters alone.
Torres begged me not to.
“Ma’am, this is exactly what they want.”
“I know.”
“Then don't go.”
“I have to.”
“Why?”
“Because if Wren is involved, we are no longer dealing with a corruption case.”
“What are we dealing with?”
I looked at her.
“My own command history.”
She stared at me.
“Then let me come.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because they already tried to frame you.”
She shook her head.
“They'll frame me whether I'm with you or not.”
She was right.
So I let her come.
We entered the command building through the rear entrance.
The hallway was empty.
Too empty.
My access badge had been disabled.
Torres used hers.
The first door opened.
The second didn't.
Then a voice came over the intercom.
“General Ellison.”
I froze.
General Wren.
“Sir.”
“You should not be here.”
“I have questions.”
“So do I.”
“About Mercer?”
“About you.”
The door unlocked.
We entered.
Wren sat behind a conference table.
He looked exactly as he had at my promotion.
Gray hair.
Straight posture.
Calm eyes.
The difference was that I no longer believed the calm.
“Sit.”
I remained standing.
“You had my father followed.”
Wren sighed.
“Your father put you in danger.”
“You knew about the Willow Trust.”
“Yes.”
“You knew about the promotion recommendation.”
“Yes.”
“You knew about Vale.”
“Yes.”
“And Mercer.”
“Yes.”
Torres whispered,
“Ma’am.”
I raised a hand.
“Why?”
Wren looked at me.
“Because your father made a deal.”
“With whom?”
“With the people who funded Vale.”
“Which people?”
“Contractors.”
“What contractors?”
He pulled out a folder.
“Northstar.”
I opened it.
Names.
Shell companies.
Payments.
The same network.
Wren leaned back.
“Your grandfather discovered the theft.”
“My father continued it.”
“Your father exposed it.”
“And then?”
“He made a bargain.”
“What bargain?”
“He agreed to put you inside the system.”
I stared.
“You used my career.”
“We protected you.”
“No.”
“You were going to be destroyed.”
“You destroyed me anyway.”
“Not permanently.”
I slammed the folder down.
“You manipulated my promotions.”
“Yes.”
“You blocked my assignments.”
“Yes.”
“You threatened my family.”
“No.”
“Mercer did.”
“Mercer was acting for himself.”
“Then who ordered him?”
Wren said nothing.
I stared.
“Who?”
He finally whispered,
“Your father.”
I felt the same coldness I had felt when my mother said it.
“My father is dead.”
“Yes.”
“Then your story ends.”
“No.”
He opened another folder.
Inside was a series of documents.
Death certificates.
Estate records.
Correspondence.
Then a bank transaction dated six months after my father’s supposed death.
Authorized by my father.
I looked at it.
“That is impossible.”
Wren nodded.
“Which means someone used his identity.”
“Mercer?”
“No.”
“Hale?”
“No.”
“Brooks?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
Wren looked at me.
“You.”
I stared at him.
He turned the document toward me.
The signature matched mine.
But I had never signed it.
Torres came around the table.
“Forgery.”
“Yes.”
Wren nodded.
“That is why you were brought here.”
“By whom?”
“By the people who want the Northstar contracts reopened.”
“That's not an answer.”
“No.”
He looked at me.
“It is an invitation.”
“To what?”
“To choose.”
I laughed bitterly.
“You think I’m going to work with you after everything?”
“I think you will when you see what happens if you don't.”
The conference room doors burst open.
Security officers flooded inside.
Hale was with them.
His wrists were cuffed.
His face was bruised.
He looked at me.
“General, don't listen to him.”
Wren stood.
“Major Hale.”
Hale shouted,
“He killed Vale!”
Everything stopped.
Wren's expression did not change.
Hale continued.
“Vale wasn't missing.”
He pointed toward Wren.
“He was eliminated because he was going to expose Northstar.”
I stared at Wren.
“Did you kill him?”
Wren looked at me.
“No.”
Hale laughed.
“You always were good at technically true answers.”
“Then who did?”
Wren looked toward the doorway.
Colonel Mercer stepped inside.
He was holding a gun.
Torres reached for hers.
“Don't.”
Mercer aimed at the floor.
“No one needs to die.”
I stared at him.
“Why?”
He looked at me.
“Because your father ordered me to.”
My hands went cold.
“My father?”
Mercer nodded.
“He told me to protect you.”
“You tried to destroy me.”
“I tried to keep you away from the wrong people.”
“You forged financial records against Torres.”
“I needed leverage.”
“You abandoned us.”
“I was trying to get out.”
“Out of what?”
He looked at Wren.
Then Hale.
Then me.
“The Northstar network.”
I stared.
“You were part of it.”
“Yes.”
“And Wren?”
Mercer hesitated.
“Yes.”
“Brooks?”
“Reluctantly.”
“Hale?”
“Yes.”
I looked at Hale.
He nodded.
“And my father?”
Mercer closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
The entire architecture of my life collapsed in one sentence.
Every promotion.
Every assignment.
Every protector.
Every person who had told me I was talented.
What if they had all been managing me?
“What did my father want?”
Mercer lowered the gun.
“He wanted you to become the person capable of destroying the network.”
“Then why stop me?”
“Because once you got close enough, you stopped obeying.”
I stared at him.
“Because I became myself.”
He nodded.
“That scared them.”
Then the building alarms began screaming.
Wren looked toward the ceiling.
“What did you do?”
Mercer stared at him.
“I didn't do anything.”
A voice came through the intercom.
“General Ellison.”
Everyone froze.
I recognized the voice.
My mother.
“Mara, don't trust any of them.”
Then another voice interrupted.
A man's voice.
Calm.
Familiar.
My father.
“Mara.”
I felt all the air leave my lungs.
“Come downstairs.”
Wren stepped backward.
“That is impossible.”
The voice continued.
“The archive is under the building.”
I stared at the floor.
“Dad?”
May you like
The voice answered.
“Come find out whether I’m really dead.”
