Chapter 4: The Woman in the Chair
Elena stared at the black screen.
Nobody spoke.
The emergency lights continued pulsing across the communications room, turning everyone's faces red, then black, then red again.
Marcus was the first to move.
“That's impossible.””
Elena didn't look at him.
“No.””
He stepped closer.
“The woman in that video is dead.””
“I know.””
“She died six years ago.””
“I was there.””
Marcus lowered his weapon.
“Elena…”
She turned toward him.
“Who is she?””
He hesitated.
“Her name was Margaret Vale.””
“I know her name.””
Her voice cracked.
“She raised me.””
Marcus looked down.
“She wasn't supposed to be involved.””
Elena's eyes narrowed.
“That's not what I asked.””
He said nothing.
She stepped closer.
“What does she have to do with my parents?””
Marcus rubbed a hand across his jaw.
“Everything.””
The word landed heavily.
Elena's pulse began to race.
“Then start talking.””
Before Marcus could answer, the communications door slammed open.
General Mercer entered with two armed security officers.
“Are you both intact?””
Marcus nodded.
“Where's the team from the east corridor?”” Mercer asked.
“Disconnected.””
Mercer frowned.
“Disconnected how?””
“No radio response.””
Mercer looked at Elena.
“What did Voss say?””
“He showed me Margaret.””
Mercer's expression changed instantly.
“You're sure it was her?””
Elena stared at him.
“I watched her die.””
Mercer didn't answer.
Elena stepped toward him.
“You knew.””
“Elena—”
“You knew Margaret was alive.””
“No.””
“You recognized her face.””
Mercer looked at the floor.
That was enough.
“You knew,” Elena repeated.
“I knew Voss had been searching for her.””
“That isn't what I said.””
Mercer sighed.
“Your guardian disappeared six months before her reported death.””
Elena's stomach tightened.
“That can't be true.””
“We believed she was in protective custody.””
“You believed?””
“Yes.””
“Then who died?””
Mercer looked at her.
“We don't know.””
The room seemed to shrink around her.
Elena laughed once.
Not because anything was funny.
Because the alternative was screaming.
“So the woman I buried might not have been Margaret.””
“We couldn't identify the remains conclusively.””
“You let me bury a stranger?””
“We thought the risk of telling you outweighed the uncertainty.””
Elena's eyes hardened.
“You didn't tell me because you thought I was safer believing everyone I loved was dead.””
Mercer didn't defend himself.
Marcus quietly said, “There was another reason.””
Elena turned to him.
“What?””
Marcus took the surviving page from the desk.
“Your father left an instruction.””
“The one on the page?””
“Yes.””
“What did it say?””
Marcus looked at Mercer.
Mercer closed his eyes for a moment.
Then he nodded.
“Tell her.””
Marcus unfolded the paper.
“Daniel Ward ordered the command to protect Elena at all costs.””
“I know that part.””
“There was a second instruction.””
Elena waited.
Marcus's voice dropped.
“He ordered us never to tell you about Operation Nightfall until you turned twenty-nine.””
Elena frowned.
“Why twenty-nine?””
Marcus looked at the date on the document.
“Because your father said that's when you would be old enough to understand who you really were.””
Elena shook her head.
“Who I really was?””
Neither man answered.
She stepped back.
“No.””
Marcus said, “Elena—”
“No. Don't do that.””
She pointed toward the dark screen.
“You're telling me my father left some secret message about my identity, my guardian was apparently replaced by a body nobody could identify, and Colonel Voss is sitting somewhere with a woman who may or may not be Margaret.””
She drew a breath.
“And I'm supposed to stand here while you two tell me I need to trust you?””
Mercer said quietly, “You shouldn't.””
Elena stared at him.
“What?””
“You shouldn't trust either of us blindly.””
The honesty shocked her.
Mercer continued.
“Someone has spent twenty years hiding this. Someone had access to military records, investigation files, your family history, and the security systems inside this building.””
He pointed toward the desk.
“The only reason Voss is talking to you tonight is because he wants you to make a choice.””
“What choice?””
“Whether you come after him.””
Elena looked at the message on the screen.
*COME ALONE.*
“He expects me to.””
“Yes.””
“Then I'll go.””
Marcus immediately shook his head.
“No.””
Elena turned.
“I wasn't asking permission.””
“It's a trap.””
“Obviously.””
“Then why would you walk into it?””
“Because he has Margaret.””
Marcus lowered his voice.
“You don't know whether that's her.””
“I know what I saw.””
“You saw a video.””
“Of a woman who looked exactly like her.””
“And Voss wants you emotional.””
“I am emotional.””
Elena stepped closer.
“But I'm not stupid.””
Marcus held her gaze.
“Then let me come with you.””
The words came so quickly that she almost missed them.
“No.””
“Why?””
“Because he specifically said alone.””
“He expects you to obey.””
“I don't intend to.””
Marcus stared at her.
A faint smile appeared.
“That sounded like your father.””
Elena's expression changed.
“What did you know about him?””
“More than you think.””
“Then tell me.””
Marcus looked toward Mercer.
The general said, “You have five minutes.””
Marcus nodded.
“My father served under yours.””
Elena blinked.
“What?””
“Colonel Thomas Hale.””
She searched her memory.
The name felt familiar.
Marcus continued.
“He died three months after your parents.””
“How?””
“Officially? Heart failure.””
“Officially.””
“He left a recording.””
Elena's stomach dropped.
Marcus pulled a tiny memory card from inside his uniform.
“I found it eighteen months ago.””
“Why didn't you bring it to me?””
“Because every officer who touched the Nightfall case either disappeared, died, or was threatened into silence.””
He held the card between two fingers.
“I assumed I was next.””
Elena looked at it.
“What's on it?””
Marcus hesitated.
“Your father.””
She took the card.
“Where do we play it?””
Mercer pointed toward the secure terminal.
“Here.””
Marcus inserted the card.
The monitor flickered.
A grainy video appeared.
Elena saw her father sitting at a desk.
He looked exhausted.
There was a bruise under his left eye.
His uniform was torn at the collar.
Elena stepped closer to the screen.
Her father looked directly into the camera.
“Elena.””
Her chest tightened.
“If you're watching this, then something went wrong.””
She covered her mouth.
Daniel Ward continued.
“I don't know how old you are now. I don't know who will show you this. I only know that your mother and I may not survive the night.””
The recording stuttered.
Then continued.
“There is someone inside our command who has been protecting us.””
Marcus leaned toward the screen.
Elena whispered, “Who?””
Her father's eyes shifted away from the camera.
“Her name is Margaret Vale.””
Elena froze.
“So she was involved.””
Daniel continued.
“Margaret is the only person I trust with Elena's safety.””
The recording distorted.
Then her father's voice became clearer.
“Whatever happens, Elena must never be allowed to remember what she saw.””
Elena turned to Marcus.
“What did I see?””
The video continued.
“You saw Colonel Adrian Voss.””
Her heart stopped.
“He was there that night.””
The image flickered.
“He was not alone.””
A burst of static.
Then her father leaned closer.
“There were three men.””
Elena whispered, “Who?””
The recording froze.
The screen went black.
She stared at it.
“That's it?””
Marcus checked the terminal.
“The rest is corrupted.””
Elena slammed her palm against the desk.
“There has to be another copy.””
“There isn't.””
“You don't know that.””
“I spent six months looking.””
She turned to him.
“Then spend another six.””
“Elena.””
A voice came from the doorway.
Everyone turned.
The black-uniformed officer who had delivered the original file stood there.
His weapon was lowered.
His face was calm.
Marcus immediately raised his gun.
“Don't move.””
The officer looked at him.
“I came to help her.””
Mercer stepped forward.
“Remove your weapon and place it on the floor.””
The officer slowly did so.
Then he looked at Elena.
“My name is Daniel Cross.””
Elena frowned.
“And?””
Cross swallowed.
“I was the officer who found your parents.””
She stared at him.
He continued.
“But I lied about what I saw.””
Marcus kept his weapon trained on him.
“Explain.””
Cross looked at Elena.
“Your father was alive when we arrived.””
Elena's blood ran cold.
“How long?””
“Long enough to speak.””
“What did he say?””
Cross hesitated.
“He gave me one instruction.””
Elena stepped closer.
“What?””
Cross looked directly into her eyes.
“He told me to find you.””
A distant alarm began to sound.
Mercer's radio crackled.
Then a voice shouted through static.
“General! We've lost the outer perimeter!””
Gunfire erupted somewhere outside.
Cross grabbed the nearest table for balance.
Marcus looked toward the door.
“How many?””
The radio screamed.
“Unknown! They're already inside!””
Elena looked at Cross.
“You said my father gave you an instruction.””
“Yes.””
“What was it?””
Cross met her eyes.
“He told me that when you finally learned the truth…”
A gunshot thundered in the corridor.
Everyone ducked.
Cross finished in a whisper.
“...you had to find the fourth man.””
The lights went out.
May you like
And somewhere in the darkness, a woman screamed Elena's name.
“RUN!””
