Chapter 5: The Fourth Man
“RUN!””
Daniel Cross shoved Elena toward the far wall just as the first burst of gunfire tore through the doorway.
Glass exploded from a security panel.
Marcus fired twice into the corridor.
“Down!””
Elena dropped behind the communications desk.
Mercer pulled the door shut and locked it manually.
Outside, boots thundered across the hallway.
Then came another burst of gunfire.
Someone screamed.
Elena crawled toward Cross.
“What did you mean?””
Cross looked at her.
“The fourth man.””
“Who is he?””
“I don't know.””
“You just said my father told you to find him.””
“He didn't give me a name.””
“Then what did he give you?””
Cross reached inside his uniform and pulled out a small metal key.
It was old.
Scratched.
Its surface was stamped with four numbers.
*0719*
Elena stared at it.
“What is that?””
Cross closed his hand around it.
“The only thing your father gave me.””
Marcus looked toward the door.
“We don't have time.””
A heavy impact shook the room.
Someone was trying to force the door open.
Mercer shouted, “There's a service passage behind the storage cabinet.””
Marcus nodded.
“I know it.””
He ran across the room and shoved the cabinet aside.
A narrow steel door appeared behind it.
Elena looked at Cross.
“You're coming.””
Cross shook his head.
“No.””
“What?””
“They're after you, not me.””
“That makes no sense.””
“It will.””
Another impact hit the main door.
The metal frame bent inward.
Mercer grabbed Cross by the shoulder.
“You're coming with us.””
Cross pulled free.
“If I go, they follow.””
Marcus cursed.
“That's exactly what they'll do anyway.””
Cross looked at Elena.
“You need to listen to me.””
He stepped closer.
“Your father didn't trust the command. He didn't trust Voss. And he didn't trust the investigation.””
Elena swallowed.
“Then who did he trust?””
Cross looked at the key.
“One person.””
“Who?””
“Yourself.””
Elena frowned.
Cross continued.
“He said you would eventually find the answers because you would become the kind of soldier he was trying to protect you from becoming.””
Elena's eyes narrowed.
“That doesn't make sense.””
“It will.””
The main door cracked.
Mercer shouted, “Move!””
Marcus pulled Elena toward the passage.
She looked back.
Cross stood alone in the red emergency light.
“Elena,” he called.
She stopped.
He threw the key.
She caught it.
“Wherever you find the lock,” he said, “don't open it until you've found the fourth man.””
A gunshot ripped through the door.
Marcus dragged Elena into the passage.
The steel door slammed shut.
Darkness swallowed them.
They moved quickly through the narrow tunnel.
Marcus went first.
Mercer followed.
Elena came behind them.
Her boots struck the metal floor in rapid echoes.
“What is this place?”” she whispered.
“Old evacuation route,” Marcus said.
“Where does it lead?””
“Outside the command compound.””
“How far?””
“Three hundred yards.””
“Good.””
She turned toward Mercer.
“Once we're outside, I want answers.””
Mercer didn't respond.
She caught up with him.
“You knew Cross had this key.””
“No.””
“You knew about the fourth man.””
“No.””
“Then why did he look at you when he said your father didn't trust the command?””
Mercer stopped walking.
Elena nearly collided with him.
“What?””
Mercer turned.
“I was one of the officers your father suspected.””
The tunnel went silent.
Marcus stared at him.
“You never told me that.””
“You didn't need to know.””
Elena's voice was cold.
“Did my father suspect you?””
“Yes.””
“Why?””
“Because I had access to intelligence reports.””
“So did Voss.””
“Yes.””
“And Margaret.””
“Yes.””
“Who else?””
Mercer looked away.
“Your mother.””
Elena froze.
“My mother?””
“Her father was an intelligence officer.””
Marcus frowned.
“I thought Daniel was the military connection.””
“He was,” Mercer said.
“Your mother's family had intelligence ties that went much deeper.””
Elena felt the pieces moving.
“Then why was all of this hidden?””
Mercer looked at her.
“Because the real operation wasn't about military intelligence.””
“What was it about?””
“Identities.””
Elena stared.
“I don't understand.””
“Neither did we at first.””
Marcus spoke quietly.
“Nightfall wasn't simply a leak investigation.””
Mercer nodded.
“It was a program.””
Elena felt a chill crawl over her skin.
“What kind of program?””
“A classified relocation program.””
“For witnesses?””
“For families.””
Marcus looked at Elena.
“Families of officers who discovered things they weren't supposed to.””
Elena's face went pale.
“My parents discovered something.””
“Yes.””
“They were supposed to disappear.””
Mercer nodded.
“But they refused.””
“Why?””
“Because your father believed hiding the evidence would leave the same people in power.””
“And my mother?””
“She agreed.””
The tunnel shook faintly.
Distant explosions echoed through the walls.
Marcus looked toward the exit.
“We need to keep moving.””
Elena grabbed Mercer's sleeve.
“One question.””
He looked at her.
“Who was the fourth man?””
Mercer hesitated.
“I don't know.””
“You're lying.””
“I wish I were.””
They continued.
At the end of the tunnel, Marcus pushed open a steel hatch.
Cold night air rushed over them.
They emerged behind a maintenance building outside the main compound.
Sirens flashed in the distance.
Smoke rose above the ceremony hall.
Elena turned.
The building where she had stood less than an hour earlier was now surrounded by armed personnel.
People were being evacuated.
Her entire world had changed in under sixty minutes.
Marcus looked at his radio.
“No signal.””
Mercer checked his.
“Mine too.””
Elena looked down at the key in her hand.
0719.
“What does this number mean?””
Marcus stared at it.
Then his expression changed.
“Elena.””
“What?””
He pointed toward the key.
“Your father's service number.””
Elena looked again.
Her fingers tightened.
“That can't be.””
“It is.””
Mercer stepped closer.
“Daniel Ward's service number ended in 0719.””
Elena stared at the metal.
Her father had given Cross something tied directly to his identity.
But why?
She searched her memory.
Her childhood home.
The night of the attack.
The closet.
Her father's desk.
There had been a drawer she wasn't allowed to touch.
She remembered the number on the key.
Not because she'd seen it tonight.
Because she'd seen it before.
On her father's desk.
She closed her eyes.
A memory surfaced.
She was nine.
Her father was kneeling in front of her.
He pressed something small into her hand.
“Don't lose this.””
Young Elena had looked down.
A brass key.
“What's it for?””
Her father had smiled sadly.
“Someday you'll know.””
The memory vanished.
Elena opened her eyes.
“I've seen this key.””
Marcus looked at her.
“When?””
“When I was a child.””
Mercer stepped back.
“You're sure?””
“Yes.””
She pointed toward the base.
“My father gave it to me.””
Marcus shook his head.
“But Cross said he gave it to him.””
“He must have taken it from me.””
“Why would your father give it to you and then take it back?””
Elena's eyes widened.
“He didn't.””
Marcus stared at her.
“What?””
“He never took it back.””
She looked at Cross's key.
“This isn't the same key.””
Mercer frowned.
“How do you know?””
“Because mine had a crack.””
She turned the key over.
“There.””
A tiny fracture ran along the edge of the metal.
Marcus studied it.
“Then what's this one?””
Elena looked toward the burning command building.
“A copy.””
A car engine suddenly roared behind them.
They spun around.
A black SUV raced toward the maintenance road.
Marcus raised his weapon.
“Stop!””
The SUV accelerated.
Mercer pulled Elena back.
The vehicle swerved past them and disappeared into the trees.
Marcus lowered his gun.
“Who was that?””
Elena stared at the road.
“Someone who knew exactly where we'd come out.””
Mercer looked at her.
“Then we have a leak.””
“No.””
Elena shook her head.
“We have someone tracking the old evacuation routes.””
Marcus frowned.
“How could anyone outside command know them?””
Elena thought about Voss.
Then Margaret.
Then the message.
She remembered the woman on the screen.
The woman who might not have been Margaret at all.
“He doesn't need to be outside command,” she whispered.
Marcus looked at her.
“He could be inside.””
“Elena,” Mercer said carefully.
She turned.
“What?””
Mercer pointed toward the forest.
“Look.””
A small red light blinked between the trees.
Once.
Twice.
Then disappeared.
Marcus raised his weapon.
“Laser sight.””
They ducked.
A shot cracked through the night.
The bullet struck the metal hatch behind them.
Marcus pulled Elena to the ground.
“Sniper!””
Mercer shouted, “Tree line, twelve o'clock!””
Another shot.
Mercer fell.
Elena screamed.
“General!””
Marcus crawled toward him.
“I've got him!””
Elena pressed herself behind the concrete wall.
Blood spread across Mercer's sleeve.
“It's a shoulder hit,” Marcus said.
Mercer grimaced.
“I'm fine.””
Elena looked toward the trees.
Nothing moved.
Then her phone vibrated.
She pulled it from her pocket.
One message.
Unknown number.
*You have ten minutes.*
A second message appeared.
*Go to Saint Mary's Cemetery.*
Then another.
*Bring the copy of the key.*
Elena stared.
Marcus read over her shoulder.
“Don't.””
She looked at him.
“What?””
“Don't go.””
Elena's phone vibrated again.
The final message appeared.
*And Elena?*
She waited.
A picture loaded.
It showed an old gravestone.
Her mother's name was carved across it.
But beneath the name was something Elena had never seen before.
A second line.
*ELENA WARD — BORN UNDER ANOTHER NAME.*
She stopped breathing.
Marcus looked at the screen.
“Elena…”
She raised her eyes.
“I think I just found out what my father was protecting me from.””
And then, from somewhere beyond the trees, a man's voice called her childhood nickname.
“Ellie.””
Only one person had ever called her that.
May you like
Elena slowly turned toward the dark.
And recognized the voice.
