Chapter 6: The Name She Was Given
“Ellie.””
The voice came again.
Soft.
Familiar.
Impossible.
Elena's entire body went rigid.
Marcus whispered, “Who is that?””
She didn't answer.
She was staring into the trees.
A shape moved between the trunks.
Not fast.
Not threatening.
Just walking.
Elena's hand tightened around the copied key.
She knew that voice.
She had heard it at breakfast tables.
At hospital beds.
At school meetings.
At Christmas dinners when she was twelve, sixteen, twenty.
The voice had always belonged to the woman she called Margaret.
Except Margaret was dead.
Or at least, Elena had spent six years believing she was.
The figure stepped into the weak light spilling from the maintenance building.
An older woman stood at the edge of the clearing.
Gray coat.
Gray hair.
One hand resting on a cane.
Her face was thinner than Elena remembered.
Older.
But unmistakable.
Elena's lips parted.
“Margaret?””
The woman looked at her.
Then smiled.
“Hello, Ellie.””
Elena forgot how to breathe.
Marcus lifted his weapon.
“Stay where you are.””
Margaret glanced at him.
“Captain Hale, lower the gun.””
Marcus's eyes narrowed.
“How do you know my name?””
Margaret smiled sadly.
“Because your father used to carry a photograph of you.””
Marcus froze.
“What?””
“Seven years old. Missing front tooth. Red bicycle.””
Marcus slowly lowered the weapon.
Elena stepped forward.
“You're alive.””
Margaret's expression softened.
“I am.””
“I buried you.””
“I know.””
“You let me bury you.””
“I had no choice.””
Elena's voice rose.
“You had six years to tell me!””
Margaret flinched.
“That is why I stayed away.””
“You don't get to decide that for me.””
“No.””
Margaret lowered her gaze.
“Your father said the same thing.””
Elena stopped.
“Don't.””
“He knew this day might come.””
“You knew my father?””
Margaret gave a bitter little laugh.
“I knew him better than almost anyone.””
Elena's eyes filled with tears.
“Then why did you leave me?””
Margaret looked toward the wounded Mercer.
“Because there was one person left who knew where you were.””
Mercer shifted against the wall.
“Margaret.””
She turned sharply.
“You don't get to speak.””
Mercer stared at her.
For the first time, Elena saw fear on the general's face.
Margaret looked back at Elena.
“Your commander has lied to you.””
Elena glanced at Mercer.
“How much?””
Margaret took a slow breath.
“Enough.””
Marcus moved between them.
“We need to get him medical attention.””
Margaret nodded toward the forest.
“There is a vehicle two hundred yards east.””
“Why should I trust you?”” Marcus asked.
“Don't.””
She looked at Elena.
“Trust the facts.””
Elena took one step closer.
“You said my father knew this day might come.””
“Yes.””
“What did he know?””
“That your name would eventually be changed back.””
Elena frowned.
“What?””
Margaret reached into her coat.
Marcus raised his weapon again.
“Slowly.””
Margaret removed a folded piece of paper.
She held it toward Elena.
“Your birth certificate.””
Elena stared.
“I already have one.””
“No.””
Margaret shook her head.
“You have the one they created for you.””
She unfolded the paper.
The edges were yellow with age.
“Elena Ward,” she read.
“Born July nineteenth.””
Elena's eyes narrowed.
“That's the date on the key.””
“Yes.””
Margaret continued.
“Father: Daniel Ward.””
Elena swallowed.
“Mother?””
Margaret looked directly at her.
“Anna Vale.””
Elena stared.
“Vale?””
Margaret said nothing.
Elena's gaze moved slowly to the woman's face.
“Your surname.””
“Yes.””
“You're my mother's sister.””
Margaret closed her eyes.
For a second, the whole world seemed to disappear.
Then she nodded.
“I am.””
Elena took another step.
“You knew me before I was born.””
“Yes.””
“You knew my parents.””
“Yes.””
“You raised me.””
“Yes.””
“And you lied to me my entire life.””
Margaret's eyes filled.
“I lied because your parents asked me to.””
Elena shook her head.
“No.””
“They knew what would happen.””
“You should have told me.””
“When?””
“When I was old enough.””
“At ten? Twelve? Fifteen?””
Margaret's voice broke.
“Do you know how many children disappear when adults tell them too much too soon?””
Elena stared at her.
Margaret continued.
“I watched your parents die.””
Elena froze.
“You were there?””
“Yes.””
“Then tell me what happened.””
Margaret looked past her, toward the darkness.
“We were leaving the house.””
“What happened?””
“Your father had the evidence.””
“The drive?””
Margaret nodded.
“He believed Voss would stop searching if he thought the evidence was destroyed.””
“But it wasn't.””
“No.””
“Where was it?””
Margaret looked at Elena.
“You.””
Elena's face went blank.
“What?””
“Your father hid it with you.””
“That makes no sense.””
“He knew they would search the house.””
“So he hid it on me?””
“In plain sight.””
Elena looked down at herself.
“What did he hide?””
Margaret said nothing.
Elena's hand went instinctively to the copied key.
Margaret noticed.
“That's not the key.””
“No.””
“Then you found the first clue.””
Elena looked up sharply.
“You know what it opens.””
“Yes.””
“Where?””
“Saint Mary's Cemetery.””
Marcus stared at Margaret.
“That place is on the edge of the old intelligence district.””
“I know.””
“Why would Daniel hide evidence in a cemetery?””
Margaret's expression hardened.
“Because everyone looks for the living.””
Elena looked at the wound on Mercer's shoulder.
“Who shot him?””
Margaret answered immediately.
“Not Voss.””
Mercer gave her a furious look.
“You don't know that.””
“I know exactly who shot him.””
Elena turned.
“Who?””
Margaret's face changed.
“Your father's fourth man.””
Marcus frowned.
“You said you didn't know who that was.””
Margaret looked at him.
“I never said that.””
Marcus went still.
Elena's heart began pounding.
“You know him.””
“Yes.””
“Who?””
Margaret looked toward the tree line.
“He's been protecting you for twenty years.””
“From whom?””
“Everyone.””
“That isn't an answer.””
“No.””
Margaret's eyes settled on Elena.
“It is the only answer that will keep you alive.””
Elena stepped closer.
“Stop protecting me.””
Margaret's face softened.
“You sound just like your mother.””
“Then tell me the truth.””
Margaret nodded.
“All right.””
She pointed toward the cemetery road.
“Your mother discovered that Nightfall wasn't a military operation.””
“What was it?””
“A network.””
“What kind of network?””
“Names.””
Elena waited.
Margaret continued.
“People in high positions were given new identities, new records, new histories. Some were witnesses. Some were criminals. Some were officers who had betrayed their own units.””
Elena frowned.
“And my parents found the records.””
“Yes.””
“That's why they were killed.””
“Not only that.””
Margaret looked at Mercer.
“Daniel discovered that one of the people given a new identity was sitting beside him in command meetings.””
Elena followed her gaze.
Mercer looked away.
“You.””
Mercer said nothing.
Elena's voice turned cold.
“Were you the fourth man?””
“No.””
Margaret answered for him.
“He was the third.””
Silence.
Marcus stared at Mercer.
“The third?””
Margaret nodded.
“The fourth was someone none of us expected.””
Elena's stomach tightened.
“Who?””
Margaret reached for her hand.
Elena almost pulled away.
Then she saw the pain in Margaret's eyes and allowed the contact.
Margaret whispered.
“Your father.””
Elena recoiled.
“No.””
“Your father wasn't who you thought he was.””
“He was a soldier.””
“Yes.””
“He loved us.””
“Yes.””
“He died protecting us.””
“Yes.””
“Then what are you saying?””
Margaret's fingers tightened around hers.
“Your father was working undercover inside the network before you were born.””
Elena stared.
Margaret continued.
“He wasn't investigating Nightfall.””
“He was part of it.””
Elena's face went pale.
“He created some of the identities.””
“He helped dismantle it.””
“But that means—”
“He knew exactly what they could do.””
Elena shook her head.
“No. He wouldn't.””
Margaret whispered, “He changed one identity.””
“Whose?””
Margaret looked directly at her.
“Yours.””
The world stopped.
Elena let go of her hand.
“My identity?””
“You were born Elena Vale.””
Marcus looked stunned.
“Elena Vale?””
Margaret nodded.
“Daniel changed your name to Ward because the network was searching for the Vale family.””
Elena could barely speak.
“Why?””
“Because your mother wasn't just an intelligence officer.””
Margaret's voice dropped.
“She was one of the people who built the system.””
Elena stared at her aunt.
“What?””
“Your mother helped create the identity program.””
Mercer closed his eyes.
Elena turned toward him.
“You knew.””
“Yes.””
“You knew who my mother was.””
“Yes.””
“You knew who I was.””
“Yes.””
“And you still gave me awards tonight.””
Mercer looked at her.
“That award wasn't for your service.””
Elena's heart stopped.
“What?””
Mercer swallowed.
“It was a signal.””
Marcus looked at him.
“A signal to whom?””
Mercer answered.
“To everyone who was still watching.””
Elena suddenly understood.
The ceremony.
The announcement.
Her name.
The highest commendation.
The public declaration.
It had never been an award.
It had been a message.
Someone had wanted Elena exposed.
Her voice dropped.
“Who wanted me exposed?””
Mercer didn't answer.
Margaret did.
“The person who has been waiting twenty years to reclaim you.””
A phone began ringing.
Elena's phone.
She looked down.
No number appeared.
Just one word.
*DAD.*
Her blood ran cold.
Marcus whispered, “That's impossible.””
Elena stared at the screen.
The phone rang again.
Then a voice came through the speaker without her answering.
Her father's voice.
Clear.
Calm.
Alive.
“Elena.””
She dropped the phone.
May you like
The voice continued from the ground.
“It's time to come home.””
