Chapter 13 - The Man Inside Meridian
Rourke closed the door behind him.
Cole’s voice came through Evelyn’s emergency earpiece. Backup teams were climbing the stairwell, but the disabled elevators and locked access doors delayed them.
Evelyn kept her attention on Rourke.
“You have ten seconds to explain.”
“I entered Meridian under your grandfather’s orders.”
“Eight.”
“I maintained the appearance of loyalty so I could identify its members.”
“Six.”
“The investigation was never complete because the network replaced compromised members faster than we exposed them.”
“Four.”
“Your father became the Custodian to control the archive.”
Margaret shook her head.
“He controlled the clinic.”
“He controlled access to it,” Rourke said. “There is a difference.”
Evelyn did not lower her guard.
“Is Samuel Grant alive?”
Rourke’s silence lasted too long.
“I don’t know.”
“You just said he became the Custodian.”
“Before the accident.”
“Was there an accident?”
“Yes. But the body recovered from the site was not his.”
Evelyn felt anger rise beneath years of discipline.
“You knew.”
“I knew the identification was false. Your grandfather ordered me to protect the official story.”
“Why?”
“Because Samuel disappeared with part of Meridian’s master archive.”
The Custodian managed identities, accounts, leverage files, and emergency funds used to protect the network. Samuel took that archive after discovering Meridian planned to expand into military contracting.
Some members believed he intended to expose them.
Others believed he intended to take control.
Rourke never learned which version was true.
“What happened to my grandfather?” Evelyn asked.
“He spent the rest of his life searching.”
“And Unit 417?”
“A contingency archive.”
“Why was Margaret’s rent paid through his trust?”
“Because he discovered she was alive.”
Margaret stared at Rourke.
“He knew?”
“Yes.”
“Then why did he leave me in Switzerland?”
“He tried to remove you twice. Both attempts failed. The second cost the life of an agent inside the clinic.”
Margaret’s anger gave way to disbelief.
Rourke continued.
“Your grandfather believed the safest option was to let Meridian think you remained controlled while he built evidence.”
“You all decided my life for me,” Margaret said.
“Yes.”
The honesty was brutal.
Evelyn heard movement outside the door. Cole’s team was close.
“Why did you come here alone?” she asked.
“Because the hospital lockdown was activated using my credentials.”
“Again?”
“Someone wants both of you to believe I am the traitor.”
“Are you?”
Rourke looked toward the memory card in the evidence pouch.
“That card contains real records. It also contains a tracking program. The moment you connect it to a secure system, Meridian will map your network.”
Margaret went pale.
“The nurse gave it to me.”
“The nurse was working for Vivian.”
Rourke removed a compact device and placed it on the floor.
“This blocks the tracker temporarily.”
Cole’s team reached the corridor.
The locks released.
Before the agents entered, Rourke said one final thing.
“Vivian is preparing to leave the country tonight. She has the ledger.”
“Where?” Evelyn asked.
“Bellamy House.”
The private club where her platinum card had failed.
Vivian had used the public humiliation as cover.
While everyone watched her rage over a declined card, someone inside the club placed the Meridian ledger into a diplomatic courier case.
Rourke handed Evelyn a photograph captured twenty minutes earlier.
It showed Vivian entering a private elevator beneath Bellamy House.
Adrian stood beside her.
He was no longer in federal custody.
May you like
Someone had used a forged release order to take him.
The authorization carried Evelyn’s digital signature.
