Chapter 6 - The Man Wearing Her Father’s Face
Amelia stared at the man in the hospital bed.
Every detail resembled Elias Brooks.
The small notch in his left eyebrow.
The uneven shape of his right ear.
The burn scar near his thumb from a childhood accident Amelia’s mother used to describe.
But twenty-two years had passed since Amelia stood beside her father’s coffin.
“You died,” she said.
“So I was told.”
“That does not answer me.”
“No.”
Alarms continued to pulse.
The man removed a sensor from his finger.
“If Olivia finds you here, she will move to the final stage.”
“What final stage?”
“Your children.”
Amelia raised the pistol.
“What does she plan to do?”
“Not harm them.”
“That answer will not keep you alive.”
A sad smile touched his face.
“You sound like your mother.”
“My mother died believing you were buried.”
His expression collapsed.
“I know.”
“Did you abandon us?”
“No.”
“Did you work for Blackridge?”
“I infiltrated it.”
“Why were you photographed with Helen Vale years after your death?”
He looked toward the camera again.
“Because Helen helped keep me alive.”
Amelia remembered Helen’s fear in the library.
“Robert said you investigated his company.”
“I did.”
“Was he involved?”
“At first, unknowingly. Later, he chose not to see.”
“And Helen?”
“Helen saw everything.”
The facility lights changed from white to red.
A voice sounded over the intercom.
“Colonel Brooks, place the weapon on the floor.”
Olivia.
Amelia moved beside the bed, using the wall as cover.
“Open the doors.”
“No.”
“I will begin sealing the oxygen system.”
The man pulled himself upright.
“She is bluffing.”
Amelia checked the monitor.
The oxygen level in the room had already begun dropping.
“She prepared the bluff carefully.”
He swung his legs over the bed.
He was weak but mobile.
“There is a maintenance shaft behind the cabinet.”
Amelia pulled it aside.
A narrow steel panel appeared.
“You knew I would come here.”
“I hoped.”
“You allowed Olivia to abduct me.”
“I allowed her to believe she controlled the route.”
Amelia pointed the weapon at him.
“Are you working with her?”
“No.”
“Then who are you working with?”
He looked at her.
“The same unit you once commanded.”
The silver wolf.
Amelia’s grip tightened.
“My unit was dissolved.”
“Publicly.”
“General Grant would have told me.”
“Samuel Grant cannot tell you what he does not know.”
A locking mechanism engaged outside the room.
Elias opened the maintenance panel.
“You have twelve seconds to decide whether you want answers or revenge.”
Amelia heard boots in the corridor.
She entered the shaft.
Elias followed and sealed the panel behind them.
They crawled through darkness as the medical room door burst open.
The shaft descended toward a maintenance tunnel filled with pipes.
Elias moved faster than Amelia expected.
At the first junction, he pressed a hidden switch.
A door opened into an old service elevator.
They stepped inside.
“Where does this lead?” Amelia asked.
“An abandoned railway passage.”
“How long have you been in this facility?”
“Eight months.”
“As a patient?”
“As bait.”
“For me?”
“For Olivia.”
The elevator descended.
Elias leaned against the wall, breathing heavily.
“She believes I possess the complete Orion ledger. I allowed her to keep me alive while I fed her fragments.”
“You manipulated her into finding me.”
“I kept her from finding you for years.”
“Until now.”
“Because Marcus exposed your trust.”
Amelia closed her eyes briefly.
Every path returned to Marcus.
“What is in the Orion ledger?”
“The identities of military and intelligence assets placed inside private defense companies after Blackridge collapsed.”
“Why would Olivia want it?”
“To sell the names.”
“To whom?”
“Anyone willing to pay.”
The elevator stopped.
They entered a tunnel beneath the facility.
Old railway tracks disappeared into darkness.
Elias took a flashlight from an emergency box.
“Follow me.”
Amelia did not move.
“My husband said he had heard of Orion.”
Elias’s face hardened.
“Then Olivia has told him too much.”
“Did Marcus know I was the access point?”
“I don’t know.”
“You expect me to trust you?”
“No.”
“Good.”
Amelia gestured with the weapon.
“You walk in front.”
They followed the tracks for nearly half a mile.
At the far end, a steel ladder led to a drainage channel beside an industrial road.
A black military SUV waited beneath an overpass.
General Grant stood beside it.
When he saw Elias, he drew his weapon.
“Step away from her.”
Elias raised both hands.
“Samuel.”
“You’re dead.”
“So people keep telling me.”
Grant looked at Amelia.
“Are you injured?”
“No.”
“The twins?”
“Still moving.”
Grant lowered the weapon only slightly.
His soldiers surrounded Elias.
“Take him into custody.”
Elias did not resist.
As they secured his hands, he looked at Amelia.
“Ask Samuel about Operation Winter Glass.”
Grant’s expression changed.
Elias continued.
“Ask him who ordered your mother’s death.”
Grant struck him across the face.
Amelia stepped between them.
“Enough.”
The soldiers froze.
Even after years away, the authority in her voice remained.
Amelia looked at Grant.
“What was Operation Winter Glass?”
“A failed recovery mission.”
“Was my mother involved?”
“No.”
“Was my father?”
Grant said nothing.
Elias wiped blood from his lip.
“Tell her.”
Grant turned away.
Amelia grabbed his arm.
He stopped.
“Tell me.”
General Grant looked older than he had on the secure call.
“Winter Glass was the operation that extracted your father after Blackridge discovered him.”
“My mother was told he died.”
“To protect her.”
“She died six years later.”
Grant lowered his voice.
“Her death was recorded as a car accident.”
“It was a car accident.”
“No.”
Amelia’s stomach tightened.
Grant looked toward Elias.
“Someone leaked the extraction. The people hunting your father believed your mother knew where he was.”
“Who leaked it?”
“We never proved it.”
Elias spoke from behind the soldiers.
“Helen Vale.”
Amelia turned.
Elias shook his head.
“But she did not do it willingly.”
Before Amelia could ask what he meant, Grant’s radio activated.
A soldier’s voice came through in panic.
“General, we have a situation at the Vale residence. Marcus Vale has disappeared.”
Amelia took the radio.
“What about his parents?”
“Alive. Olivia Hart was seen entering the property ten minutes before he vanished.”
“And the security team?”
“Two officers unconscious. One vehicle missing.”
Amelia looked at Elias.
“Where would Olivia take him?”
Elias stared toward the road.
“She would not take him anywhere.”
“Then where is he?”
May you like
Elias’s face darkened.
“If Marcus has the Orion fragment, he went to her willingly.”
