Chapter 12 - The Crown Relay
The vault beneath Hangar 17 was older than anyone expected.
Cold War construction.
Reinforced walls.
Mechanical locks backed by modern biometric readers.
Warden had been rebuilt repeatedly on top of its own history.
Rachel, Daniel, Caroline, Thomas, Sloane, General Hayes, Victoria, and Officer Cole entered the central relay chamber.
Three terminals lit automatically.
PRIMARY.
SECONDARY.
CUSTODIAN.
Daniel stood at Primary.
Caroline at Secondary.
The Custodian terminal remained blank.
Sloane whispered, "That was Frederick."
Rachel checked the system.
"Crown has locked external override."
Thomas watched the countdown.
Twenty-four minutes.
Daniel placed his hand on the scanner.
Caroline did the same.
The screens activated.
COUNTERMAND AVAILABLE.
Daniel exhaled.
"Do it."
They selected countermand.
ACCESS DENIED.
CUSTODIAN AUTHORIZATION REQUIRED.
Caroline slammed her hand against the terminal.
"Of course."
Rachel looked toward Sloane.
"Can you impersonate the custodian?"
"No. Frederick's biometric profile is required."
Daniel stared.
"Then we're finished."
Sloane shook his head.
"Not necessarily."
He opened a maintenance panel.
"If Warden recognizes the Custodian as deceased, successor authority can override."
Rachel looked at him.
"Frederick isn't dead."
"Officially he is."
"Does Warden know?"
Sloane checked.
CUSTODIAN STATUS: ACTIVE.
Daniel laughed.
"So his fake death doesn't count."
Thomas examined network activity.
"Something is communicating with the vault."
Rachel looked over.
A single encrypted connection.
Local.
Inside Fort Alden.
The Custodian was authenticated nearby.
Daniel whispered, "He's here."
Rachel looked at the map.
They could triangulate.
Sloane ran the trace.
It pointed not to the hangar.
Not the ballroom.
The installation hospital.
Victoria covered her mouth.
Daniel looked at her.
"You knew."
"No."
"You saw him three months ago. Where did he say he was staying?"
Victoria began shaking.
"He said there was one place no one would search."
Rachel understood.
A patient.
Under another identity.
She called Fort Alden Hospital.
No answer through jammed communications.
Thomas accessed the internal emergency system.
They searched recent admissions matching Frederick's approximate age.
One patient appeared.
John Miller.
Sixty-seven.
Admitted four days earlier for cardiac monitoring.
No verified civilian history.
Room 614.
Rachel looked at Daniel.
"Stay here."
"No."
"Daniel, if both successors leave, Lantern cannot be countermanded."
Caroline nodded.
"She's right."
Daniel hated it.
Rachel turned to Thomas and Cole.
"With me."
Sloane stayed to keep the system open.
Hayes remained with Caroline.
Victoria stayed beside Daniel.
Rachel entered the elevator.
Before the doors closed, Daniel called her name.
She looked back.
For all the lies between them, for all the secrets, he was still her husband.
"Bring him back," Daniel said.
Rachel nodded.
The hospital was six minutes away by vehicle.
They made it in four.
Room 614 was empty.
Bed still warm.
Cardiac leads disconnected.
A cup of coffee sat untouched.
Thomas checked hallway cameras.
A nurse had escorted John Miller out nine minutes earlier.
Rachel froze the frame.
The nurse was not a nurse.
Colonel Marcus Vale.
Thomas stared.
"Vale is dead."
Rachel enlarged the face.
It looked exactly like him.
Too exactly.
Mask.
Prosthetic.
Or twin.
Rachel remembered Vale's death.
Monroe is not the target.
Maybe the man who died was not Vale.
"Find the real staff ID."
Thomas searched.
The badge belonged to a nurse currently on leave.
They followed the camera trail to a stairwell.
Six floors down.
Loading level.
A black vehicle waited.
Rachel and Cole reached the loading bay as it started moving.
Cole raised his weapon.
Rachel stopped him.
"Too many oxygen lines."
A collision could kill patients nearby.
The vehicle accelerated.
Then stopped.
Driver's door opened.
A man stepped out.
No Vale face now.
He removed a realistic silicone mask.
Gray hair beneath.
Scar across left cheek.
Daniel's father.
Frederick Whitmore.
Jonathan Mercer.
Alive.
He raised both hands.
Thomas aimed at him.
Rachel did not.
Frederick looked at her.
"You got old."
Rachel almost laughed.
"So did you."
"Where's Daniel?"
"In your vault trying to stop your disaster."
Frederick flinched.
"Fair."
Rachel stepped closer.
"Authenticate Custodian."
"I can't."
"Why?"
Frederick looked toward the vehicle.
"Because Crown took it."
Rachel frowned.
"Took what?"
He lifted his left sleeve.
Where a biometric implant should have been embedded beneath his forearm was a fresh surgical wound.
"They removed my Custodian key six hours ago."
Thomas whispered, "That's why he recorded the message."
Frederick nodded.
"I escaped before they could kill me."
Rachel looked at the countdown on Thomas's tablet.
Fourteen minutes.
"Who has the key?"
Frederick's face hardened.
"Someone in the vault."
Rachel went cold.
"Who?"
Frederick looked at her.
"You brought them down there."
Rachel understood.
"The second successor."
Frederick shook his head.
"No."
May you like
"Then who?"
Frederick whispered, "Samuel Hayes."
