Chapter 13 - The General Behind the Door
Rachel stared at Frederick.
"General Hayes?"
"He was Crown before Grayhaven."
Thomas raised his weapon slightly.
"General Hayes is in the vault with both successors."
Frederick nodded.
"That's the point."
Rachel turned toward the vehicle.
"We go now."
Frederick followed.
Rachel stopped.
"You stay where I can see your hands."
"I taught you better than that."
"You didn't teach me anything."
Frederick almost smiled.
"Also fair."
They reached the vault with eight minutes remaining.
The elevator doors opened.
Officer Cole exited first.
Rachel followed.
Daniel was shouting.
Caroline stood away from her terminal.
Sloane was on the floor.
Blood at his temple.
Victoria was screaming.
General Hayes held a pistol.
His left arm was locked around Caroline's neck.
The Custodian implant had been attached to the terminal with a wired interface.
Hayes looked toward the elevator.
Then saw Frederick.
His face broke.
"You."
Frederick stepped forward.
"Samuel."
Caroline stared at her father.
"Dad, please."
Hayes tightened his grip.
"You shouldn't have come back, Jonathan."
Daniel stood at the Primary terminal.
Rachel could see fury in his face.
"Let her go."
Hayes laughed.
"You still think she's your sister?"
Daniel froze.
Rachel watched Hayes.
Psychological disruption.
He wanted Daniel confused before activation.
Frederick said, "She isn't."
Caroline's eyes filled.
Rachel looked at Frederick.
"Explain."
"Caroline's reference profile was substituted. Samuel arranged it."
Hayes smiled.
Caroline whispered, "Why?"
Hayes's face became almost gentle.
"Because I needed a secondary successor I could control."
Caroline stopped breathing.
Rachel understood.
Hayes had raised her for that purpose.
Maybe not from birth.
But long enough.
"You built my entire life around this?" Caroline asked.
Hayes looked pained.
"I loved you."
"Don't."
"I did."
"Don't say that."
Hayes's expression hardened again.
"Crown prevented wars. Presidents changed. Cabinets collapsed. Politicians leaked secrets for polls. Warden was too dangerous to leave to idealists."
Frederick laughed.
"You became everything it was built to stop."
Hayes looked at him.
"Warden needed stability."
"You mean ownership."
Hayes pointed the gun toward Frederick.
"You always lacked discipline."
Frederick looked at Daniel.
"And he inherited that."
Daniel glared.
"Not interested in bonding."
Despite everything, Rachel almost smiled.
Countdown.
Six minutes.
Rachel needed Hayes away from Caroline.
"Samuel," she said.
Hayes looked toward her.
"You know I have the key."
His expression changed.
"The mnemonic sequence?"
Rachel nodded.
"Frederick told me."
"You don't consciously remember it."
"I remembered enough."
Lie.
Hayes watched her.
Rachel stepped closer.
"You need me alive. That's why my target designation says recover."
Hayes's weapon shifted slightly.
Good.
"Let Caroline go and I'll give you the sequence."
Frederick stared at Rachel.
He knew she was lying.
Hayes did not.
"How?"
Rachel touched her temple.
"You know exactly how."
Hayes loosened his arm around Caroline.
"Come here."
Rachel moved.
Daniel said, "Rachel."
She ignored him.
Three minutes forty seconds.
Rachel approached Hayes.
"Release her first."
"No."
"Then you get nothing."
Hayes pressed the pistol against Caroline.
Rachel kept moving.
At six feet, she saw the tremor in his hand.
At five, she saw Caroline preparing herself.
At four, Frederick shifted.
Hayes noticed him.
That was enough.
Caroline dropped suddenly.
Rachel struck Hayes's gun arm.
The shot exploded into the ceiling.
Daniel tackled him from the side.
Frederick reached the Custodian terminal.
Cole restrained Hayes.
Thomas pulled Caroline away.
Countdown.
Two minutes nine seconds.
Frederick examined the severed implant.
"Damaged."
Sloane woke groggily.
"Bridge the contact manually."
Frederick looked at him.
"With what?"
Sloane pointed toward the Custodian port.
"Your blood."
Frederick understood.
Biometric conductivity.
He cut his palm against a broken casing edge and pressed it against the reader.
CUSTODIAN PARTIAL MATCH.
Rachel looked at Daniel.
"Now."
Daniel authorized.
Caroline did too.
COUNTERMAND PENDING.
Then the screen changed.
SECONDARY SUCCESSOR INVALID.
Caroline stared.
"No."
Frederick looked at Hayes.
"What did you do?"
Hayes laughed from the floor.
"I told you. She was never real."
Rachel checked the protocol.
Without a valid secondary, no countermand.
One minute.
Daniel shouted, "There has to be another way."
Frederick stared at the screen.
"There is."
Rachel looked at him.
Frederick entered an administrator command.
TRUE LINEAGE RESTORE.
The system requested a DNA profile.
Frederick placed his bleeding palm on the reader.
A database search began.
Thirty seconds.
Match found.
SECONDARY SUCCESSOR LOCATED.
Everyone stared.
A name appeared.
RACHEL E. MONROE.
Rachel stopped breathing.
Daniel looked at her.
Caroline whispered, "What?"
Rachel stared at Frederick.
"You said..."
Frederick looked genuinely shocked.
"I didn't know."
The countdown reached twenty seconds.
The system requested Rachel's hand.
Daniel shouted, "Rachel."
She placed her palm against the Secondary scanner.
BIOLOGICAL LINEAGE CONFIRMED.
Rachel looked at Frederick.
He looked as terrified as she felt.
"How am I your daughter?"
"You're not."
The countdown reached ten.
"Then why?"
Frederick whispered, "Because the lineage doesn't come from me."
Five.
Rachel authorized.
Daniel authorized.
COUNTERMAND ACCEPTED.
One.
Zero.
Silence.
Then every screen changed.
OPERATION LANTERN TERMINATED.
Across the world, Warden cells stood down.
Nobody moved.
Rachel looked at the new lineage file.
One hidden identity appeared beneath her name.
MATERNAL CONNECTION VERIFIED.
Rachel's mother.
Eleanor Monroe.
A woman Rachel had watched die when she was nineteen.
May you like
Beside Eleanor's name appeared an original project designation.
CROWN FOUNDER.
