Chapter 11 - Candidate D
Security restored access in ninety seconds.
The building network had been remotely compromised.
No intruder entered.
No one was injured.
But the message changed everything.
Candidate D.
The same designation in the Dominion Gate amendment.
Danielle was not merely an accidental founder.
Someone had selected her.
Federal investigators traced the intrusion through seven countries.
Dead end.
Lena remained focused on crimes they could prove.
Evelyn.
Nathan.
Reed Dalton.
False federal credentials.
Corporate fraud.
Assault.
Potential attempted murder.
Danielle wanted answers about Janus.
The law wanted evidence.
Arthur wanted Jonathan.
Clara wanted Nathan stopped.
Their goals overlapped, but no longer matched.
Marcus requested a meeting.
Danielle refused.
Then he sent one sentence through his attorney.
I can give you Evelyn.
Danielle went.
Marcus sat behind reinforced glass.
No suit now.
Gray detention clothes.
Still arrogant.
Danielle picked up the phone.
Marcus smiled.
“Hi, sweetheart.”
“Where is your mother?”
“Straight to business.”
“You have two minutes.”
“You always hated small talk.”
“One minute fifty.”
Marcus leaned back.
“You think Clara told you everything?”
“I don’t care.”
“You should.”
“One forty.”
“Fine.”
Marcus’s smile vanished.
“My mother is going to Marrow.”
“When?”
“She may already be there.”
“Why?”
“To destroy what’s left.”
“Of what?”
“Janus.”
Danielle studied him.
“You know about it.”
“I grew up around it.”
“What is it?”
Marcus hesitated.
For the first time he looked uncertain.
“A mistake.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“It started before I was born.”
“With Jonathan?”
“No.”
Danielle’s pulse jumped.
Marcus continued.
“My mother didn’t create it.”
“Who did?”
“My grandfather.”
Arthur’s father.
Richard Vance.
Dead eighteen years.
Founder of the original Vance financial empire.
Marcus said, “He believed powerful people weren’t reliable.”
“So?”
“So he funded research into making them reliable.”
Danielle stared.
“Behavior modification.”
“Memory. Loyalty. Fear. Suggestion. Drugs. Psychology.”
“Children?”
Marcus looked away.
Danielle’s voice sharpened.
“Children?”
“Yes.”
The word barely came out.
Danielle felt sick.
“Jonathan?”
“Yes.”
“You?”
Marcus said nothing.
“Marcus.”
He looked back.
“Yes.”
Danielle understood something.
The arrogance.
The coldness.
The strange references to control.
Marcus was not only a participant in the conspiracy.
He might also have been shaped by it.
That did not absolve him.
But it changed the map.
“What happened during the crash?”
Marcus’s face emptied.
“I don’t remember.”
“You were nine.”
“I remember smoke.”
“Your mother leaving Jonathan.”
Marcus flinched.
Danielle saw it.
“You remember.”
“I remember too much and not enough.”
He gripped the phone.
“Do you know what it’s like to have memories you can’t prove belong to you?”
Danielle said nothing.
Marcus whispered, “Sometimes I remember Jonathan dying.”
Pause.
“Sometimes I remember him standing beside my bed three years later.”
Danielle stared.
“You saw him?”
“I don’t know.”
“Why Project Widow?”
Marcus’s face hardened again.
“Money.”
“Only money?”
“At first.”
“What changed?”
“Your technology.”
“Shield?”
He laughed.
“You still think Shield is your product.”
“It is.”
“No.”
Marcus leaned toward the glass.
“Shield is a key.”
“To what?”
“The original Janus archive.”
Danielle’s breathing slowed.
“What archive?”
“Everything.”
“Be specific.”
“Names. Governments. Companies. Patients. Sponsors. Operations.”
Danielle felt cold.
“Where?”
Marcus smiled faintly.
“No one knows.”
“Then what does Shield unlock?”
“Jonathan designed the original encryption.”
“And Thomas used his work to build Meridian.”
“Yes.”
“So Meridian could recreate the key.”
“Yes.”
Danielle stared at him.
“Did you love me?”
The question surprised both of them.
Marcus’s expression changed.
A long silence.
Finally:
“Yes.”
“Was meeting me arranged?”
“Yes.”
“By Evelyn?”
“No.”
Danielle’s hand tightened around the phone.
“By whom?”
Marcus whispered:
“Thomas.”
Danielle closed her eyes.
Of course.
“Did he tell you to marry me?”
“No.”
“What did he tell you?”
Marcus stared directly at her.
“To stay close to Candidate D.”
“Why?”
“Because if Meridian succeeded, everyone would come for you.”
Danielle almost laughed.
“You helped them come for me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
His face turned bitter.
“Because after Thomas supposedly died, my mother showed me what was inside the Janus files.”
“What?”
Marcus’s voice dropped.
“Proof that Arthur isn’t my father.”
Danielle froze.
“What?”
Marcus continued.
“And maybe he isn’t Jonathan’s either.”
Danielle stared through the glass.
Marcus smiled without humor.
“You wanted the truth.”
May you like
He placed his hand against the window.
“Welcome to the family.”
