Chapter 8 - THE MAN ETHAN TRUSTED MOST
Mason did not deny it.
That was worse.
Ethan stared at the man who had once taught him how to survive capture, how to read hostile terrain, how to identify lies.
“Tell me he’s wrong.”
Mason’s silence stretched.
Christine whispered, “Oh my God.”
Ethan stepped closer.
“You worked for them.”
“Yes.”
The word was almost inaudible.
Ethan hit him.
One punch.
Mason crashed into the wall.
He did not defend himself.
Ethan grabbed him by the jacket.
“You spent twenty years pretending to help me.”
“I did help you.”
“You helped put me there.”
“No.”
“Were you security director?”
“Yes.”
“Then choose your next answer carefully.”
Mason’s nose bled.
“I joined LANTERN because I was ordered to.”
“So were Nazis.”
“I know.”
“Don’t you dare give me obedience as an excuse.”
“I’m not.”
Mason looked at him.
“I’m giving you cowardice.”
The room fell silent.
“I told myself the program prevented attacks. I told myself the people inside were dangerous. Then they brought you in.”
“Why?”
“You recovered a ledger.”
“What ledger?”
“Payments.”
“To whom?”
“Politicians. Contractors. military officers. judges.”
Vale said, “The network Frank served.”
Ethan looked at him.
“What network?”
Vale answered, “We called it the Consortium.”
Mason wiped blood from his mouth.
“Ethan found proof that private contractors were manufacturing intelligence threats to justify black budgets.”
Christine stared.
“Manufacturing?”
“Funding extremist groups. Then receiving money to fight them.”
Vale nodded.
“A profitable circle.”
Ethan felt disgust.
“And I found evidence.”
“You found the financial core.”
“Where?”
“Nangarhar.”
A memory flashed.
A dead courier.
A waterproof drive.
Numbers.
Ethan whispered, “I gave it to Mason.”
Mason’s eyes filled with shame.
“Yes.”
“What did you do?”
“I delivered it to command.”
“No.”
Mason looked down.
“I delivered it to Frank.”
Ethan hit him again.
This time Mason fell.
Christine didn’t move to help.
Vale watched.
Ethan stood over Mason.
“Why?”
“Because Frank was listed as internal oversight.”
“You were stupid.”
“Yes.”
“What happened next?”
“You disappeared twelve hours later.”
Ethan laughed once.
“So you searched six months for the man you helped kidnap.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I realized what I had done.”
“That doesn’t make you good.”
“I know.”
“It makes you late.”
“I know.”
Ethan turned away.
Mason slowly stood.
“I spent twenty-two years trying to dismantle the Consortium.”
“How many are left?”
“I don’t know.”
Vale answered.
“Enough.”
Ethan looked at him.
“Frank?”
“Frank wasn’t leadership.”
Christine stared.
“My father controlled Site Twelve.”
“One site,” Vale said. “The Consortium controlled dozens.”
Ethan’s phone buzzed again.
Rachel.
He answered.
“What?”
“Jake’s awake.”
“Good.”
“He remembered something.”
Ethan listened.
Rachel continued.
“He said there was a woman at the summer camp.”
“What woman?”
“He doesn’t know.”
“Describe her.”
“Blonde. Maybe forties. Scar on her hand.”
Christine whispered, “Susan.”
Ethan looked at her.
“Who?”
“My aunt.”
“Your father’s sister?”
Christine nodded.
“She disappeared when I was nineteen.”
Vale stood abruptly.
“What was her name?”
“Susan Walker.”
Vale’s face changed.
“That’s impossible.”
“Why?”
“Because Susan Walker was one of LANTERN’s founders.”
Christine stared.
“No.”
Vale nodded.
“She specialized in pediatric cognition.”
Ethan went cold.
“Jake’s camp.”
“Yes.”
Christine shook her head.
“My aunt taught elementary school.”
“Cover occupation.”
Ethan’s encrypted phone beeped.
A file arrived from Rachel.
An image Jake had drawn.
A building.
Trees.
A red door.
Five stick figures.
One labeled GRANDPA.
One labeled AUNT SUSAN.
One labeled DOCTOR.
One labeled ME.
And one figure standing behind a window.
Jake had written one word beneath it.
CALEB.
Ethan stared at the drawing.
“Jake saw Caleb.”
Vale came closer.
“When?”
“Two years ago.”
Vale whispered, “Then Caleb was involved.”
Ethan looked at him.
“You said Frank kidnapped Caleb’s daughter.”
“I believed he did.”
“Maybe Caleb is working with Frank.”
“No.”
“How would you know?”
“Because Caleb has spent twenty years trying to destroy everything I built.”
Ethan looked at the drawing again.
Jake had added one more detail in the window.
A hand pressed against the glass.
Three fingers extended.
Vale noticed.
His expression collapsed.
“What?”
Vale whispered, “That was our signal.”
“What signal?”
“When Caleb was six, I told him if he was ever afraid and couldn’t speak, hold up three fingers.”
Ethan stared at him.
“So he wasn’t working with them.”
“No.”
May you like
Vale’s voice broke for the first time.
“He was a prisoner.”
