Chapter 13 - The Brother Who Came Home
At 0800, a military aircraft landed.
Elena stood beside the runway.
Ryan, Price, Mercer, and dozens of officers waited behind her.
The aircraft door opened.
A man stepped down.
Gray at his temples.
Tall.
Controlled.
Alive.
Michael Graves.
Elena didn't move.
Michael approached.
For eighteen years she had imagined this moment.
She had imagined embracing him.
Hitting him.
Demanding answers.
Instead, she saluted.
"General."
Michael returned it.
"Commander."
Then he hugged her.
Elena remained rigid.
"You bastard."
Michael almost smiled.
"I know."
She pushed him away.
"You let me believe you were dead."
"I had no choice."
"Everybody keeps saying that."
Michael looked toward Ryan.
"Andrew's son."
Ryan rolled his eyes.
"Apparently that's what everyone calls me now."
Michael's expression softened.
"Your father saved my life."
Ryan immediately became serious.
"How?"
"Later."
Elena stepped between them.
"No."
Michael looked at her.
"Everything happens later. Not anymore."
She pointed toward headquarters.
"You're going to tell us everything."
Inside the command center, Michael explained.
He had spent eighteen years inside Halcyon.
Not working for it.
Hiding within it.
Sentinel had evolved into an algorithmic behavioral prediction system.
Military records were only one dataset.
Corporate employees.
Political staff.
Police departments.
Universities.
Private citizens.
Millions of profiles.
"That's impossible," Price said.
Michael looked at her.
"You carry a phone?"
She stopped.
Michael continued.
"People volunteer behavioral data every minute."
Elena folded her arms.
"Why return now?"
"Because Sentinel selected its first operational command."
Ryan frowned.
"This base?"
Michael nodded.
"Why?"
"Because of Elena."
She stared.
Michael brought up a projection.
A network of profiles appeared.
At the center was Elena.
"Sentinel predicts that within eighteen months you will be promoted into a position capable of influencing its future."
Elena laughed coldly.
"So it wants me removed."
Michael shook his head.
"No."
He zoomed in.
"It wants you promoted."
Nobody spoke.
Elena looked at him.
"Why?"
Michael's answer was quiet.
"Because according to Sentinel, you're controllable."
Elena's face hardened.
Ryan almost laughed.
"Then the computer's broken."
Michael looked at him.
"No."
He opened another file.
It contained footage from the bar.
Ryan pouring beer.
Jake dumping fries.
Elena remaining calm.
Michael froze the image.
"That was the final test."
Elena stared at him.
"You arranged it?"
"No."
"Then who did?"
Michael looked toward Matt.
Matt's face suddenly changed.
Ryan noticed.
"Matt?"
Matt stepped backward.
Michael spoke.
"Tell them."
Matt looked at Elena.
May you like
"I'm sorry, Commander."
Then every door in the command center locked.
