Chapter 8 - The Voice on the Unfinished Recording
Elise reached the service corridor before the emergency lights came on.
Daniel had disabled the internal doors long enough for Noah and Olivia to escape Conrad’s office. The four of them regrouped near the loading dock and left through an underground vehicle exit.
No one followed.
That worried Elise more than pursuit would have.
Conrad had allowed them to leave with Section Two.
Either he believed the chip contained nothing useful, or he wanted them to open it for him.
They drove to Daniel’s secure apartment outside Arlington.
By three in the morning, Section Two had been decrypted.
The files contained video inspections from Vale manufacturing plants. Employees were shown replacing approved components after military inspectors left.
There were also internal messages authorizing false safety certifications.
Conrad’s name appeared throughout the records.
Samuel Wren’s name did not.
Instead, the messages referred to him as Keeper.
Olivia sat beside Noah at the kitchen table.
Neither had spoken for several minutes.
The files destroyed any remaining doubt about Conrad’s role. They also proved Thomas had been framed before his final flight.
But one file remained locked.
Its title was OLIVIA.
Elise entered every password Thomas might have used.
His daughter’s birthday.
His commissioning date.
The name of his first ship.
Nothing worked.
Olivia approached the computer.
“Try the date he promised to come home.”
Elise looked at her.
“The morning he left, he said he would return before my school concert. He made me circle the date on the calendar.”
Olivia entered the date.
The file opened.
Thomas appeared on the screen.
The video was damaged. Half the image was covered by static, but his face was visible.
He was not inside an aircraft.
He was sitting in a concrete room.
“If Olivia sees this,” he began, “then Elise found the second section.”
Olivia covered her mouth.
Noah reached for her hand.
Thomas continued.
“Liv, I am sorry. I believed disappearing would keep you alive. Wren said Conrad’s people would stop watching you if the world believed I was dead.”
Elise leaned closer.
The recording date appeared in the corner.
It had been made four years after Thomas’s supposed death.
Olivia’s knees weakened.
“He survived.”
Elise helped her into a chair.
Thomas looked directly into the camera.
“I was injured during the flight, but the aircraft did not crash. The transmitter had been altered, exactly as I suspected. I landed at a private airstrip controlled by North Meridian.”
The image skipped.
“Wren moved me before Conrad’s men arrived. At first, I believed he saved me. Then I learned he intended to use the ledger to control Vale rather than expose him.”
Daniel stood behind Elise.
“So Thomas became Wren’s prisoner.”
On the recording, Thomas looked thinner with each jump in time.
“I divided the ledger again. Section Three contains the identities of every official involved, including the person commanding Wren.”
The audio cracked.
“I hid it where Conrad would never search because he believes celebrations make people careless.”
The wedding.
Thomas lifted something toward the camera.
A microphone battery.
“The final section is inside the wireless system assigned to Olivia’s wedding venue. I arranged the transfer years ago through a maintenance contract.”
Olivia looked at Elise.
“The ballroom microphone.”
The recording continued.
“If I fail to send a verification code every year, the venue system will automatically transfer the file to a secure archive. But Wren discovered the mechanism. He will try to intercept it during the wedding.”
Elise paused the video.
“That explains the black folder in the photograph.”
Noah frowned.
“My father chose that venue.”
“Because Wren directed him to it,” Daniel said.
Elise resumed the recording.
Thomas’s final words were distorted.
“Olivia, trust Elise. Trust the man who chooses you over his name. And when the salute begins, do not look at the officers who stand.”
The screen flickered.
“Look at the one who remains seated.”
The video ended.
No one moved.
Noah stared at the dark screen.
“He knew about the wedding?”
“The video could have been updated later,” Daniel said.
Olivia shook her head.
“No. Look at the date.”
The recording had been modified six days earlier.
Thomas Mercer was alive.
Somewhere.
And someone had given him access to the wedding system.
Elise replayed the final sentence.
Look at the one who remains seated.
Conrad would remain seated out of pride.
That answer was too obvious.
Thomas had taught them to distrust obvious answers.
Elise looked at Noah.
“Who is attending your wedding that should recognize an admiral’s salute?”
Noah opened the guest list.
Military officials.
Defense executives.
Politicians.
Former intelligence officers.
More than forty people would recognize the gesture.
Then Olivia pointed to a name near the bottom.
Eleanor Vale.
Noah’s mother.
She had spent fifteen years married to the most powerful defense contractor in the room.
Her father had been a Navy officer.
Her brother had served under Elise.
She would understand the salute.
Yet according to Conrad, Eleanor had become too ill to attend.
Noah looked at the name.
“My mother told me she was coming.”
“When?” Elise asked.
“This morning.”
A message appeared on Noah’s phone.
It was from Eleanor.
DO NOT BELIEVE ANYTHING YOUR FATHER SAYS ABOUT ME.
May you like
A second message followed.
I FOUND THOMAS.
