Chapter 8 - The Honor Guard’s Lie
Mercer led Claire, Lily, Cross, and Voss through the church doors while the remaining honor guards blocked the main entrance with heavy wooden benches.
The coffin remained outside.
Claire stopped at the threshold.
“Nathan told us it could not enter the church.”
“We are not moving it,” Mercer said. “We are moving you.”
A black vehicle broke through the damaged iron gate.
Men wearing unmarked tactical uniforms entered the courtyard.
They did not fire at the soldiers.
They moved directly toward the coffin.
“They want the access terminal intact,” Cross said.
Mercer guided everyone behind the altar and opened a concealed floor panel. Stone steps descended to the old civil defense shelter.
Lily looked back through the church doors.
The six honor guards still stood near the entrance.
One of them removed his ceremonial cap.
The fallen soldier from the funeral was among them.
The same black symbol remained on his wrist.
“Mom, that man woke up.”
Claire followed her gaze.
The soldier caught Lily watching him.
He turned his wrist inward.
“Who is he?” Claire asked.
Mercer looked.
“Staff Sergeant Noah Kells. He served under Nathan for four years.”
“Kells was never assigned to this funeral,” Cross said.
Mercer froze.
“What?”
“I approved the honor guard roster. Noah Kells was not on it.”
The soldier moved away from the entrance and walked toward the coffin while the others faced the approaching tactical unit.
Voss raced across the sanctuary.
“Kells!”
The soldier drew a small device from his ceremonial belt.
Claire recognized the shape.
A voice-cloning recorder.
Kells placed it beside the coffin terminal.
Nathan’s voice came from the device.
“Primary route authorization. Major Nathan Hale.”
The terminal opened.
Claire looked at the brass key in her hand.
The coffin should not have been able to activate without it.
Then she remembered the storybook.
Wrong coffin.
The object outside was not the same coffin that had arrived at dawn.
At some point during the confusion, it had been replaced.
Mercer seemed to reach the same conclusion.
“The second coffin,” he said.
Voss tackled Kells before he could complete the authorization.
The tactical unit surged forward.
The honor guard turned.
Instead of defending the church, three soldiers lowered their weapons and allowed the unit to pass.
The funeral guard had been divided from the beginning.
Some belonged to Nathan.
Some belonged to Wren.
No one knew which was which.
Cross pulled Lily toward the shelter.
Claire remained near the altar.
“No more running.”
“Claire,” Cross warned.
“Nathan built this moment because he wanted the people in the guard to reveal themselves.”
She looked toward Mercer.
“You said every action you took was reasonable because Nathan designed it. Then help me finish the design.”
Mercer understood.
He took the church microphone.
His voice thundered through the courtyard speakers.
“By order of the military oversight council, all personnel attached to Operation Lantern are commanded to identify themselves.”
Nothing happened.
Then one soldier stepped away from the coffin.
Voss.
He faced the church and raised his empty hands.
“Lantern One.”
Cross joined him.
“Lantern Three.”
A second honor guard turned away from the tactical unit.
“Lantern Five.”
Then the fallen soldier, Noah Kells, rose from the ground.
He looked toward the black vehicles.
“Lantern Seven.”
Claire stared.
Kells had not been working for Wren.
He had used Nathan’s cloned voice to force the hidden members of the operation to choose sides.
Four soldiers remained with the tactical unit.
One removed his helmet.
General Silas Wren stepped forward.
He was older than Claire remembered, with silver hair and a calm, almost fatherly expression.
“Colonel Mercer,” he called, “you have exceeded the purpose for which you were useful.”
Mercer walked into the courtyard.
“You altered Nathan’s medical transfer.”
“I corrected your mistake.”
“You turned Lantern into a market.”
“I turned it into a system powerful enough to survive idealists like Nathan Hale.”
Wren looked toward Claire.
“Mrs. Hale, the brass key belongs to the state.”
“It belonged to my husband.”
“Your husband stole it.”
Lily appeared beside Claire.
“My dad said you steal people.”
Wren’s expression did not change.
“Your father told many stories.”
“He also recorded them.”
Lily lifted the tape recorder.
The red light was on.
Every word spoken in the courtyard had been captured.
Wren smiled.
“Recordings are easily dismissed.”
“But live broadcasts are not,” Cross said.
He pointed toward the television vans beyond the fence.
The church microphone was connected to the outdoor speakers.
Kells had connected those speakers to the press frequency before the funeral began.
Wren’s confession had been transmitted to every reporter outside.
The tactical officers looked at one another.
Several lowered their weapons.
Mercer stepped toward Wren.
“General Silas Wren, you are under arrest for unlawful detention, conspiracy, falsification of military records, and the operation of an unauthorized intelligence network.”
Wren did not resist.
He only looked at the coffin.
“You still believe this was about me.”
The terminal activated again.
The countdown returned.
00:09:58.
May you like
Wren smiled at Claire.
“Your husband is about to open Lantern from the other side.”
