Chapter 25 - THE BOARDROOM
Sarah had prepared better than any of them realized.
She had taken no phone.
But she had taken one object from Archive Seven.
A thirty year old Haven identification tag.
Brooks had placed a tracking seal inside every piece of recovered evidence.
Sarah knew it.
So did Daniel.
The signal moved north.
Toward an abandoned private hospital formerly funded by the Hale Foundation.
Brooks called tactical teams.
Daniel stayed in the command vehicle.
This time, he did not argue.
He had learned something.
Protecting people did not always mean being the first person through a door.
Inside the hospital, Sarah walked alone.
Vale waited in an old operating theater.
He looked older than the photographs.
Silver hair.
Scar.
Perfectly tailored coat.
"You came."
Sarah stopped ten feet away.
"You knew I would."
Vale smiled.
"You always did mistake guilt for courage."
"And you always mistook fear for loyalty."
He placed a metal case on the table.
"The final archive."
"All copies?"
"Enough."
"You promised all of them."
"I promised what was necessary to make you come."
Sarah expected that.
Vale walked around the table.
"You caused a great deal of trouble."
"You killed my sister."
"Half sister."
Sarah's face hardened.
"So you remember."
"Of course."
"Did you kill Rebecca?"
Vale smiled faintly.
"She killed herself."
Sarah stared.
"By refusing to stop."
"No."
"She knew the road was wet. She knew I was behind her."
"You forced her off it."
Vale did not answer.
Sarah looked toward the ceiling.
Hidden microphone.
Brooks listened from outside.
Vale noticed her glance.
His smile disappeared.
"You brought them."
Sarah said nothing.
Vale moved toward her.
Federal agents entered.
"Hands."
Vale froze.
Then laughed.
"You think this ends Haven?"
Brooks approached.
"It ends your evening."
Vale looked at Daniel through the doorway.
Daniel had left the command vehicle after the building was secured.
Their eyes met for the first time.
Vale seemed disappointed.
"I expected you to look more like Thomas."
"I am glad I do not."
"Your father understood what Haven could become."
"My father eventually understood what it had become."
"Too late."
"Yes."
The answer annoyed Vale.
Daniel was not defending Thomas.
Vale could not use the dead man's sins against him.
Vale looked toward Sarah.
"You think she is a hero?"
Daniel shook his head.
"No."
Sarah looked at him.
"Heroes are for stories."
He continued.
"She abandoned her daughter. Sybil imprisoned my mother. Martin stole money. Thomas built Haven. Rebecca lied to me."
Vale smiled.
"Exactly."
Daniel stepped closer.
"But you are the one who kept turning everyone's worst mistake into your business model."
Vale's smile disappeared.
Brooks handcuffed him.
Then an agent opened the metal case.
Empty.
Vale laughed again.
"You still do not understand."
Brooks searched him.
No drive.
No documents.
Daniel looked at Sarah.
"The final archive?"
Sarah's face changed.
Vale leaned closer.
"There is no final archive."
Daniel stared.
"What?"
"There are hundreds."
Vale smiled.
"Project Haven has been copied for twenty years."
For one second, victory disappeared.
Then Brooks's phone rang.
A federal cyber investigator.
The servers recovered at Northbridge contained Vale's distribution keys.
Every buyer.
Every transfer.
Every storage location they could identify.
Vale heard the conversation.
His smile faded.
Brooks ended the call.
"Hundreds, you said?"
Vale said nothing.
Brooks looked at the agents.
"Take him."
As Vale passed Daniel, he stopped.
"You still do not know who gave me Rebecca's route."
Daniel answered.
"Martin."
Vale smiled.
"Martin gave me the road."
A pause.
"Someone else gave me the reason."
Daniel's blood went cold.
"Who?"
Vale was led away.
He looked back.
"Ask your father."
Thomas was dead.
May you like
But Thomas had left thirty four pages.
Daniel realized there might have been a thirty fifth.
