Chapter 6: The Girl in Oregon
The hatch buckled a third time.
A screw shot across the storage room and struck the wall beside my head.
“Give me the drive!”” Vale shouted.
Tyler stared at me.
“Don't.””
I looked at him.
He was shaking.
“Don't what?””
“Don't give it to him.””
“You just heard him.””
“He's lying.””
A fourth impact slammed against the hatch.
The metal bowed inward.
“Elena!”” Rourke shouted.
“How do we get out?””
Elena was already moving.
“Through the archive.””
She kicked open a narrow door hidden behind a row of filing cabinets.
Darkness waited beyond it.
I grabbed Tyler's arm.
“Move.””
We ran.
The passage was barely wide enough for two people.
Pipes crossed the ceiling.
Water dripped onto the concrete.
Behind us, the hatch groaned again.
Then came a gunshot.
Someone screamed.
Rourke pushed us faster.
“Keep moving!””
We reached a steel staircase.
Elena climbed first.
Tyler followed.
I was halfway up when I heard a voice behind me.
“Eleanor!””
Vale.
He was through.
I turned.
At the bottom of the stairs stood two armed men.
Vale wasn't with them.
That frightened me more.
One man raised his rifle.
Rourke fired from the landing.
The shot hit the metal railing.
The men ducked.
“Go!”” he shouted.
We climbed.
At the top was another locked door.
Elena entered a code.
Nothing happened.
“Again.””
She tried.
Red light.
Denied.
“Why isn't it working?”” Tyler asked.
“They changed the code.””
He looked at me.
“Can you open it?””
I stared at the keypad.
The sequence was military standard, but the system wasn't.
Someone had modified the access protocol.
I remembered the first time I'd seen that software.
Eight years earlier.
Black Ridge.
I entered a sequence.
The light turned green.
Tyler stared.
“How did you know?””
“I didn't.””
The lock clicked.
We entered a concrete room filled with server racks.
Blue lights blinked in rows.
The air was cold enough to sting my lungs.
Elena shut the door.
Rourke dragged a steel cabinet in front of it.
“Thirty seconds,” he said.
I looked around.
“What is this?””
“A mirror server,” Elena said.
“For what?””
“The original Black Ridge records.””
Rourke looked at the racks.
“Why would this still be here?””
“Because nobody knew it existed.””
Tyler laughed bitterly.
“That's what we've been saying for eight years.””
Elena ignored him.
She moved to a terminal.
“Where's the drive?””
I held it up.
“Right here.””
“Plug it in.””
Rourke caught my wrist.
“No.””
I looked at him.
“Why?””
“We don't know what it does.””
“We know what happens if Vale gets it.””
He released my wrist.
I inserted the drive.
The monitor flickered.
A black screen appeared.
Then a password prompt.
Elena looked at me.
“Do you know it?””
“No.””
Tyler stepped forward.
“I might.””
I stared at him.
“What?””
He looked embarrassed.
“It was something Vale used.””
“Try it.””
He entered six letters.
Denied.
He tried again.
Denied.
Then he closed his eyes.
“Lily.””
Denied.
I looked at him.
“Try Fury Ten.””
He did.
Denied.
The terminal flashed red.
ACCESS REQUIRES BIOMETRIC CONFIRMATION.
I stared.
“Biometric.””
Elena looked at my hands.
“Yours.””
I put my thumb on the scanner.
Nothing.
“Again.””
I pressed harder.
A light turned green.
The screen changed.
WELCOME, FURY TEN.
Below it appeared a list.
OPERATIONS.
CASUALTIES.
CHILDREN.
I felt sick.
Elena whispered, “There.””
I selected CHILDREN.
Hundreds of files appeared.
Tyler moved closer.
“That's impossible.””
Rows of names filled the screen.
Some had dates.
Some had locations.
Some had one word beside them.
TRANSFERRED.
DECEASED.
ACTIVE.
My eyes moved down the list.
Then stopped.
LILY HAYES.
Status: ACTIVE.
Location: SALEM, OREGON.
I stepped back.
“She's alive.””
Tyler covered his mouth.
Rourke stared at the screen.
“Get the address.””
The file opened.
A foster placement record appeared.
Lily Hayes.
Age: Eight.
School: West Salem Elementary.
Emergency contact: Abigail Mercer.
I looked at Elena.
“Mercer.””
She nodded.
“Daniel's wife.””
Tyler's face changed.
“She's with Mercer's family?””
“Apparently.””
A new field appeared.
MEDICAL FLAG: CRITICAL.
I leaned closer.
“What does that mean?””
Elena's expression tightened.
“It means she's being monitored.””
“For what?””
“Possible inherited exposure.””
Rourke stared at the screen.
“Exposure to what?””
Elena didn't answer.
“Say it.””
She looked at me.
“Whatever happened at Black Ridge.””
A crash shook the door.
The cabinet moved.
Rourke raised his weapon.
“Thirty seconds is up.””
Tyler looked at me.
“We have to go.””
I reached for the keyboard.
“We're not leaving without Lily's full file.””
“You don't have time.””
“I make time.””
The door buckled.
A second crash.
The cabinet slid another inch.
Rourke fired through the wall.
Someone shouted outside.
“Find her records,” he said.
I opened the medical file.
There was a list of blood tests.
Radiation screening.
Neurological scans.
Genetic markers.
And one word repeated in the notes.
ECHO.
I looked at Elena.
“What is Echo?””
She was pale.
“You don't want to know.””
“I need to.””
Rourke stepped toward the terminal.
“Tell her.””
Elena looked at the floor.
“Black Ridge wasn't an accident.””
“We know.””
“No. You don't.””
She pointed at the screen.
“Echo was the name of the program.””
Tyler stared.
“What program?””
“Testing how long certain biological markers could remain after exposure.””
“Exposure to what?””
Elena swallowed.
“Whatever they were transporting.””
I opened another file.
There was a scanned photograph.
A metal case.
Inside it was a cylinder.
Marked with a symbol.
I recognized it.
I had seen it in the original Black Ridge report.
A circle divided by a vertical line.
“That's the container.””
Rourke nodded.
“Yes.””
“What was inside?””
His expression darkened.
“We never knew.””
Elena corrected him.
“I knew.””
Everyone looked at her.
She continued.
“It wasn't a weapon.””
“What was it?””
“A sample.””
“Of what?””
“A human subject.””
Silence.
I stared at the screen.
“A human subject?””
“Blood.””
Tyler shook his head.
“No.””
“Yes.””
“Whose?””
Elena looked at me.
“Yours.””
The word hit me like a physical blow.
“My blood?””
“You had been exposed before Black Ridge.””
“To what?””
“We don't know.””
“Then why was it being transported?””
“Because Vale wanted the sample.””
I looked at Tyler.
He looked devastated.
“You knew.””
“I knew they were looking for you.””
“You knew they wanted my blood.””
“I knew something was wrong.””
“That isn't an answer.””
“I was trying to protect you!””
“You keep saying that.””
“And I'm still alive,” he snapped.
“So are you.””
The door buckled again.
Rourke shouted.
“We need to move!””
I pulled the drive from the terminal.
The screen immediately changed.
A new message appeared.
FURY TEN, IF YOU ARE READING THIS, DO NOT TRUST ROOK SIX.
I looked at Rourke.
He stared at the screen.
“That's impossible.””
The message continued.
HE WAS NOT TOLD EVERYTHING.
Then another line appeared.
LILY IS NOT THE TARGET.
My blood went cold.
“Then who is?””
The final line appeared.
YOU ARE.
The screen went black.
At that exact moment, the door burst open.
Three armed men flooded the room.
Rourke fired.
Elena dove behind a server rack.
Tyler grabbed me.
“Run!””
We went through the rear exit.
Bullets sparked against the floor.
A hand caught my jacket.
I twisted.
One of Vale's men grabbed my arm.
Tyler struck him across the face.
The man staggered.
I kicked his knee.
He fell.
We ran through another corridor.
Then I heard Elena scream.
I stopped.
“Eleanor!””
Tyler pulled me back.
“Don't!””
“That was Elena!””
Rourke appeared around the corner.
Blood ran down the side of his face.
“Keep moving!””
“Where is she?””
He didn't answer.
“Where is Elena?””
His expression told me before he spoke.
“She was taken.””
“No.””
He grabbed my shoulders.
“We get Lily first.””
I pulled away.
“We don't know where she took her.””
Rourke looked at the drive in my hand.
“Yes, we do.””
He pointed to the terminal room behind us.
“The file wasn't erased.””
I looked at the screen through the open doorway.
A map had appeared.
Oregon.
One location blinking red.
Salem.
Tyler stared.
“Lily.””
Rourke nodded.
“That's where we're going.””
A phone began ringing.
Not mine.
Tyler's.
He looked down.
Unknown number.
He didn't answer.
It rang again.
Then a text appeared.
He handed me the phone.
There was a photograph.
Lily sitting in a car.
Alive.
Terrified.
A man's hand rested on her shoulder.
Under the photograph was one sentence.
BRING FURY TEN ALONE.
The next message arrived before I could breathe.
AND COME WITHOUT ROOK SIX.
Rourke read it over my shoulder.
His face hardened.
“He wants you separated from me.””
I looked at the screen.
“No.””
Tyler shook his head.
“Then what does he want?””
I zoomed in on the photograph.
Lily's eyes weren't looking at the camera.
They were looking past it.
Toward someone sitting in the driver's seat.
I recognized the shape of the scar along the hand gripping the wheel.
I looked at Tyler.
“She's not with Vale.””
He frowned.
“Then who has her?””
I zoomed in again.
The scar.
The ring.
The old military watch.
I knew exactly who it was.
“Daniel Mercer.””
Rourke went completely still.
May you like
The man everyone believed was dead was alive.
And he had my niece.
