Mercer’s eyes filled.
That terrified Elena more than anything else.
Finally he whispered:
“I don’t know.”
“You’re lying.”
“I’m not.”
“You always know.”
“I lost contact with him thirteen years ago.”
“When?”
Mercer looked toward the Nightglass files.
“Three months after Ash Lantern.”
Elena felt the room become very small.
“My father was connected to Yemen?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
Mercer hesitated.
“He was the one who warned us the compound was going to burn.”
Elena’s mouth went dry.
“He knew the attack was coming?”
“Yes.”
“Then why did three people die?”
“Because his warning came six minutes too late.”
Elena stepped backward.
Everything she knew about her life seemed to peel away.
Her childhood.
Her career.
Her father’s death.
Her selection.
Ghost.
Yemen.
All of it.
Engineered.
Observed.
Controlled.
Reed moved toward a cabinet at the rear.
“There’s another box.”
Elena barely heard him.
Then Reed said:
“You need to see this.”
Inside was a sealed envelope.
On the front, handwritten in faded black ink:
For Elena. If they ever make her open this room.
She recognized the handwriting immediately.
Her father’s.
Her hands shook as she tore it open.
Inside was one sheet of paper.
Elena,
If you are reading this, then I failed to end Nightglass before it reached you.
Everything they told you about me was designed to keep you safe.
I was not killed.
I left because they had begun watching you.
I believed distance would protect you.
I was wrong.
The people behind Nightglass do not recruit soldiers.
They create them.
They study grief, loyalty, trauma, resilience, obedience.
They manufacture circumstances and watch what survives.
If you became what I fear you became, then they succeeded.
But there is something they never understood about you.
You were never obedient.
That is why you can finish this.
Trust no one whose name appears in the original seven.
Not Sterling.
Not Vale.
Not—
The sentence ended.
The bottom half of the page had been torn away.
Elena stared at it.
“Original seven?”
Mercer turned toward another cabinet.
“Founding members.”
Reed began searching.
Seconds later, he found a ledger.
Seven names.
Admiral Warren Knox.
General Matthias Vale.
Harrison Sterling.
Dr. Samuel Kerr.
Rebecca Shaw.
Caleb Vance.
And—
Mercer stopped reading.
Elena looked at him.
“Who?”
He handed her the list.
The seventh name was:
DANIEL MERCER.
Elena slowly raised her eyes.
Mercer stood ten feet away.
The man who had trained her.
Protected her.
Carried her through half her career.
Held her hand beside three hospital beds.
Spoken at the funerals of her teammates.
The man she trusted more than anyone alive.
“Tell me that isn’t you.”
Mercer said nothing.
Elena’s voice broke.
“Daniel.”
Then the basement lights went out.
Chapter Five: Ghosts in the Dark
A gunshot cracked somewhere in the hallway.
Reed shouted.
Elena dropped behind a cabinet.
Mercer dragged the Nightglass ledger down with him.
Emergency lights flashed red.
Another shot.
Metal screamed as a bullet struck shelving.
Elena crawled toward Reed.
“You hit?”
“No.”
“Where’s Mercer?”
“Right side.”
Elena looked across the aisle.
Empty.
“Daniel?”
No answer.
Reed whispered:
“He moved.”
“Why?”
A shadow passed between shelves.
Elena lunged.
She collided with someone wearing black.
The attacker drove an elbow toward her face.
Elena blocked, twisted, and slammed the figure against a cabinet.
A second figure appeared.
Reed tackled him.
The basement erupted into movement.
Boots.
Grunts.
Steel drawers crashing open.
Elena caught the first attacker’s wrist, forced him down, and tore away his mask.
She recognized him.
Lieutenant Mason.
Sterling’s aide.
“Mason?”
He stared at her with wild eyes.
“You were supposed to stop.”
“Who sent you?”
He laughed.
“You still think there’s one person.”
Elena tightened her grip.
“Where’s Mercer?”
Mason smiled.
“Ask your father.”
Then a figure struck Elena from behind.
The world flashed white.
She hit the floor.
When she opened her eyes, Mercer was kneeling beside her.
“Elena.”
She pushed him away.
“Don’t.”
“We have to move.”
“You’re on the list.”
“I know.”
“You lied to me.”
“Yes.”
She reached toward her sidearm.
Mercer stepped back.
“I’m not going to fight you.”
“Good.”
Reed appeared with Mason restrained.
“The second attacker escaped.”
Elena kept her eyes on Mercer.
“Explain.”
“Not here.”
“Here.”
“Elena—”