26. Rook
ROOK
The interview remained on the screen.
Wade sat beneath the harsh light.
Older.
Bruised.
Exhausted.
Alive.
Six days earlier, he had looked toward an unseen interrogator and refused to surrender the final Nightfall access sequence.
If they’re coming, you should start running.
Then the recording ended.
The people Warden failed to bury were coming.
Rook stared at Wade’s frozen image.
“Play the section about Nightfall again.”
Fathom returned to the middle of the recording.
The distorted interviewer spoke.
“Sunset Protocol has been reactivated.”
Wade’s expression changed.
“By whom?”
“That is not your concern.”
“It became my concern five years ago.”
“You will provide the remaining Nightfall access sequence.”
“No.”
Fathom paused the recording.
Rook studied Wade.
“Nightfall requires an access sequence.”
“Apparently,” Fathom said.
“Then it isn’t only an operation.”
Sarah stood near the monitor.
“It could be a database.”
“Or a physical archive,” Reef added.
“Something Warden can’t access without Wade,” Rook said.
That explained why Wade remained alive.
If he possessed part of a code, killing him could make Nightfall impossible to reach.
“Play the earlier interrogation fragment,” Sarah said.
Fathom opened the damaged section.
The unidentified man’s voice filled the warehouse.
“Just tell me where it is.”
Wade smiled.
“If I knew where it was, you would have killed me years ago.”
The screen went black again.
Rook folded his arms.
“Two things.”
Every operator looked toward him.
“The location and the access sequence.”
Fathom nodded. “The interviewer believes Wade either knows where Nightfall is or can lead them to it.”
“But Wade said he doesn’t know,” Falcon pointed out.
“He could be lying,” Sniper said.
“He probably is,” Sarah answered.
Everyone looked toward her.
She continued staring at her brother.
“Wade was good at making people underestimate what he knew.”
A faint smile touched her lips.
“He once convinced our father he didn’t know who wrecked the family truck while the keys were still in his pocket.”
Rook almost smiled.
“What happened?”
“Dad made him repair it.”
“Did he?”
“He made me help.”
“That explains a lot.”
Sarah gave him a look, but the smile remained for another second.
Then Fathom enlarged the recording metadata.
A nearly invisible watermark appeared inside the encryption header.
Silver blade.
Dark wings.
The Silver Sword.
Sarah stepped closer.
“That isn’t Warden’s authorization.”
“What is it?” Rook asked.
“A release mark.”
“Meaning?”
“Someone inside the Silver Sword network programmed the interview to leave Warden’s system.”
Fathom examined it.
“The same mark appears on the photograph of Wade and the Black Site Theta status record.”
Reef looked toward Sarah.
“Your people sent all of this?”
“If any of them are still my people.”
“You didn’t know?”
“No.”
She had believed the Silver Sword network had collapsed after her father disappeared.
Someone had continued operating.
Someone had kept Wade’s record alive inside the system.
Someone had arranged transfers whenever Warden’s enemies got close.
“Could your father have done it?” Rook asked.
Pain moved through Sarah’s eyes.
“I don’t know whether my father is alive.”
The words had barely left her when the warehouse alarm screamed.
Red lights flashed.
Every member of Shadow Division moved.
Weapons appeared.
Chairs scraped backward.
Fathom spun toward the security monitors.
“Outer checkpoint.”
Falcon headed toward the catwalk.
Sniper chambered a round.
Cobra grabbed his rifle and smiled.
That concerned everyone.
“One contact,” Fathom reported.
The team stilled.
One person?
After the harbor attack, no one should have reached the outer checkpoint alone.
A snow-covered figure appeared on the camera.
He stood beyond the reinforced gate with both hands visible.
No vehicle.
No backup.
No attempt to hide.
A radio sounded on Cutter’s belt.
His security supervisor spoke.
“Captain, the visitor gave the Silver Sword authentication phrase.”
Sarah went completely still.
Rook looked toward her.
“What phrase?”
Her face had lost all color.
“Honor survives the grave.”
Cutter picked up the radio.
“Hold him there.”
Sarah crossed the warehouse.
“Show me his face.”
Fathom changed camera angles.
The man raised his head toward the security light.
Older.
Gray hair.
Weathered features.
Broad shoulders beneath a snow-covered coat.
Sarah gripped the edge of the workstation.
“No.”
Rook moved beside her. “Who is he?”
Her eyes remained fixed on the screen.
For the first time since Rook met her, Sarah looked completely stunned.
“That’s my father.”