Chapter 9
REAGAN
The conference room feels smaller than it did yesterday.
Everyone's crowded around the table instead of spread throughout the safe house.
The map on the wall shows red markers creeping closer to our location with each update from Tommy.
Or maybe it just feels smaller because we're out of time and nobody wants to say it out loud.
Kane stands at the head of the table, arms crossed. Stryker leans against the wall to his right. Dylan sits beside me, close enough that our shoulders touch. Khalid occupies his usual corner with that book he carries everywhere, but his attention is fully on the room.
"Tommy's latest analysis puts the Committee's search pattern within striking distance," Kane says. "They've eliminated sixty percent of possible locations. At current pace, they'll have this facility identified soon. We need to decide. Run or fight."
"Run," Stryker says immediately. "We've got fallback positions. Secure Reagan somewhere separate from the team. Safe house in Canada, maybe. Somewhere the Committee won't connect to Echo Ridge operations."
"That puts her alone," Dylan says. "No protection if they find her."
"Echo Base accommodates our team," Kane says. "Adding Reagan means another person who knows the location. Another vulnerability if she's captured."
"I'm sitting right here," I point out.
Kane doesn't apologize. "It's operational reality. The more people who know Echo Base's coordinates, the higher the risk of compromise. We built that facility to be our last stand. Bringing civilians in defeats the purpose."
"She's not a civilian anymore," Dylan says. His voice stays level but I feel tension coil through his shoulders. "She's been targeted by the Committee. She's working with Delaney to build a federal case. She's part of this operation whether we planned for it or not."
"Being targeted doesn't make her operational," Stryker argues. "No offense, Reagan, but you're an investigative journalist. Not a soldier. Taking you to Echo Base puts everyone at risk if the Committee catches you."
"Then don't take me to Echo Base." The words come out sharper than intended. "Keep running your operation. I'll disappear. Find somewhere the Committee won't look. Stay off grid until this is over."
"They'll find you," Kane says flatly. "They've got unlimited resources and you've got a digital footprint six months wide.
You go off grid, they'll track every contact, every credit card transaction, every security camera between here and wherever you think is safe.
Give them a week and they'll have you in a black site extracting Echo Base's location. "
"I don't know Echo Base's location."
"They don't know that. They'll assume we told you.
They'll use every interrogation technique Dylan spent eight years perfecting until you give them something.
Even if it's wrong." Kane pulls up a new display.
"So running separately isn't an option. Running together means compromising our primary facility. Which leaves fighting."
"Fighting how?" I ask.
"They've got professional kill teams. We've got a journalist and a handful of burned operators. The math doesn't work."
"The math never works when we're involved," Stryker says. "Hasn't stopped us yet."
"This is different," Dylan argues. "Webb runs the Committee now that Morrison's dead. He's got the same resources Morrison had, plus what he's built since taking over.”
“You can't fight that with small arms and hope," I say.
Dylan shifts beside me. "We don't fight them with weapons. We fight them with information."
The room goes quiet. Kane's attention sharpens. Stryker pushes off the wall, moves closer to the table.
"Explain," Kane says.
"Reagan's investigation is the only leverage we have.
" Dylan pulls up files on the display—documents I compiled over six months of research.
"Morrison's war crimes. Financial corruption spanning two decades.
Protocol Seven's chemical weapons program.
Connections to generals, senators, defense contractors.
All documented. All verified. All devastating if it goes public. "
"We've discussed public exposure before," Kane says. "The Committee has enough influence to bury stories. They've done it before."
"Not if we structure it correctly." Dylan looks at me. "You're an investigative journalist. You know how to build a story that can't be buried. How to get it to the right people so it spreads faster than the Committee can contain it."
My mind races through possibilities. "You do what you’ve done before using multiple outlets simultaneously. Major papers, broadcast networks, international press. Coordinate the release so they all publish at once. Too many sources to silence them all."
"Exactly." Dylan pulls up more files. "We've got Morrison's operational records.
Webb's financial transfers. Names of everyone involved in Protocol Seven.
Give that to reporters who specialize in government corruption.
Give them enough documentation that they can verify independently. Make the story too solid to ignore."
"The Committee will still try to shut it down," Stryker points out. "They've got people in every major news organization. Editors who kill stories. Lawyers who threaten lawsuits."
"Then we make it too expensive to protect," Dylan says. "The Committee exists because people in power benefit from it existing. But if Webb and Morrison's legacy become liabilities—if keeping them protected costs more than cutting them loose—the Committee will sacrifice Webb to save itself."
Kane studies the documents on the display. "You're suggesting we divide them from the inside."
"I'm suggesting we give them a reason to turn on each other.
" Dylan gestures to the files. "Morrison's war crimes implicate generals who are still serving.
Webb's financial corruption touches defense contractors with billions in government contracts.
Protocol Seven violates international law.
Put that in front of the right people and suddenly everyone connected to them starts looking for exits. "
"Who's going to believe us?" I ask. "The Committee will claim it's disinformation. They'll paint Echo Ridge as terrorists making up stories to justify their actions."
"Which is why we need corroboration," Kane says slowly. His expression shifts—calculation replacing skepticism. "Someone inside the Committee willing to verify our intel. Someone credible enough that the press can't dismiss them as compromised."
"Victoria Cross," Dylan says.
Stryker straightens. "Cross won't go on record. She's an intelligence broker. Her entire business model depends on staying anonymous."
"She doesn't have to go on record. She just needs to confirm what we already know and point us toward who else will talk.
" Dylan pulls up a new file—communications from Cross that I haven't seen before.
"She's been feeding us intel on Committee movements for months.
She knows their internal structure. Who was loyal to Morrison.
Who's positioning to distance themselves now that he's dead and Webb's taken over. "
"Why would she help?" I ask.
"Because Morrison's death changed the power structure," Kane says. "The Committee's splintering already. Cross survives by being on the winning side. If we can accelerate that process, she benefits. New leadership means new opportunities."
"So we use her opportunism," I say.
"We use everyone's survival instinct." Dylan meets my eyes. "That's what makes this work. We're not asking anyone to be a hero. We're just showing them the door before the building collapses."
The logic is sound. Ruthless, but sound. Take what I've learned about the Committee and weaponize it. Turn their own structure against them. Make Webb and Morrison's operation so toxic that protecting Webb becomes impossible.
"How long to prepare the exposé?" Kane asks me.
"I've got most of the research compiled. But I need to verify sources. Contact journalists I trust. Set up coordination so they all publish simultaneously." I run calculations in my head. "I need time to do this right."
"We don't have time," Stryker says.
"Then we work fast." I pull my laptop closer.
"Dylan, I need what you have on Protocol Seven's operational history.
Dates, locations, casualties. Kane, I need names of Committee members who might turn if pressure mounts.
Stryker, I need you to coordinate secure communications with journalists.
If the Committee is monitoring my usual contacts, we need alternate channels. "
"Insurance. If the Committee takes us out before the story publishes, it needs to publish anyway.
Automatically." Dylan's tone stays matter-of-fact, like he's discussing dinner plans instead of our potential deaths.
"We set up multiple triggers. If we don't check in at regular intervals, files get released to every outlet we've prepared.
The Committee can kill us, but they can't stop the story. "
"That's cheerful," I mutter.
"That's survival." Kane nods slowly. "Tommy can set up the technical infrastructure. Multiple redundant systems. Geographic distribution so they can't shut it down by hitting one server. Reagan, you compile the master file. What we've got. What Cross provides. Make it comprehensive."
"And irrefutable," Dylan adds. "The Committee will attack the story's credibility. Every claim needs documentation. Every allegation needs sources. Make it so solid that discrediting it would require admitting it's true."
The weight of what they're asking settles over me. Six months of investigation distilled into an exposé that will either destroy the Committee, get us all killed or both. No pressure.
Khalid speaks up from his corner. "What happens if it works? If the Committee splits and people start talking?"