Chương 6
“What server?”
Daniel looked at Claire.
“You found the bands?”
She nodded.
“Then you found A-room.”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
“What is Subject Two?”
Daniel’s gaze shifted to the coin in her hand.
His expression hurt before his words did.
“You.”
“I can read.”
“You always got mean when you were scared.”
The room became very still.
Claire’s throat tightened.
“How do you know what I always did?”
Daniel looked at his father.
Then back at her.
“Because I knew you before they took it.”
Jonathan’s face changed.
Claire walked toward the bed.
“Before they took what?”
Daniel gave a tired laugh.
“That’s the question, isn’t it?”
“Answer me.”
“I can’t answer it in one sentence.”
“Try.”
“You volunteered for a classified resilience study six years ago after Yemen.”
Jonathan frowned.
Claire said nothing.
Yemen existed in her memory as heat, metal stairs, a dead radio operator named Pritchard, and a week she had been told she spent recovering from blast exposure.
Daniel continued.
“You withdrew.”
Claire’s fingers tightened around the coin.
“They told me the trial was canceled.”
“It wasn’t.”
“How were you involved?”
“I was assigned to program oversight.”
Jonathan looked at his son.
“You never told me.”
Daniel gave him a flat look.
“I wasn’t allowed to.”
“Don’t hide behind classification now.”
“I’m not.”
The old friction between them appeared with such ordinary familiarity that Claire almost looked away.
Daniel turned back to her.
“I started finding missing pieces. Consent forms that didn’t match archived copies. Session dates after participants had withdrawn. Transfer orders to facilities nobody could identify.”
“Kane?”
“He was security liaison.”
Jonathan said, “Kane worked for me.”
“He worked near you.”
The distinction landed.
Claire put the coin on the bedside table.
“Why does that have your initials?”
Daniel looked at it.
“I gave it to you.”
“When?”
“Before Yemen.”
“For what?”
“You lost a bet.”
Claire stared.
Daniel’s mouth moved slightly.
“You hated challenge coins.”
“I still hate challenge coins.”
“I know.”
“Apparently you know a lot of things.”
“Not anymore.”
A voice came over Serrano’s radio.
“Chief, Security Team Three. We located Commander Kane’s access card outside Main Data Control. No visual on Kane.”
Daniel tried to sit up.
Bell stopped him gently.
“No.”
“They’re wiping it.”
Serrano keyed the radio. “Lock down Data Control. Nobody touches any terminal.”
A pause.
“Chief, access is dead. Local fire alarm active.”
Daniel cursed.
Claire looked at him.
“Is that where the records are?”
“Some.”
“Enough?”
“Maybe.”
Jonathan stood.
“You stay here.”
Daniel laughed once.
His father looked at him.
“What?”
“You still say things like people listen because your shoulder boards are expensive.”
Jonathan’s jaw moved.
Bell examined Daniel’s pupils.
Daniel endured it with visible irritation but no panic.
Claire noticed.
“Did they drug you?”
Daniel’s eyes stayed on Bell’s light.
“Sometimes.”
“What did they do to me?”
“Claire.”
“What?”
“Not here.”
“That answer is getting old.”
“I know.”
Serrano interrupted.
“If Kane wants Data Control, we need to move.”
Claire looked at Daniel.
He said, “Go.”
Jonathan stayed beside the bed.
Claire waited.
The choice on his face was almost painful to watch.
Fourteen months believing his son dead, and now the first thing required of him was to leave.
Daniel saw it too.
“Dad.”
Jonathan looked at him.
“Go stop the man who did this.”
Jonathan nodded once.
No embrace.
No speech.
He walked out with Claire.
At Main Data Control, smoke had triggered the fire suppression sequence, but there was no serious fire.
A technician sat against the corridor wall coughing.
Another technician argued with two security sailors.
Serrano took control immediately.
“What happened?”
“Someone pulled the local disconnect and discharged suppressant into the server aisle.”
“Who?”
“Commander Kane came through maybe four minutes ago.”
“Alone?”
“No. Lieutenant Park from Information Warfare was with him.”
“Willingly?”
The technician hesitated.
“I don’t know.”
Claire looked through the glass panel.
White vapor drifted inside the room.
A figure moved near the rear rack.
“Somebody’s in there.”
Serrano raised his radio.
The door opened from inside.
Lieutenant Park stumbled out.
Her face was wet with condensation.
She coughed hard and nearly fell.
Bell had remained with Daniel, so Willis caught her.
“Kane,” Serrano said.
Park pointed down the corridor.
“He took the removable archive.”
“What archive?”
“A secure storage module.”
“Can it be accessed off ship?”
“No. Not without hardware keying.”
“Then why steal it?”
Park wiped her mouth.
“To destroy it.”
Claire looked at Jonathan.
Kane did not need to escape with evidence.
He only needed it gone.
A shipwide announcement sounded.
“Flight quarters. Flight quarters. Stand clear of designated aviation spaces.”
Jonathan’s head snapped toward the speaker.
“I ordered flight operations suspended after landing.”
Park looked confused.
Serrano called the flight deck.
No response.
Claire heard rotor pitch rising above them.
“Kane.”
They ran.
Jonathan’s polished shoes became a problem again.
He kicked them off halfway up the first ladder and continued in black dress socks.
Nobody laughed this time.
When they emerged onto the weather deck, the helicopter’s rotors were already turning at launch speed.
Marines stood at the perimeter, shouting over the noise.
The aircraft side door was open.
A crew chief argued with someone inside.
Serrano signaled to halt the aircraft.
The pilot kept power on.
Claire moved toward the helicopter.
A Marine grabbed her arm.
“Captain, stay back.”
She pointed.
Marcus Kane sat inside the cabin.
A hard black storage case was strapped beside him.
His face was calm again.
Jonathan stepped into the pilot’s line of sight and raised both arms.
The aircraft did not move.
The crew chief turned toward Kane.
Kane shouted something Claire could not hear.
Then the crew chief shook his head.
Kane reached toward his belt.
Serrano drew his sidearm.
“Hands!”
Everyone stopped.
Kane’s hand remained near his holster.
Claire’s pistol was still with the young lieutenant somewhere below.
For the first time since the confrontation began, she was glad.
May you like
Kane looked at Jonathan through the open helicopter door.
He raised both hands slowly.
