Knox grabbed Mara’s arm and pulled her behind stacked gear.
A black SUV moved slowly down the nearby road.
Mercer was behind the wheel.
He did not stop.
But his face turned directly toward the shed as he passed.
When the SUV disappeared, Knox released her.
“You withdraw tomorrow.”
“No.”
“Mara—”
It was the first time he had called her by her first name.
She noticed.
So did he.
“Your brother would tell you the same thing.”
“You don’t get to speak for him.”
Knox’s expression hardened.
“Daniel died trying to expose something. I watched what it did to everyone connected to it.”
“Then help me finish what he started.”
“You think this is about Mercer?”
“Isn’t it?”
Knox held her gaze for a long moment.
Then he whispered something she had never expected to hear.
“Mercer is afraid too.”
Mara frowned.
“Afraid of who?”
Knox stepped away.
“I’ve already said more than I should.”
“Who is he afraid of?”
Knox shook his head.
May you like
“Go home.”
Then he left.
Mara remained beneath the falling rain.
One sentence repeated in her mind.
Mercer is afraid too.
If Mercer was not the person at the top—
Then who was?
Chapter 4: WHAT LIVED UNDER THE OLD RANGE
Mara found Ellis two days later.
Alive.
Barely.
The candidates had been sent on a night navigation exercise requiring them to locate six coordinates scattered across twenty miles of wooded terrain.
Mara reached the first four points on schedule.
The fifth was positioned near an abandoned firing range.
Her compass sent her east.
Her instincts pulled her south.
She trusted the latter.
A narrow maintenance road disappeared between the trees.
At the end of it stood a concrete structure built partially into the hillside.
No signs.
No exterior lights.
Yet fresh tire tracks were visible in the mud.
Mara circled behind the structure.
A generator vibrated somewhere beneath the ground.
She located a ventilation grate.
Warm air blew upward.
Voices carried through it.
Mercer.
“…should’ve been removed yesterday.”
A second man answered.
Older.
Male.
“I decide when subjects leave.”
Subjects.
Not candidates.
Mercer said, “Vance is asking questions.”
Mara froze.
The older voice answered.
“Then let her.”
“She knows about Harbor.”
A pause.
Then:
“Impossible.”
“She used Daniel’s name.”
Mara leaned closer.
The older man asked, “Does Knox know?”
“Yes.”
“Then Knox is becoming a liability.”
Mara’s chest tightened.
Mercer lowered his voice.
“And Ellis?”
“Continue observation.”
“He’s injured.”
“So?”
Mara pulled away.
She had heard enough.
She circled the bunker.
One steel entrance.
Electronic lock.
Security camera.
No obvious way inside.
A hand suddenly touched her shoulder.
Mara spun.
Knox.
His hand immediately covered her mouth.
He pointed toward the camera.
Then motioned toward the trees.
They moved fifty yards into the darkness.
Only then did he release her.
“Are you trying to get yourself killed?”
“Ellis is inside.”
Knox did not answer.
“You knew.”
“I knew they moved him.”
“Who was speaking with Mercer?”
Knox’s face went pale.
“Did you see him?”
“No.”
“Good.”
“Who is he?”
Knox turned his head away.
Mara seized his arm.
“Who?”
He finally answered.
“General Adrian Vale.”
Mara knew the name.
Almost everyone did.
A retired three-star general.
Former commander of several major Special Operations organizations.
Decorated extensively.
Widely respected.
Regular television commentator.
Now chairman of a defense research foundation that financed human-performance projects.
“He created Harbor,” Knox said.
The entire puzzle seemed to rearrange inside Mara’s mind.
“Mercer worked for him.”
“We all did.”
“Why is Vale conducting experiments on soldiers?”
Knox gave a humorless laugh.
“You think Harbor actually ended?”
Mara looked back toward the underground facility.
“It continued.”