Vale remained controlled.
“Daniel sabotaged one of our facilities. Mercer attempted to stop him.”
Mara turned toward Mercer.
There was something in his eyes she had not expected.
Shame.
Mercer whispered:
“I shot him.”
The room fell silent.
Mara moved.
So quickly that the guards barely had time to react.
She crossed the room and struck Mercer squarely in the mouth.
He crashed backward against the table.
The security men brought their weapons up.
“Stand down,” Vale ordered.
Mara grabbed Mercer by the front of his uniform.
“You murdered him.”
His lip was bleeding.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“He was going to destroy everything.”
“Why?”
Mercer looked at her.
“Because I was a coward.”
Mara raised her fist again.
Then Daniel’s words returned.
Choose the person beside you.
She let Mercer go.
He sagged against the table.
Vale watched her with intense interest.
“Remarkable.”
Mara turned toward him.
“What?”
“You stopped yourself.”
Understanding came immediately.
This was still part of an assessment.
The humiliation.
The fight.
The interrogation.
The revelations.
Every event.
Mara looked toward the cameras.
“You planned this.”
Vale smiled.
“Much of it.”
“The confrontation with Knox?”
“No.”
Knox glanced at her.
Vale added:
“Owen remains disappointingly genuine.”
Mara looked through the glass at Ellis.
“His injury?”
“Real.”
“His disappearance?”
“Controlled.”
Sickness rose in her stomach.
“You brought me here to evaluate me.”
“Yes.”
Vale nodded.
“Daniel requested it.”
Mara froze.
“What did you say?”
Vale walked to one of the terminals.
Entered a code.
A video appeared.
Daniel sat before a plain gray wall.
Older.
Bearded.
Alive.
Mara covered her mouth.
The timestamp showed the recording had been made four years earlier.
Daniel looked directly into the lens.
“If Mara ever finds her way into the program, do not recruit her merely because she is my sister.”
He paused.
“Make her prove she can walk away from it.”
Tears ran silently down Mara’s face.
Daniel continued.
“If she chooses answers over people, she isn’t ready.”
“If she chooses revenge, she isn’t ready.”
“If she chooses the mission simply because someone wearing stars tells her the mission matters more than conscience—”
He looked down briefly.
Then back up.
“Please send her home.”
The recording ended.
Vale studied her.
“Daniel designed your final assessment.”
Mara wiped her face.
“What assessment?”
Vale gestured toward the door.
An alarm suddenly began screaming.
Red emergency lights flashed.
On the monitor, Ellis’s heart rate jumped.
The physician beside his bed suddenly collapsed.
Smoke started pouring into the room.
Mara spun.
“What happened?”
Vale remained completely still.
Knox shouted:
“Open the door!”
Mercer stared at the screens.
“Fire suppression malfunction.”
Mara looked at Vale.
He made no move.
And that was when she realized the truth.
The final test had already begun.
Chapter 6: THE CHOICE DANIEL COULDN’T MAKE FOR HER
Smoke rapidly filled the medical room.
Ellis began coughing violently as he fought to remove the IV line.
The security door stayed locked.
Knox slammed his palm against the control panel.
“Open it!”
Vale remained motionless.
Mara looked between the screen and the older general.
“What do you want me to do?”
“Nothing.”
“Liar.”
Vale pointed toward another monitor.
A progress bar appeared.
ARCHIVE PURGE READY
Below it:
AUTHORIZE?
Mara stared at the screen.
Vale said:
“The server contains every surviving record from Harbor. Your brother’s documents. Identities of everyone involved. Enough evidence to expose the program permanently.”
Mara looked back toward Ellis.
“What’s the catch?”
“The emergency system cannot release the medical wing while the archive vault remains active.”
Knox cursed.
Vale continued.
“You can erase the archive and release the locks.”
Mara looked at him.
“If I do that, the evidence is gone.”