Chapter 12 - THE COMMANDER AND THE TRAITOR
Adrian waited inside the carriage-house workshop.
An unfinished table stood near the wall.
Tools hung above a wooden bench.
He held a pistol in his scarred left hand.
Marcus entered alone.
“You became sentimental,” Adrian said.
“You built cribs.”
“You attended barbecues.”
“You allowed a boy like Richard to insult you.”
Marcus stopped near the center of the room.
“I chose a life.”
“You abandoned the unit.”
“I left when Claire became sick.”
“You left me with bureaucrats who did not understand what we did.”
“You sold witness names.”
Adrian smiled.
“I sold information to people who understood its value.”
“Sophie’s father died.”
“Thomas died.”
“Miriam Clarke died.”
“They entered a war.”
“They entered a lawful investigation.”
“There is no lawful version of power.”
Marcus looked at the pistol.
“That is what Beatrice taught you?”
“She paid better than the government.”
“You betrayed men and women who trusted us.”
Adrian’s hand tightened.
“You trained me to survive.”
“I trained you to protect the person beside you.”
“You remembered only the violence.”
Adrian raised the pistol.
Marcus did not reach for a weapon.
“You cannot shoot me,” Adrian said.
“You need my testimony.”
“Yes.”
“That makes you weak.”
“No.”
“It gives you one final chance to leave this room alive.”
Adrian laughed.
Then Elena’s voice came through the workshop speakers.
“Colonel Shaw.”
He turned toward the ceiling.
Elena was inside the federal command vehicle.
The restored estate communication system carried her voice.
“Everything you just said has been transmitted to three evidence servers.”
Marcus had kept him talking.
Adrian understood too late.
Naomi’s teams surrounded the building.
He looked at Marcus.
“You used your daughter.”
“No.”
“She chose to help.”
“That is a difference you never understood.”
Adrian moved the gun toward his own chest.
Marcus crossed the room.
He seized the weapon before Adrian could fire.
They struck the workbench.
Tools fell around them.
Adrian drove an elbow into Marcus’s ribs.
Marcus forced him to the floor and locked both wrists behind his back.
“You should have killed me,” Adrian whispered.
Marcus tightened the restraint.
“Death would let you escape the testimony.”
“You answer for every name.”
Federal agents entered.
They carried Adrian away alive.
Outside, the chapel burned against the evening sky.
The original archive was damaged.
May you like
The copied evidence survived.
So did the people Beatrice had tried to erase.
