LOCATION: CONTROL ROOM.
MILLER: “Nobody touch the console.”
The technician pulled his hands away.
MILLER: “The system has been compromised.”
Arthur's mind moved quickly.
He remembered the original design.
The system had been built to prevent unauthorized changes. But there was one exception.
A secondary authentication device.
A device held by the project's third administrator.
Colonel Nathaniel Brooks.
ARTHUR: “Agent Miller, listen carefully. The third credential isn't dead.”
MILLER: “What?”
ARTHUR: “Nathaniel Brooks had a secondary authorization key. It was never entered into the public inventory.”
MILLER: “Where is it?”
Arthur looked at Rebecca.
ARTHUR: “I don't know.”
REBECCA: “Dad, you said Brooks was dead.”
ARTHUR: “His official record says he died. But if someone has his key, then either they stole it before his death or he never died.”
Miller looked toward the lower corridor.
MILLER: “Cross may know.”
A gunshot echoed through the building.
MILLER: “Move!”
***
The lower level was a maze of storage rooms and maintenance corridors.
Agent Harris and two other agents followed the sound.
They reached a narrow passage leading to an emergency exit.
A metal door was swinging slowly.
HARRIS: “He's outside!”
The agents rushed through.
A vehicle was parked beyond the fence.
Its engine was running.
Cross was halfway across the service road.
HARRIS: “FBI! Stop!”
Cross turned.
He raised one hand.
For a moment, it looked as if he might surrender.
Then he reached inside his coat.
Harris shouted.
HARRIS: “Don't move!”
Cross pulled out a small black device.
An agent tackled him before he could activate it.
The device fell onto the pavement.
The other agents secured Cross and placed him in handcuffs.
HARRIS: “Daniel Cross, you're under arrest.”
Cross laughed.
CROSS: “You still don't understand.”
HARRIS: “Save it.”
CROSS: “You arrested the wrong man.”
Harris searched his coat.
Inside was a second identification card.
It carried the name Nathaniel Brooks.
Harris looked at it.
HARRIS: “Who does this belong to?”
Cross's expression changed.
For the first time, he appeared frightened.
CROSS: “You shouldn't have found that.”
HARRIS: “Then tell us why you have it.”
Cross looked toward the facility.
CROSS: “Because he's coming back.”
***
At the hospital, Miller received the update.
MILLER: “Cross is in custody. We recovered a second identification card.”
Arthur closed his eyes.
ARTHUR: “Nathaniel Brooks.”
MILLER: “Yes.”
ARTHUR: “Is the card genuine?”
MILLER: “The technician is checking it.”
Arthur looked at the ceiling.
ARTHUR: “Then we're not finished.”
MILLER: “No.”
Rebecca stepped closer.
REBECCA: “Dad, who is Nathaniel Brooks? You keep saying his name like you know something about him.”
Arthur was silent for a moment.
ARTHUR: “He was the senior administrator of the project. He controlled the budget, approved the contracts, and had final authority over equipment transfers.”
REBECCA: “Was he involved in the missing equipment?”
ARTHUR: “I suspected he was.”
MILLER: “Why didn't you report him?”
ARTHUR: “I did.”
Miller looked at him.
ARTHUR: “Eight years ago, I submitted a report showing that Brooks had approved payments to three companies that didn't exist. I included the original transfer records and the serial-number discrepancies.”
MILLER: “What happened?”
ARTHUR: “The report disappeared. Two weeks later, I was informed that the investigation had been closed because the equipment had been accounted for.”
MILLER: “And Brooks?”
ARTHUR: “He retired.”
MILLER: “Then his death?”
ARTHUR: “Was announced six months later.”
Rebecca shook her head.
REBECCA: “So he could have been alive all this time?”
ARTHUR: “I don't know.”
Miller's phone rang again.
He answered.
MILLER: “Miller.”
The voice on the other end spoke quickly.
Miller's expression changed.
MILLER: “Confirm that.”
He listened.
MILLER: “Don't approach him. Send the location and maintain surveillance.”
He ended the call.
ARTHUR: “What happened?”
MILLER: “The identification card is genuine.”
ARTHUR: “And?”
MILLER: “The fingerprint record attached to it was updated last month.”
Rebecca looked at him.
REBECCA: “That means someone has been using it recently.”
MILLER: “Yes.”
Arthur slowly lowered his head.
ARTHUR: “Brooks is alive.”
***
Daniel Cross was taken to a federal holding facility.
He refused to answer questions during the initial processing.
He requested a lawyer, declined to provide a statement, and repeatedly asked whether Arthur Whitmore had been moved from the hospital.
The agents did not tell him.
At 2:15 a.m., an investigator placed the recovered identification card on the table.
INVESTIGATOR: “We found this in your coat.”
Cross stared at it.
INVESTIGATOR: “It's registered to Colonel Nathaniel Brooks.”
CROSS: “I know.”
INVESTIGATOR: “Why do you have it?”
CROSS: “Because I was told to retrieve it.”
INVESTIGATOR: “By whom?”
Cross remained silent.
INVESTIGATOR: “Was Brooks the person who arranged the theft of Whitmore's credential?”
CROSS: “You think this started with an old man and a stolen pension envelope?”
INVESTIGATOR: “That's what we're investigating.”
Cross leaned back.
CROSS: “Then you're eight years too late.”
INVESTIGATOR: “Explain.”
CROSS: “The equipment was never the real objective. It was the money.”
INVESTIGATOR: “What money?”
CROSS: “The contracts. The private security companies. The replacement systems. The false maintenance invoices. Everything that passed through the project.”
INVESTIGATOR: “Who controlled it?”
Cross looked at the door.
CROSS: “Brooks.”
INVESTIGATOR: “And you?”
CROSS: “I signed the destruction certificates.”
INVESTIGATOR: “Did you know the equipment was being sold?”
Cross said nothing.
INVESTIGATOR: “You knew.”