WITNESS DECLINED PROTECTION. REMAINED IN PUBLIC CIVILIAN LIFE. FAMILY CONTACTS TO BE MONITORED.
David read it twice.
“They knew I was alive.”
Victoria nodded.
“They never stopped watching you.”
He turned the page.
At the bottom was a signature.
AUTHORIZED BY: NATHANIEL CROSS.
Vanessa stepped backward.
“No…”
Victoria looked at her.
“Vanessa?”
“My father told me he had never met David.”
David looked at the signature.
“He knew exactly where I was.”
Suddenly, the old computer terminal flickered.
A message appeared.
ARCHIVE ACCESS DETECTED.
Then another.
WELCOME BACK, SUBJECT 004.
David stared at the screen.
A progress bar appeared.
RESTORING ORIGINAL RECORDING…
The computer began playing an audio file.
A woman's voice filled the room.
It was Eleanor.
“David, Victoria, if you're hearing this, then your father has failed to return.”
David covered his mouth.
His mother's voice continued.
“I need you to know that neither of us abandoned you. We were trying to stop a system that had begun using innocent people as bargaining pieces.”
Victoria moved closer to the speaker.
Eleanor continued.
“General Cross was not the person who started Harborlight. He inherited it.”
A pause.
Then she said:
“The person who created the program was someone you both trusted.”
The recording crackled.
A name appeared on the screen.
PROJECT HARBORLIGHT — ORIGINAL DIRECTOR: VICTORIA CARTER.
David slowly turned toward his sister.
Victoria's face had gone white.
“No,” she whispered.
David stared at her.
“What does this mean?”
She shook her head.
“I've never seen this record.”
The recording continued.
“Victoria, you were young. You were recruited without understanding what you were signing. Your father believed you could help him protect the program.”
David stepped backward.
“Victoria…”
She looked at him.
“I didn't know.”
Then the computer displayed a final message.
ORIGINAL DIRECTOR STATUS: ACTIVE.
CURRENT AUTHORIZATION HOLDER: VICTORIA CARTER.
Before anyone could react, the corridor lights came on.
Footsteps approached.
A man's voice echoed through the doorway.
“Thank you for finding it.”
General Nathaniel Cross stepped into Room 417.
Behind him stood four armed security officers.
Cross looked at Victoria.
Then David.
Then Vanessa.
“Family reunion,” he said quietly.
He smiled.
“Now we can finally finish what your mother started.”
CHAPTER 10 — THE GENERAL'S OFFER
Nobody moved.
General Cross stood in the doorway with his hands folded behind his back.
His uniform was immaculate.
His expression was calm.
But the armed officers behind him made the situation unmistakable.
Victoria stepped in front of David.
“General, this archive is under federal evidence protection.”
Cross smiled.
“Not anymore.”
“You don't have authority to enter this facility.”
“Actually, I do.”
He removed a document from his jacket.
It carried the seal of a classified federal program.
At the bottom was a signature that matched the authorization on the original files.
Victoria examined it.
Then she looked up.
“Your authorization was revoked.”
Cross's smile disappeared.
“By whom?”
“By the Inspector General.”
“An office that has no jurisdiction over Harborlight.”
“That was true fourteen years ago.”
Cross stepped into the room.
“Victoria, you're making a mistake.”
She held her ground.