Chapter 9 - The Favorite Son’s Choice
For one terrible second, I believed the photograph.
That was the power of family history.
It teaches you which betrayal to expect.
Ryan had always been the favorite.
Ryan had always wanted approval.
Ryan had spent his career admiring men like Nathan Cole.
Maybe he had known more than he admitted.
Maybe Daniel was right.
Maybe—
Then I looked closer.
Ryan's left hand.
Two fingers extended against his thigh.
A signal.
One we used as children.
When our parents argued and one of us wanted the other to leave the room, we used two fingers.
Go.
Ryan wasn't working with Cole.
He was warning me.
Daniel stepped closer.
“Move away from the terminal.”
I looked at him.
“No.”
His gun lifted.
“You know I don't want to hurt you.”
“Then don't.”
“Claire.”
“You had seven years to decide who you wanted to be.”
His eyes darkened.
“So did you.”
“Yes.”
I smiled sadly.
“I chose better.”
I hit ENTER.
Daniel lunged.
The screen changed.
SECONDARY AUTHENTICATION REQUIRED.
He stopped.
“What did you do?”
“Nothing yet.”
“You activated it.”
“No.”
I looked at him.
“I made you believe I did.”
His gun steadied.
“Authentication.”
I said nothing.
“Claire.”
“You need my voice.”
“Yes.”
“What phrase?”
His silence told me he didn't know.
I smiled.
“That must be frustrating.”
Footsteps echoed outside.
Daniel glanced toward the door.
A mistake.
I moved.
My palm struck his gun wrist.
The shot hit the ceiling.
He grabbed my shoulder.
We crashed against the terminal.
Daniel was stronger than I remembered.
I was angrier.
He caught my arm.
“Stop!”
“You kidnapped my brother!”
“To keep him alive!”
“You don't get credit for solving problems you created!”
I drove my knee into his thigh.
He lost balance.
The gun fell.
I reached it first.
Daniel froze.
I aimed at his chest.
For seven years, I had dreamed about seeing him alive.
Never like this.
“Where is Ryan?”
“Cole has him.”
“Where?”
“Warehouse outside Alexandria.”
“Address.”
He gave it.
I backed toward the terminal.
“Authentication,” he said.
“No.”
“If you don't release Nine, Cole wins.”
“You don't want Nine released.”
“I want the people protecting him exposed.”
“So you can take over.”
“So nobody can ever build another Cole!”
“You already did.”
That silenced him.
I entered the final authentication phrase.
You found me.
The terminal accepted it.
Daniel's eyes widened.
I selected neither RELEASE nor CANCEL.
Instead, I chose:
ESCROW TRANSFER — FEDERAL JUDICIARY / MULTI-KEY AUTHORIZATION.
Evelyn had built a third option.
The evidence would be copied into protected judicial custody, impossible for Cole, Daniel, or me to control alone.
Daniel stared.
“You don't know who you can trust.”
“No.”
I confirmed the transfer.
“That's why I'm not trusting one person.”
The progress bar began.
Daniel laughed bitterly.
“Still stubborn.”
“Still here.”
When the transfer completed, I disabled the terminal.
Then I looked at him.
“You're coming with me.”
“To Cole?”
“To Ryan.”
“You'll never get inside.”
“Then help me.”
He stared.
“You still trust me?”
“No.”
That hurt him more than hatred.
“But some part of the man I knew is still standing there. Decide whether he's dead.”
For several seconds, Daniel said nothing.
Then he picked up a second weapon and handed it to me.
“There's a drainage entrance on the south side.”
Ethan was being held in the same warehouse as Ryan.
Cole had taken both because he believed Ethan knew where I was.
Ryan had been given a weapon as theater.
Cole wanted Ethan to believe Ryan had betrayed us.
He wanted division.
That was his specialty.
Divide institutions.
Divide teams.
Divide families.
Make everyone doubt everyone else.
We entered through the drainage tunnel.
Daniel knew Cole's security layout.
Of course he did.
At the upper level, we found Lena.
She aimed at me.
I aimed at her.
Neither fired.
“You're alive,” I whispered.
“So are you.”
“Whose side are you on?”
She looked tired.
“My own.”
“That's not an answer.”
“It’s the only one I have left.”
Daniel appeared behind me.
Lena's weapon shifted toward him.
Hatred filled her face.
“You.”
Daniel stopped.
“What?”
“You left Thomas.”
Daniel went pale.
So that was it.
Another buried betrayal.
Another ghost.
Lena's hands shook.
“At Vulture Ridge. You locked the door.”
“He was already dead.”
“He was breathing!”
“Cole's men were coming!”
“You left him!”
Her finger tightened.
I stepped between them.
“Lena.”
“Move.”
“No.”
“He killed Thomas.”
“And killing Daniel won't bring him back.”
“Don't tell me that.”
“I've spent seven years believing all of you were dead. I get to tell you exactly that.”
Her eyes filled.
The weapon lowered.
An alarm sounded.
Daniel looked toward the warehouse floor.
“We're out of time.”
Below us, Cole stood beside Ethan.
Ryan was several feet away.
Three armed men surrounded them.
Cole held a phone.
“Claire!” his voice echoed through the warehouse. “I know you're here.”
I looked at Daniel.
He nodded toward a catwalk.
I moved.
Cole continued.
“Your father should have understood when to stop.”
I descended.
“You first.”
Every head turned.
Cole smiled.
“Claire Whitaker.”
“General Cole.”
“I've wanted to meet you properly for years.”
“That's strange. You've tried to kill me several times.”
“Nothing personal.”
“That's disappointing.”
Ryan almost smiled.
Ethan didn't.
His eyes were watching positions.
Counting.
Planning.
Cole extended his hand.
“Archive Nine.”
“Gone.”
His smile disappeared.
“Where?”
“Judicial escrow.”
“You're lying.”
“Ask Daniel.”
Daniel stepped into view.
Cole's face transformed.
“You.”
“Hello, Nathan.”
The guards turned.
That was what we needed.
Ethan moved.
Ryan dropped.
I fired at the overhead lights.
Darkness exploded across the warehouse.
Gunfire.
Shouting.
Metal ringing.
I moved toward Ryan.
Someone grabbed me.
I struck.
“Claire!”
Ryan.
I stopped.
“Sorry.”
“Seriously?”
“Bad lighting.”
Despite everything, he laughed.
Then a shot cracked.
Daniel stumbled.
Blood spread across his shirt.
Lena screamed his name.
Cole ran toward a side exit.
Ethan pursued him.
I knelt beside Daniel.
He looked at the blood.
“That's inconvenient.”
“Don't.”
“Still bossy.”
I pressed my hands against the wound.
Ryan covered us.
Daniel looked at me.
“I did love you.”
My throat tightened.
“Don't do this.”
“I should've come back.”
“Yes.”
“I thought if you believed I was dead, you'd be safe.”
“You don't get to decide what grief is safe for someone else.”
“I know.”
His eyes closed.
“Daniel.”
He opened them again.
“Somewhere you don't want to leave.”
Tears blurred my vision.
“You idiot.”
A weak smile.
Then medics stormed the warehouse.
Ethan returned with Cole in restraints.
Alive.
Defeated.
The general stared at me with pure hatred.
“You have no idea what you've destroyed.”
I stood.
Blood covered my hands.
“No.”
I looked at Ryan.
At Ethan.
At Lena beside Daniel.
Then back at Cole.
“I know exactly what I stopped.”
Outside, dawn was breaking.
Ryan came beside me.
For the first time since childhood, he reached for my hand.
I let him take it.
“Claire?”
“Yes?”
“When we get home…”
He hesitated.
“What?”
“I think we need a new family picture.”
I laughed through tears.
May you like
And for once, my brother wasn't standing in the center of anything.
He was standing beside me.
