Chapter 12 - Choose
"Drop it."
Voss's gun pressed against Mason's skull.
I kept mine raised.
"Olivia."
Mason's voice was calm.
"Don't."
Voss laughed.
"Still giving orders."
Rain hammered the pavement.
Behind us, gunfire had stopped.
I couldn't see our team.
Couldn't tell who controlled the factory.
Voss held the case in one hand.
Gun in the other.
"Put your weapon down."
"No."
"Then your fiancé dies."
Mason stared at me.
His message was clear.
Do not trade.
Do not surrender.
Voss saw it too.
"Your father had the same eyes."
"Stop talking about him."
"He was brilliant."
"You murdered him?"
Voss smiled.
There.
The first real opening.
"Is that what they told you?"
"He died during service."
"He died because he couldn't stop trying to clean up his own mistake."
"What mistake?"
"Me."
The word landed softly.
"Andrew recruited me."
I stared.
"He didn't stumble into Northstar. He helped create it."
"No."
"Oh, yes."
Voss's smile widened.
"Originally we tracked illegal money. Terror financing. Bribes. Foreign agents."
Mason said quietly, "Parts of that match the archive."
I looked at him.
Voss laughed.
"See? Even your future husband knows."
"What changed?"
"Success."
Voss shrugged.
"We discovered how valuable information was."
"You sold it."
"I monetized access."
"You betrayed people."
"I stopped pretending governments were moral."
I tightened my grip.
"And Dad?"
"He tried to shut everything down."
Voss's face hardened.
"He stole Nightglass. He stole nine point three million in operational funds. He buried the evidence."
"In the trust."
"Exactly."
"So that money isn't yours."
"It was ours."
"No."
I shook my head.
"It was evidence."
His smile vanished.
For the first time, I had hit something.
"You read his letter."
"Enough."
"Then you know why you're his insurance policy."
"No."
"He trained you to find Nightglass."
"I was sixteen."
"He began preparing you when you were twelve."
I thought of chess.
Codes Dad called games.
Memory exercises on long car rides.
Questions like:
What changed in this room?
How many exits?
Which car has been behind us for three turns?
I had always thought it was just Dad being Dad.
My stomach twisted.
Voss saw my realization.
"There she is."
"You used your child," I whispered.
"He protected you."
"By turning me into part of his operation?"
"By making sure someone could finish it."
Mason shifted slightly.
Voss pushed the gun harder against him.
"Don't."
Then Voss looked at me.
"Give me your weapon."
I lowered it.
Mason's eyes flashed.
"Olivia."
"I know."
I placed the pistol on the wet concrete.
Voss smiled.
"Kick it away."
I did.
"Good."
He pulled Mason to his feet.
"Now open the case."
"I can't."
"What?"
"The keys aren't enough."
His face changed.
"What else?"
"Me."
That wasn't entirely a lie.
The secure environment had been configured to require my biometric confirmation.
Voss stared.
Then laughed.
"Andrew."
He shook his head.
"Even dead, he's difficult."
"Let Mason go."
"No."
"You need me alive."
"Yes."
"Then him dying gives you nothing."
Voss considered.
Then shoved Mason forward.
"Walk."
Mason took two steps toward me.
Three.
Voss's attention shifted for less than a second.
Enough.
Mason dropped.
I lunged sideways.
A shot exploded.
Pain tore across my upper arm.
I hit the ground.
Then suppressed fire cracked from the rooftop.
Voss dove behind a vehicle.
Mason rolled toward my discarded gun.
He grabbed it.
"Olivia!"
"I'm good!"
I wasn't.
But I could move.
Voss ran toward the river.
I chased him.
"Stop!"
He reached the edge of the loading dock.
Below us, black water moved fast beneath the storm.
He held the case against his chest.
"You won't shoot me."
"Try me."
"You need answers."
"I need you breathing. Your legs are optional."
He laughed.
Definitely my father's daughter.
Then he lifted the case.
"Last chance."
"For what?"
"Nine point three million."
"You still think this is about money."
"It always is."
"No."
I raised my weapon.
"This is about evidence."
His eyes narrowed.
I smiled.
"The keys were never in that case."
Voss looked down.
For the first time, panic crossed his face.
He tore it open.
Two metal replicas.
Nothing more.
His expression became murderous.
"Where are they?"
I didn't answer.
His eyes shifted past me.
And I knew before I turned.
My mother stood behind us.
She held the real keys.
Voss smiled.
"Linda."
Mom looked at him.
Then at the river.
May you like
And before either of us could stop her...
she threw both keys into the darkness.
