CHAPTER 10 — THE LOYALTY TEST
The commander’s name was Thomas Reed.
Evelyn remembered him as a silent figure from childhood.
He had stood at the edge of every important room without ever seeming to belong inside it. At Helena’s funeral, he had worn a black suit and dark glasses despite the rain. He had not approached Victor. He had not spoken to Evelyn.
But as the coffin was lowered into the ground, he had placed two fingers against his heart.
At the time, Evelyn thought it was a military gesture.
Now she understood it had been a promise.
Thomas kept his weapon aimed at her.
“Keep your hands where I can see them.”
The other agents remained unaware of his whispered confession.
Victor stood behind Evelyn.
“How many?”
Thomas did not look at him.
“Twenty-two on the ridge. Six more below. Two sniper teams.”
“Federal?”
“Some.”
Marcus scanned the agents.
“Which ones?”
“The men wearing gray shoulder patches answer to Meridian.”
Elias’s expression darkened.
“They reached the government.”
Thomas gave a bitter smile.
“They built parts of it.”
The red laser remained fixed on Victor’s chest.
Thomas raised his voice for the agents.
“Evelyn Vale, walk forward slowly.”
Evelyn obeyed.
Each step carried her farther from the people behind her.
Daniel called her name.
Thomas barked, “Silence!”
She stopped ten feet from him.
“What did my mother tell you to do?”
“Get you away from Alexander.”
Alexander spoke from the lift.
“You have neither the authority nor the ability.”
Thomas turned his head slightly.
“I have wanted to shoot you for twenty-seven years.”
Alexander smiled.
“And yet you never did.”
“Helena asked me not to.”
“Helena asked many men to do things they later regretted.”
Victor’s voice became dangerous.
“Choose your next words carefully.”
Thomas looked at Evelyn.
“We don’t have time.”
“Where is my mother?”
“I don’t know.”
“You said she sent you.”
“She sent the order twelve years ago.”
Evelyn stared at him.
“What order?”
Thomas’s expression changed.
“If Northstar ever reactivated, I was to arrest you before anyone else could claim you.”
“Arrest me?”
“Publicly.”
Marcus understood first.
“So Meridian would believe she was in government custody.”
Thomas nodded.
“And privately?”
“I was supposed to take her to Helena.”
Evelyn stepped closer.
“You just said you don’t know where she is.”
“I don’t. The destination is revealed only after extraction.”
Alexander laughed quietly.
“A dead woman’s treasure hunt.”
Thomas raised the weapon toward him.
“She is more alive than you deserve.”
The sniper laser on Alexander’s forehead began flashing.
Thomas immediately lowered his gun.
“Meridian is listening.”
Evelyn looked across the agents.
“Then arrest me.”
Victor moved forward.
“No.”
She turned.
“If I resist, people die.”
“This could be a trap.”
“Everything is a trap now.”
Daniel took a step out of the lift.
“Take me instead.”
Evelyn looked at him.
“No.”
“I’m already accused of financial terrorism.”
“This isn’t about the accusation.”
“I know.”
His eyes settled on the bruise he had caused.
“This is about what I owe you.”
“You cannot repay violence by deciding what happens to me again.”
Daniel stopped.
The truth struck visibly.
Evelyn continued.
“You want to help me? Then follow my decision even when you hate it.”
Daniel lowered his head.
“All right.”
Margaret watched her son with tears in her eyes.
Thomas removed a pair of restraints.
“They need to look real.”
Evelyn extended her wrists.
He locked them together.
Victor stared at the cuffs as if they were chains around his own throat.
Thomas addressed the agents.
“Suspect secured. Prepare transport.”
Two agents with gray shoulder patches approached.
Marcus subtly shifted his weight.
Thomas noticed.
“Stand down.”
One Meridian agent reached for Evelyn.
Thomas struck him across the throat.
The man collapsed.
Before anyone understood what had happened, Thomas fired twice.
The second gray-patched agent fell.
Chaos erupted.
Marcus pulled Evelyn behind the armored transport.
Jonathan tackled a nearby agent.
Elias seized his weapon.
Victor dragged Margaret into cover while Daniel overturned a portable shield.
Gunfire cracked across the ridge.
Several federal agents dropped to the ground rather than firing.
Others turned their weapons on the gray-patched infiltrators.
Thomas shouted, “Phoenix agents, reveal!”
Seven federal officers ripped gray strips from their sleeves.
Each wore a silver phoenix beneath.
They opened fire on Meridian.
Evelyn looked at Thomas.
“You have people inside the task force?”
“Helena has people everywhere.”
A sniper round struck the transport inches from her head.
Thomas broke the restraints with a concealed key.
“Vehicle three. Go!”
Marcus led Evelyn toward a black armored truck.
Victor followed.
Daniel and Jonathan carried Margaret between them.
Alexander remained near the lift, calmly watching the battle.
Elias shouted, “Move!”
Alexander looked toward the far ridge.
“No.”
A black helicopter was approaching through the smoke.
The symbol painted beneath it resembled an eye divided by a blade.
Meridian.
Alexander straightened his suit.
“They came for me.”
Victor reached him.
“You’re not surrendering.”
Alexander seemed amused.
“Concern does not suit you.”
“I need answers.”
“You need someone to blame.”
“I already have someone.”
The helicopter descended.
A loudspeaker activated.
“Alexander Cross, step away from the others.”
Elise’s voice.
Evelyn stopped beside the armored truck.
Her sister continued.
“You promised me the world.”
Alexander stared upward.
“And you became impatient.”
“You left me in a cage.”
“I gave you purpose.”
“You gave Evelyn a family.”
Alexander’s expression remained calm, but Evelyn saw something behind it.
Regret.
Or fear.
Elise continued.
“Come with me, and the others leave the ridge alive.”
Victor looked toward the surrounding snipers.
“She controls Meridian.”
Elias shook his head.
“Not all of it.”
“Enough.”
Alexander began walking toward the helicopter.
Evelyn blocked his path.
“No.”
He looked down at her.
“You should welcome this.”
“I need to know what you did to us.”
“You already know enough.”
“You decided our lives before we were born. You don’t get to leave before answering for it.”
Alexander glanced at the helicopter.
“If I stay, Elise will kill everyone.”
“She wants me.”
“No. She wants you to watch her take everything.”
Evelyn’s voice softened.
“What happened to her?”
Alexander’s mask finally cracked.
“She was three days old when Meridian took the nursery.”
“And my mother?”
“Helena tried to save both of you.”
“But she only saved me.”
Alexander nodded.
“Victor arrived during the attack. He found Helena holding you. Meridian escaped with Elise.”
Victor stared at him.
“You told me the second crib was empty.”
“I believed the truth would destroy Helena.”
“It destroyed her anyway.”
Alexander’s gaze shifted toward him.
“Yes.”
The single word carried thirty years of guilt.
Elise’s voice came through the loudspeaker again.
“Ten seconds.”
Alexander stepped around Evelyn.
She caught his arm.
“Did you ever try to find her?”
“Every day.”
“Did you find her?”
“Yes.”
Everyone froze.
Evelyn tightened her grip.
“When?”
“When she was nine.”
“Then why didn’t you bring her home?”
Alexander looked toward the helicopter.
“Because she no longer wanted to come home.”
The aircraft’s side door opened.
A woman stood inside.
Elise.
For the first time, Evelyn saw her sister beyond a screen.
The resemblance was even more disturbing in person.
Elise wore a black tactical coat over a simple white shirt. Her scar was more severe than the video had shown. It crossed the left side of her face like a permanent reminder of something no child should have survived.
She held no weapon.
She did not need one.
Dozens of snipers obeyed her.
Evelyn moved toward the helicopter.
Victor grabbed her wrist.
“What are you doing?”
“Talking to her.”
“No.”
“She is my sister.”
“She is holding an army on us.”
“So were you yesterday.”
Victor released her slowly.
The comparison hurt, but he could not deny it.
Evelyn walked into the open.
Elise watched her approach.
Up close, their eyes were identical.
Everything else had been shaped by different lives.
Evelyn stopped beneath the helicopter.
“You wanted to see me.”
Elise smiled faintly.
“I’ve seen you for years.”
“What does that mean?”
“I saw the wedding.”
Daniel’s face tightened behind them.
“I saw the houses. The parties. The interviews. The way Margaret taught you which fork to use while my teachers taught me how to survive interrogation.”
Margaret closed her eyes.
Evelyn said, “You think I chose that life?”
“You stayed.”
“I survived.”
“So did I.”
“Yes.”
Evelyn took another step.
“That’s the first thing we have in common.”
Elise’s smile vanished.
“We have nothing in common.”
“We have the same mother.”
“She abandoned me.”
“She recorded a message for both of us.”
For the first time, Elise’s composure shifted.
“What message?”
Evelyn held up the music box.
Elise stared at it.
“That was in the nursery.”
“Yes.”
“You went inside?”
“Yes.”
The helicopter hovered lower.
Dust whipped across the ridge.
Elise reached toward the music box but stopped herself.
“What did Helena say?”
“She said we were meant to destroy Northstar together.”
Elise’s eyes hardened.
“She lies even when she isn’t in the room.”
“You sound certain.”
“I have proof.”
“Show me.”
Elise smiled coldly.
“You first.”
Evelyn looked at Thomas.
He subtly shook his head.
She ignored him and pressed the recorder.
Helena’s voice played through the music box.
The ridge fell silent.
Elise listened without blinking.
When the message reached the words Elise believes I abandoned her. She has every reason to hate me, her face tightened.
At the final warning, Do not let Alexander reach her first, Elise looked toward the old man.
“You told me she never searched.”
Alexander said nothing.
“You told me she chose Evelyn.”
Still silence.
Elise’s voice rose.
“You told me I was the failed subject.”
Alexander finally answered.
“I told you what Meridian needed to believe.”
“You left me with them.”
“I was trying to keep you alive.”
“They broke every bone in my left hand when I was six.”
Alexander’s face lost color.
“They put me underwater until I stopped fighting.”
Evelyn felt Victor move beside her, but she raised a hand to stop him.
Elise continued.
“They taught me to kill before they taught me to read. And every night, they showed me photographs of Evelyn so I would understand what obedience could have earned me.”
Evelyn’s throat tightened.
“I’m sorry.”
Elise looked at her with sudden fury.
“Do not apologize for winning.”
“I didn’t win.”
“You had Victor.”
“He lied to me.”
“He loved you.”
Evelyn could not deny it.
Elise pointed toward Daniel.
“You had a husband.”
“He hit me.”
“And yet you still had someone who believed he owned you.”
“That is not love.”
“No. But it is still more human than what I had.”
Evelyn stepped closer until the helicopter’s downdraft nearly knocked her backward.
“Then let me help you destroy what did this.”
Elise studied her.
“Give me your genetic authorization.”
“No.”
The answer came instantly.
Elise’s expression froze.
“You said you wanted to help.”
“I will help destroy Northstar. I will not give you control of it.”
“You don’t trust me.”
“I don’t know you.”
The honesty seemed to affect Elise more than an accusation would have.
Evelyn continued.
“But I want to.”
For a moment, neither sister spoke.
Then a gunshot echoed from the western ridge.
Thomas jerked backward.
Blood burst from his shoulder.
Meridian agents who had appeared dead rose behind the vehicles.
A second attack began.
Elise turned sharply.
“I didn’t order that.”
Elias shouted, “Meridian command is divided!”
The helicopter pilot raised a pistol toward Elise.
Evelyn saw it first.
“Elise!”
She ran.
The pilot fired.
Alexander stepped between the bullet and Elise.
The round struck him in the chest.
He fell from the helicopter doorway.
Evelyn and Elise reached him at the same moment.
Alexander landed hard on the ground.
Blood spread across his white shirt.
Victor aimed a captured rifle at the pilot and fired.
The helicopter spun away, trailing smoke.
Elise dropped beside Alexander.
The old man looked up at both granddaughters.
For the first time, he seemed old.
Truly old.
Elise gripped his collar.
“Why did you do that?”
Alexander coughed.
“Because I failed you once.”
“You failed me every day.”
“Yes.”
His eyes shifted toward Evelyn.
“Both of you.”
Evelyn pressed her hands against the wound.
“We need a medic!”
Thomas crawled toward them.
“The round hit near the heart.”
Alexander reached inside his coat.
He removed a small black key.
Not electronic.
A physical key made of dark metal.
He placed it in Elise’s hand.
Her fingers closed around it instinctively.
“What is this?”
“The third authorization.”
Evelyn frowned.
“The vault said there were two bloodlines.”
Alexander struggled to breathe.
“Two bloodlines open Northstar.”
He looked toward Victor.
“One loyalty closes it.”
Victor stared at the key.
“What loyalty?”
Alexander’s voice weakened.
“The person willing to sacrifice the heir they love most.”
No one understood.
Then Thomas’s tablet began alarming.
A new Northstar transmission filled the screen.
GLOBAL RELEASE ADVANCED.
TIME REMAINING: 03:00:00.
Elise looked up.
“I didn’t advance it.”
Elias checked the signal.
“It came from Northstar headquarters.”
Victor’s expression changed.
“There is no Northstar headquarters.”
Alexander coughed blood.
“Yes… there is.”
“Where?”
Alexander looked toward Margaret.
She slowly backed away.
Everyone turned to her.
Daniel whispered, “Mom?”
Margaret’s face collapsed beneath the weight of a final secret.
Alexander answered for her.
“Crosswell Tower.”
Daniel stared at his mother.
“You knew?”
Margaret began to cry.
“I thought it was only a financial control center.”
Alexander’s breathing became shallow.
“The tower is built over Northstar’s original command chamber.”
Evelyn looked at the countdown.
Three hours until every secret became public.
Three hours until governments, markets, and armies began turning on one another.
Elise stood.
“We go to the tower.”
Victor looked at Alexander.
“What about him?”
Elise stared down at the man who had defined both their lives.
For a moment, Evelyn thought she would leave him to die.
Instead, Elise lifted him with Thomas’s help.
“He answers every question first.”
Daniel approached his mother.
“You knew there was something beneath my company.”
Margaret shook her head.
“Not everything.”
“How much?”
She looked toward him with terror.
“Enough to know your father built Crosswell for one reason.”
Daniel’s face became still.
“Which father?”
Margaret’s answer was barely a whisper.
“Both of them.”
A deep explosion echoed from beneath the ridge.
The vault entrance collapsed.
Marcus received a new message on his tablet.
He read it twice.
Then he turned toward Evelyn.
“What?”
He held out the screen.
A live feed from Crosswell Tower showed hundreds of employees gathered in the lobby.
Every exit had been sealed.
Gas was beginning to pour through the ventilation system.
On the central display, a message appeared.
ONE HEIR MUST ARRIVE ALONE.
OR EVERYONE INSIDE DIES.
Elise looked at Evelyn.
Evelyn looked back.
Both understood the trap immediately.
Northstar did not want both sisters.
May you like
It wanted them to decide which one deserved to survive.
END OF CHAPTER 10
