Chapter 9 - THE RECORDING
The fight lasted less than a minute, but it felt endless.
Kane reached Mara first and cut the restraints from her wrists. Elena ran toward Daniel, but two guards blocked her path.
Daniel attacked them from behind.
He moved with trained precision.
Elena stared at him.
“Who taught you?”
“Mother.”
One guard raised his weapon.
Elena struck his arm. Daniel disarmed him. Together, they forced the men to the floor.
Across the room, Voss escaped through a hidden door.
Kane started after him.
Mara caught his sleeve.
“No. He wants you separated.”
Kane stopped.
Hayes entered the command center with Pierce behind him.
“The entire facility is wired to explode,” Hayes said.
“How long?” Kane asked.
“Seven minutes.”
Voss’s voice echoed through the speakers.
“You think this ends with my arrest? You are standing inside the grave of every secret this unit ever kept.”
Mara moved to the central computer.
“The original recording is here.”
She began entering a sequence.
Elena stood beside her.
“Why did you leave me?”
Mara did not stop typing.
“To save you.”
“You let me believe you were dead.”
“I believed Voss would kill you if he knew you were searching for me.”
“You could have told me the truth.”
“I tried.”
Mara inserted a small drive into the computer.
“When you were sixteen, I sent you a letter.”
“I never received it.”
“Because Hayes intercepted it.”
Elena turned toward the colonel.
Hayes looked away.
Mara continued.
“I sent another when you joined the military academy. Voss found it.”
Elena’s eyes filled with tears.
“I thought you abandoned me.”
“I thought I was giving you a life.”
The computer screen displayed a file.
OPERATION NIGHT GLASS — ORIGINAL AUDIO.
Mara pressed play.
Voss’s voice filled the room.
“Move the convoy to Route Seven. The buyers will take the weapons at the river crossing.”
A second voice asked, “What about the soldiers?”
“Leave no survivors.”
Then another voice spoke.
Lieutenant Brooks.
“Captain Ward knows about the route.”
Voss replied, “Then make sure she is blamed.”
The final voice belonged to Colonel Hayes.
“Voss, this is murder.”
“And you will sign the report.”
Silence followed.
The recording ended.
Hayes closed his eyes.
Mara looked at him.
“You were the first officer to help me.”
“And the first to betray you,” Hayes said.
“I had no choice.”
“You always had a choice.”
An explosion shook the building.
Dust fell from the ceiling.
“Five minutes,” Pierce warned.
Mara copied the recording to a second drive.
“Take this to the outside world.”
Hayes stepped toward her.
“You have to leave.”
“You don’t.”
He looked at Elena.
“I have spent eight years trying to correct what I did.”
“You can start by surviving,” Elena said.
Hayes shook his head.
“The blast doors are manually locked from the control room. Someone has to stay behind.”
Kane grabbed him.
“We’ll find another way.”
“There isn’t one.”
Voss appeared on a monitor.
His face was bleeding, but he was smiling.
“You always were a hero at the very end, Hayes.”
Mara moved toward the exit.
Hayes blocked her.
“Go.”
“No.”
“Mara, this is the only chance your children have.”
Elena took her mother’s hand.
“We are not leaving you.”
Another explosion shook the floor.
The countdown continued.
3:12.
Kane searched the emergency controls.
“Here.”
He found a manual release lever behind a panel.
“If we overload the generator, the blast doors will open.”
“And the entire facility will collapse,” Hayes said.
“Then we move fast.”
Kane pulled the lever.
Sparks exploded across the room.
The blast doors opened.
Everyone ran.
Behind them, the command center erupted in flames.
Voss disappeared into the smoke.
Outside, snow fell over the burning facility.
They reached the main gate with less than a minute remaining.
Kane pushed Elena through the opening.
Mara followed.
Daniel followed.
Hayes stopped at the threshold.
Elena turned.
“Colonel!”
Hayes looked at her.
For the first time, he smiled.
“Tell them I finally made the right choice.”
He pulled the emergency lever from inside.
The gates slammed shut.
The mountain shook.
May you like
A wall of fire rose behind the steel barrier.
Elena screamed his name, but Kane dragged her away as the facility collapsed into the snow.
