Chapter 4 - The Man Above the BossMara watched the recording six times.
On the seventh, Vincent shut it off.
"Enough."
She turned toward him.
"Turn it back on."
"You've heard every word."
"Turn it back on."
"It isn't changing."
"I said—"
Vincent stepped closer.
"You've spent four years chasing ghosts. Now two of them show up on a screen and you think watching it again will make sense."
Mara clenched her jaw.
"Don't talk about my family."
"Then stop acting like Calder won't use them against you."
"He already is."
"Exactly."
Samuel sat in the corner, looking older by the minute.
Mara faced him.
"My mother died in a car accident."
Samuel said nothing.
"Say something."
"It wasn't an accident."
Mara laughed without humor.
"Of course it wasn't."
"Her name wasn't even Helen Vale."
Mara went still.
"What?"
Samuel rubbed his hands together.
"Before she met Elias, she was Helena Carver."
Vincent frowned.
"Carver."
"You know it?" Mara asked.
"Calder's first wife had that surname."
Samuel nodded.
Mara stared at him.
"No."
"Helena was Adrian Calder's younger sister."
The room seemed to tilt.
Mara gripped the edge of the desk.
Vincent whispered a curse.
Samuel continued.
"Your mother discovered what Adrian was becoming before your father did. She tried to leave the network."
"So she faked her death."
"With Elias's help."
"And left me."
"To protect you."
Mara slammed her palm onto the desk.
"Everyone keeps using that word."
Samuel flinched.
"Protect."
She laughed bitterly.
"Erase my identity. Lie about my mother. Let me think my father died. Apparently all of that counts as protection."
Vincent said quietly, "Sometimes people call fear protection because it sounds better."
Mara turned toward him.
He wasn't defending Samuel.
He was talking about himself.
That irritated her more.
"Calder is my uncle."
Samuel nodded.
Biology shouldn't have changed anything.
It did.
Mara thought about every year she had spent hunting an invisible enemy.
Every file.
Every shadow.
Every time somebody told her to stop.
The monster had been family.
Vincent leaned against the console.
"Why does he want Atlas now?"
Samuel answered.
"Because Calder is losing control."
"To who?"
"Everyone."
"Useful answer."
Samuel sighed.
"Twenty years ago, Adrian controlled people through secrets. Now information moves too quickly. His network is old. Governments have better systems. Criminal organizations have better systems. Corporations build their own intelligence."
"So Atlas became obsolete?" Mara asked.
"The archive did."
"But Elias said the network is the weapon."
Samuel nodded.
"Atlas was rewritten."
"By who?"
"Elias."
Mara stared.
"My father?"
"He spent years turning Calder's infrastructure against itself."
Vincent straightened.
"Explain."
"Every transaction routed through the hidden network created a second record. Every command. Every door opened. Every identity altered. Every transfer."
"A dead man's switch," Vincent said.
"More like a mirror."
Mara understood.
"Calder can't use the network without creating evidence against himself."
"Exactly."
"Then why hasn't he shut it down?"
"He can't."
"Why?"
Samuel looked at her.
"Because Elias transferred administrator control."
"To who?"
"You."
Mara almost laughed.
"I've never accessed it."
"You have."
"When?"
Samuel pointed to her visor.
The room went silent.
Mara touched the edge of it.
"No."
"Who made that?"
"A biomedical engineer in Chicago."
"Name?"
"Dr. Noah Kent."
Samuel shook his head.
"His real name is Noah Serrano."
Vincent swore.
"You know him?"
"Calder's systems division."
Mara felt cold.
Noah had treated her for three years.
He had designed the visor after every other assistive system failed.
He had listened when she talked about her father.
He had become one of the few people she trusted.
"He works for Calder?"
Samuel looked miserable.
"He worked for Elias."
Mara's anger stalled.
"What?"
"Elias sent him to you."
She sat down.
For the first time that night, her legs couldn't hold her.
"The visor isn't only visual assistance," Samuel said. "It authenticates you."
Vincent looked toward Mara.
"Every time you used it—"
"I was accessing the network."
"Without knowing."
Samuel nodded.
"Calder can't fully control Atlas because it recognizes Mara as administrator."
"Then why doesn't he kill me?" Mara asked.
"He needs you alive."
"For the keys."
"Yes."
Vincent paced.
"Three physical keys plus biometric administrator access."
Samuel nodded.
"Together they can either unlock Atlas permanently..."
"Or?"
"Erase it."
Mara understood.
"Calder wants the evidence gone."
"Yes."
Vincent looked at her.
"And your father wants it released."
"No."
Samuel shook his head.
"Elias doesn't want everything released."
"Because of innocent people."
"Right."
"So what's the third option?" Mara asked.
Samuel stared at her.
"That's what Elias has spent four years building."
Before he could explain, the control room speakers clicked.
A man's voice filled the level.
Adrian Calder.
"Samuel."
Samuel closed his eyes.
"Still betraying me after all these years."
Vincent looked toward the ceiling.
"Calder."
"Vincent Moretti. You sound remarkably like your father when you're angry."
Vincent's face hardened.
"Don't."
Calder chuckled.
"Enzo always hated being reminded he wasn't the smartest man in the room."
Mara stood.
"Where are my parents?"
"Together."
"Alive?"
"For now."
"Let me speak to them."
"No."
"Then we're done."
She turned away.
Calder's voice sharpened.
"Mara."
She stopped.
"There she is," he said softly. "Helen's stubborn little girl."
"Helena."
Silence.
Mara smiled coldly.
"Didn't expect Samuel to tell me?"
"Samuel has always confused guilt with morality."
"Where are they?"
"Closer than you think."
Vincent looked at the monitors.
Calder continued.
"Bring the three keys to sublevel four."
Mara said nothing.
"Midnight tomorrow."
"Why tomorrow?"
"Because that's when Atlas transfers control permanently."
"To me?"
"No."
That was unexpected.
"To whom?"
"Nobody."
Samuel stood abruptly.
"What did Elias do?"
Calder laughed.
"Finally keeping secrets from you too?"
Samuel stepped toward the speaker.
"Adrian."
"At midnight tomorrow, every protected partition opens."
Vincent frowned.
"Meaning?"
"Atlas distributes itself."
Mara understood.
"To the public?"
"To everyone."
Her stomach dropped.
Victims.
Witnesses.
Families.
Children.
All exposed.
"My father wouldn't do that."
"Your father ran out of time."
Calder's voice softened.
"Bring me the keys, Mara, and I stop it."
"Why should I believe you?"
"You shouldn't."
At least he was honest.
"But if you don't come, thousands of people who never chose any of this will pay for your father's mistake."
The speaker clicked off.
Samuel ran to the console.
His hands flew across the keyboard.
Vincent asked, "Is he telling the truth?"
"I don't know."
"Find out."
Mara stood quietly.
Vincent watched her.
"You aren't going."
She looked at him.
"Yes, I am."
"That's exactly what he wants."
"People could die because my father built this."
"Your father built it to stop Calder."
"And if he failed?"
Vincent had no answer.
Mara removed one of the carbon-fiber rods from her back.
She opened it.
Inside was the encrypted cylinder.
"I spent half my life trying to find my father."
Vincent walked closer.
"And now?"
"Now I have to decide whether finding him matters more than what he did."
The control room screen flashed red.
Samuel leaned toward it.
"No."
"What?" Vincent asked.
Samuel stared at the incoming data.
"Atlas isn't transferring tomorrow."
Mara stepped closer.
"When?"
Samuel looked up.
"Tonight."
A timer appeared.
00:47:18.
Forty-seven minutes.
Vincent swore.
Mara stared at the countdown.
Then another file opened automatically.
A live camera.
Sublevel four.
Elias and Helena Vale were sitting inside a glass room.
Behind them stood Adrian Calder.
May you like
He looked directly into the camera.
Then he smiled.
