Chapter 15 - A Betrayal With Two Faces
Emma moved in front of Avery. “Because she was the only person who could complete the release. I didn't ask you to bring a gun.”
Rourke's mouth tightened. “You think evidence survives a public dump? They'll bury it in court. They'll call the files stolen.”
“Then testify,” Avery said.
“I will. After I control what comes out.”
Mercer gave a bitter laugh. “You mean after your signature disappears.”
For a moment Rourke said nothing. That was enough. He had come for the archive, not the women.
He insisted that he had approved the ninth flight under false information. Avery believed that might even be true. But he had spent six months protecting his career while families buried people whose deaths never belonged to them.
“You could've told the truth,” she said.
“And lost the entire investigation?”
“You lost people instead.”
His pistol trembled slightly. Emma glanced at it. “The master record isn't in the archive. It's in the encrypted copy I built. You need both sisters' credentials to release it.”
Avery understood the training-room stunt at last. Somebody had needed a public reason to detain her, take her belongings, and recover the hidden card without admitting they knew she had it. Mercer was supposed to provoke a fight. When she won too cleanly, Voss tried to manufacture an assault.
“So Voss died because the plan failed?” she asked.
Rourke looked up sharply. “Voss is dead?”
His surprise seemed genuine. But the question barely left his lips before a shot shattered the overhead light. Sparks rained down. Rourke ducked. Mercer pulled Emma behind a concrete pillar and Avery hit the floor beside her.
May you like
From the stairwell came a voice they all knew.
“Colonel,” said Captain Voss, very much alive, “you were supposed to bring me the key.”
