Chapter 16 - Three Flashes in the Dark
The girl was seven, but Hale had taught her how to use a tiny keychain flashlight when she was scared. Olivia recognized the pattern immediately.
“She's not in your van,” Olivia told Kessler.
Kessler's eyes moved toward the warehouse despite herself.
That was enough. Olivia spoke softly into the microphone: “Building fourteen. South window.”
Shaw's team moved. Through the hangar's open doors, Olivia heard distant boots and a single clear command. Kessler grabbed Olivia's arm, trying to pull her toward the van.
“Don't,” Olivia said.
“After everything I've done to keep you alive, you owe me.”
Olivia looked at the hand gripping her. “You killed my friends.”
Kessler's face hardened. “They were going to bankrupt the operation.”
“And you chose money.”
“She was a medic,” Kessler snapped. “That Quinn girl should have stayed out of it.”
The confession went straight into the recorded feed. Olivia kept her voice even. “Mara had a name. Say it.”
Kessler tried to draw a small pistol. Maya emerged from behind a parked maintenance truck and ordered her to drop it. Kessler hesitated, then let the gun clatter onto the floor. Agents moved in to arrest her.
At the warehouse, officers found Sophie locked in a supply room, frightened but unharmed. She clung to Shaw's jacket until a medic wrapped her in a blanket and told her she was safe.
Olivia heard the confirmation over her earpiece. Her knees nearly gave way.
Kessler, handcuffed, tilted her head. “You think Bell is finished because I said a few things? He doesn't lose.”
Maya guided her toward the police vehicle. “You can tell that to the prosecutor.”
Shaw's phone rang from a secure line. Her expression changed as she listened.
“What happened?” Olivia asked.
“Bell has called an emergency press conference,” Shaw said. “He's accusing you of being an impostor and announcing a new investigation into Colonel Hale.”
On a nearby television, Bell stood beneath the American flag and lifted a thick folder.
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The cover read: OLIVIA MERCER—CONFESSED TRAITOR.
THE MARK THEY TRIED TO ERASE •
