Chapter 7 - Dead on Paper
Finch looked at the screen, then at her own hands. "That's a sick joke."
"It won't be when the medics get a call saying you've suffered a fatal accident," Mara said. "If they can control your identity record, they can control who believes you're alive."
Rourke stripped the tablet's battery and handed Finch a paper notebook. "From now on, we record everything twice. One copy goes with someone who isn't on the system."
Cole lifted his chin. "That's me, sir. I'm not important enough to erase."
"Don't mistake being young for being invisible," Mara told him.
They played the cassette with the volume barely above a whisper. A man's breathing came first. Then Thomas's voice.
"Daniel, if this reaches you, I didn't make it home. I need you to trust Mara even when everything says not to. She tried to stop us from making the worst mistake of our lives."
Something rattled, as if Thomas had crouched beside a road.
"Meridian built an emergency override. We thought it would protect soldiers cut off in the field. Bell turned it into a way to forge evacuation orders and redirect rescue teams. Ridgeway wasn't ambushed by the enemy. We were redirected into a controlled kill zone."
Rourke put one hand against the wall.
Thomas continued. "I kept two pieces of proof. One goes where Atlas's bloodline can carry it. The other stays with the person Bell thinks he can silence."
A burst of gunfire on the recording made Cole flinch.
"Tell Mom I wasn't afraid," Thomas said. "Tell Lily her mother never quit looking for her."
The tape ended.
Rourke stood without speaking for a long moment. Then he looked at Mara. "You knew my brother was dying."
"I was beside him."
"And you left him?"
She swallowed. "He ordered me to. He made me promise I'd get the evidence out."
Rourke looked away. Cole could see the anger fighting grief behind his eyes.
A distant explosion shook dust from the ceiling. Torres checked a tiny mechanical clock on the wall. The north-yard gates had just sealed.
"They've locked down the base," he said.
May you like
Finch pressed her ear to the old copper service line. "Worse. They've just issued an order in your voice, Colonel."
The message instructed every soldier to arrest Mara Keene—and to shoot Rourke if he resisted.
