Chapter 5 - The Trap at Fort Hollis
Fort Hollis had been abandoned for eleven years.
Officially.
Unofficially, Marcus believed Atlas had used the facility as a transit site.
Alejandro studied blueprints while Daniel described security.
“You expect me to trust you?” Alejandro asked.
“No.”
Daniel looked at Elena.
“I expect you to use me.”
That answer earned him the smallest amount of credibility.
The plan was simple.
Which meant Alejandro hated it.
Elena would appear to arrive with Daniel.
Alejandro and Marcus would enter through an old drainage corridor.
Backup would remain several miles away until they had proof.
At 11:57 p.m., Daniel drove through the gate.
Elena sat beside him.
Her heart hammered.
“You scared?” Daniel asked.
“Of you?”
He looked wounded.
She didn't apologize.
“Of this,” he said.
“Yes.”
“So am I.”
She looked at him.
For three years, she had thought she knew every expression on her husband's face.
Now she wasn't sure she knew anything.
“Was any of it real?”
Daniel kept driving.
“The night we met wasn't.”
She looked away.
“The first date wasn't.”
Her eyes filled.
“The proposal?”
He swallowed.
“Real.”
“The wedding?”
“Real.”
“When did the assignment stop?”
“The morning you burned pancakes and cried because you thought you'd ruined my birthday.”
Elena remembered.
Daniel smiled sadly.
“I realized I didn't want the archive anymore. I wanted Tuesday mornings and bad pancakes.”
“That's not enough.”
“I know.”
They reached the central building.
Barrett waited inside.
Sofia was tied to a chair.
The cedar box sat on a table.
“Elena Vega.”
Barrett smiled.
“You look like your mother.”
Elena stared at him.
“You knew her?”
“I feared her.”
He pushed the box forward.
“Open it.”
“I don't know how.”
“You'll figure it out.”
Daniel stepped between them.
“Let Sofia go.”
Barrett laughed.
“You're negotiating now?”
Meanwhile, beneath the building, Alejandro and Marcus moved through the drainage corridor.
They reached a locked grate.
Marcus attached a device.
Thirty seconds.
Twenty.
Then Alejandro heard something.
Voices behind them.
“Move!”
Gunfire erupted.
The corridor became chaos.
Upstairs, Barrett grabbed Elena.
Daniel attacked him.
Sofia kicked the chair backward, knocking one guard off balance.
Elena grabbed the cedar box.
It opened.
Not because of a code.
Because the lock recognized a melody.
A tiny mechanical sequence.
Four notes.
The lullaby Maria used to hum.
Inside was a photograph.
A wedding photograph.
And beneath it, a thin encrypted drive.
Barrett saw it.
“There.”
Elena ran.
Daniel tackled a guard.
Sofia broke free.
Then Alejandro burst into the room.
“ELENA!”
Barrett raised his weapon.
Daniel saw him first.
He jumped between them.
The shot exploded.
Daniel fell.
Elena screamed.
Alejandro fired.
Barrett's weapon flew from his hand.
Marcus entered with two trusted federal agents.
Sofia stood over Barrett.
She picked up his gun.
“You killed my brother.”
Barrett smiled.
“And I'll kill you too.”
Sofia pointed the weapon at his chest.
Alejandro spoke quietly.
“Captain.”
She looked at him.
“Don't give him the easy ending.”
Her hands shook.
Then she lowered the gun.
Marcus handcuffed Barrett.
Elena dropped beside Daniel.
Blood spread across his shirt.
“Stay with me.”
Daniel looked at her.
“I really did love the pancakes.”
She laughed through tears.
“Shut up.”
His eyes closed.
“Daniel!”
Paramedics rushed inside.
Alejandro stood beside his daughter as they carried Daniel away.
Then Marcus held up Maria's drive.
“We have it.”
Alejandro looked at Barrett.
“No.”
Barrett smiled.
Alejandro suddenly understood.
“This was too easy.”
Marcus's expression changed.
Alejandro looked toward the drive.
“Barrett wanted us to find it.”
A tiny light began blinking.
Marcus dropped it.
“TRACKER!”
The lights went out.
May you like
Explosions thundered outside.
And Fort Hollis came under attack.
