Chapter 12 - THE NECKLACE
I found Ryan in the chapel.
The same military chapel where my father had been memorialized eight years earlier.
He was sitting alone in the back row.
When I entered, he stood.
He looked exhausted.
Older.
Broken.
But there was something different in his eyes.
For once, he wasn't pretending.
He reached into his pocket.
Then placed the necklace on the wooden bench.
I stared at it.
The small silver pendant had been my father's wedding gift.
I had worn it on the day I married Ryan.
I had worn it through deployments.
Through promotions.
Through funerals.
Through every important moment of my life.
And all those years, I had never known what it contained.
Ryan pushed it toward me.
“Take it.”
I picked it up.
“How does it open?”
“You don't open it.”
“Then what?”
“You activate it.”
“How?”
“Your father's way.”
I thought.
His favorite phrase.
Truth before comfort.
I said it aloud.
The pendant clicked.
A tiny light appeared.
I stared.
A hidden compartment opened.
Inside was a miniature data chip.
I looked at Ryan.
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Your father showed me.”
“When?”
“Six months before he died.”
I sat.
“Tell me everything.”
Ryan sat beside me.
“He told me he knew people were watching you.”
“Why me?”
“Because he believed the network would eventually target his family.”
“Why did he trust you?”
“He didn't.”
I looked at him.
“He trusted my fear.”
“What does that mean?”
“He knew I was weak.”
That was the most honest thing Ryan had ever said.
“He knew someone could manipulate me.”
“And they did.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because they threatened to hurt you.”
I stared at him.
“They knew where you were stationed.”
My jaw tightened.
“They knew your schedule.”
“I know.”
“They said if I warned you, you'd die.”
I looked down.
“And you believed them.”
“Yes.”
“Then you betrayed me.”
“Yes.”
Silence.
I held the pendant.
“What does the chip contain?”
“Everything.”
“Everything?”
“Names. Accounts. Communications. Payments. Orders.”
I looked at him.
“And the Director?”
Ryan nodded.
“The Director's identity is in there.”
Before I could answer, the chapel doors opened.
General Whitaker entered.
Two investigators followed.
“Colonel.”
I stood.
“I have it.”
His eyes went to the pendant.
“Good.”
I frowned.
“Too good?”
Whitaker didn't answer.
I looked at the investigators.
They weren't Army.
Their clothing was wrong.
Their posture was wrong.
I reached for my weapon.
One of them raised his hand.
“Don't.”
I stepped backward.
“Who are you?”
“Federal task force.”
“Identification.”
He showed a badge.
I studied it.
Fake.
The hologram was wrong.
I fired.
The man dropped.
The second reached for his weapon.
Ryan tackled him.
The chapel exploded into chaos.
Whitaker drew his weapon.
Three shots.
Silence.
The fake agent was unconscious.
I grabbed his phone.
One recent message.
GET THE CHIP. KILL THE COLONEL IF NECESSARY.
I looked at Whitaker.
“How did they know we were here?”
He didn't answer.
I turned toward him.
“How?”
He finally said:
“Because someone inside this building is feeding them information.”
I looked at the pendant.
Then the phone.
Then Ryan.
Someone knew we had it.
Someone knew where we were.
Someone knew we were meeting.
And someone knew about the chapel.
The network was inside headquarters.
My father's warning echoed in my mind.
The betrayal will come from the person she trusts most.
I looked at Whitaker.
Then Ryan.
Then myself.
Perhaps I had been asking the wrong question.
Maybe the person I trusted most wasn't a man.
Maybe it was the system itself.
The Army.
The government.
The institution I had devoted my entire life to.
I looked at Whitaker.
“Who can access my schedule?”
“Dozens of people.”
“Who can access classified movement data?”
“Fewer than ten.”
“Who can access both?”
He hesitated.
“Three.”
“Names.”
He looked at me.
“Myself.”
“Who else?”
He gave me two names.
One was dead.
The other—
Was my commanding officer.
I stared.
“He's been in every briefing.”
“Yes.”
“Then we have a leak.”
Whitaker nodded.
“And now they know we have the archive.”
My phone buzzed.
A message from an unknown number.
YOU HAVE SIX HOURS.
Another appeared.
RETURN THE CHIP.
Then a final one.
OR YOUR HUSBAND DIES.
I looked at Ryan.
He was staring at the message.
“They're coming for me.”
I shook my head.
“No.”
I closed my hand around the pendant.
“They're coming for the archive.”
Ryan looked at me.
“What are you going to do?”
I stood.
“What I should have done from the beginning.”
“What's that?”
I looked toward the chapel doors.
“Stop defending.”
May you like
“Then what?”
“Go on offense.”
