Chapter 5 - The Friend in the Vault.
Lisa ran toward the elevator.
Cole followed.
“Stay behind us.”
“She can lock the vault remotely.”
“Then disable it.”
“I can’t.”
Cole looked at her.
“You built the system.”
“Natalie helped design the emergency controls.”
That confession tasted bitter now.
The executive vault occupied the seventeenth floor.
It contained cold-storage encryption modules, corporate ownership certificates, board agreements, and authentication devices for government contracts.
When the elevator opened, the hallway lights were red.
LOCKDOWN flashed across a wall display.
Lisa pressed her palm against the emergency reader.
ACCESS DENIED.
Cole looked at her.
“Someone removed you.”
Lisa felt a strange, humorless laugh escape.
“From my own company.”
Her phone rang.
Natalie.
Lisa answered.
“Where are you?”
Natalie’s familiar voice sounded calm.
“Good morning, Lisa.”
“Open the door.”
“I can’t do that.”
“You mean you won’t.”
A pause.
“I wish you hadn’t refused Evelyn.”
Lisa closed her eyes.
“So you knew.”
“I knew enough.”
“You were my best friend.”
“That part was real.”
Lisa’s anger sharpened.
“Don’t insult me.”
“I’m not.”
“Then open the door.”
Natalie sighed.
“You still think this is about money.”
“Eleven million dollars says otherwise.”
“That money was operating cost.”
“For what?”
Silence.
Then Natalie said something unexpected.
“Keeping people alive.”
Lisa looked at Michael.
His expression changed.
Natalie continued.
“Gray Lantern stopped being a military program years ago.”
“What is it now?”
“A network.”
“Controlled by Rebecca?”
“Not anymore.”
Lisa frowned.
“Then who?”
“You married him.”
Lisa’s heart seemed to stop.
Ryan.
Michael shook his head.
“No.”
Natalie heard him.
“Hello, Michael.”
He stepped toward the phone.
“You sold me out.”
“I saved your life.”
“You handed me to Voss.”
“Because Ryan was going to kill you.”
Lisa stared at Michael.
Natalie continued before anyone could interrupt.
“Rebecca wanted the system restored.”
“Ryan wanted ownership.”
“Evelyn wanted both.”
“And you wanted my company.”
Natalie’s voice trembled slightly.
“I wanted a way out.”
“Then come out.”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
A metallic sound came through the phone.
Lisa recognized the vault’s inner safe.
Natalie was opening it.
Michael whispered.
“The second key.”
Lisa spoke quickly.
“Natalie, listen to me.”
“You don’t have to finish this.”
“If you take that key, they will eliminate you next.”
Natalie laughed softly.
“You finally sound like your brother.”
Then an alarm sounded inside the vault.
Natalie gasped.
Lisa heard footsteps.
Not Cole’s team.
Inside.
Someone else was already with Natalie.
A man spoke in the background.
“You took too long.”
Lisa recognized the voice instantly.
Ryan.
Her blood went cold.
Cole grabbed the phone.
“Ryan Bennett, this is Major Cole.”
“Step away from the device and place your hands where we can see them.”
Ryan laughed.
“You’re on the wrong side of the door, Major.”
Lisa stared at the sealed vault.
“You left the house.”
“I was never ordered into custody.”
Ryan’s voice became softer.
“Lisa, I need you to listen carefully.”
“No.”
“I never wanted you hurt.”
“You married me under orders.”
“That changed.”
“Then prove it.”
Ryan paused.
“Give me access to the master system.”
Lisa almost smiled.
“There it is.”
“Lisa.”
“You don’t love me.”
“Maybe I did.”
“Maybe?”
Ryan’s tone hardened.
“This is bigger than our marriage.”
Michael stepped toward the door.
“Ryan, if you activate Gray Lantern without both authenticators, you’ll destroy the identity ledger.”
“That’s the point.”
Michael froze.
Lisa looked at him.
“What does destroying the ledger do?”
Michael answered slowly.
“It erases every hidden identity in the network.”
Cole frowned.
“Witnesses?”
“Agents.”
“Informants.”
“People officially dead but still alive.”
Lisa understood.
Ryan was not trying to steal Gray Lantern.
He was trying to erase everyone who could testify about it.
A gunshot exploded from behind the vault door.
May you like
Natalie screamed.
Then the call went silent.
