Chapter 8 - ADRIAN’S CHOICE
Maya wanted to leave for Saint Abel immediately.
Federal authorities refused.
A civilian mother with a six-month-old child had no place in a tactical operation.
Maya reminded them that the operation existed because her family had been used as biometric property.
They compromised.
Maya would remain aboard the command vessel.
Julian would stay under military protection in Boston.
Elena was transferred to a secure rehabilitation hospital.
Before Maya departed, she visited the real Victoria.
Victoria had survived surgery.
She lay inside a guarded room with Adrian beside her.
Mother and son were learning one another through fragments.
Victoria remembered his childhood.
Adrian remembered almost nothing before Vivian returned.
Maya stopped at the doorway.
Adrian stood.
“I heard about Elena.”
“She is alive.”
“I’m glad.”
“Warren Vale may have my father.”
Adrian looked toward his biological mother.
Victoria nodded.
“Vale maintained Saint Abel as an interrogation site.”
“You knew?”
“I heard Conrad mention it.”
“Why didn’t you tell investigators?”
“I did.”
Vance had withheld the confirmation until satellite images were verified.
Maya looked at Adrian.
“I am leaving tonight.”
“I’m coming.”
“No.”
“I know Vale’s private aircraft systems.”
“You were shot.”
“I can still think.”
“You also ignored danger until it entered your own home.”
His face tightened.
“I know.”
“This is not redemption.”
“I know.”
“Then why?”
“Because Warren trusts the Sterling authorization codes.”
Adrian had inherited Conrad’s executive credentials.
Those credentials might allow the command vessel to approach Saint Abel without triggering defenses.
Maya hated needing him.
But refusing useful help out of anger would make her no wiser than the people who endangered others to protect pride.
“You follow Vance’s orders,” she said.
“Yes.”
“You do not improvise.”
“Yes.”
“You do not make decisions for me.”
“Yes.”
They left that night.
The command vessel crossed dark water beneath a storm.
Saint Abel appeared after midnight.
A black island.
A single tower.
No visible lights.
Adrian entered the Sterling code.
For several seconds, nothing happened.
Then the island transmitted a landing corridor.
Vance looked at him.
“They still recognize your family.”
Adrian stared at the screen.
“That is not something I’m proud of.”
The tactical team moved by helicopter.
Maya remained aboard the vessel as promised.
Then communications failed.
Every screen went dark.
A voice came through the speakers.
Warren Vale.
“Maya Ashford.”
She stood.
“I know you are aboard.”
Vance’s team had already landed.
Adrian had gone with them.
Maya activated the microphone.
“Where is my father?”
“Alive.”
The word struck her.
“Let me speak to him.”
“You may see him.”
A camera feed appeared.
Nathaniel Ashford sat inside a metal room.
His hair was white.
A scar crossed his forehead.
He was thin but upright.
His wrists were restrained.
Maya moved toward the screen.
“Dad?”
Nathaniel looked up.
For a moment, he seemed not to understand.
Then he saw her.
His face broke.
“Maya.”
She covered her mouth.
He had remembered.
For twenty-four years.
He had remembered.
Vale’s voice returned.
“Bring the child.”
“No.”
“Then Nathaniel dies.”
“You need me too.”
“Your DNA opens part of the system.”
“Then why Julian?”
“Two-generation authorization.”
Nathaniel shouted from the screen.
“Do not bring him!”
A guard struck him.
Maya screamed.
Vale continued calmly.
“The patents your father hid can activate Nightglass distribution through medical-relief networks worldwide.”
“You want to poison civilians.”
“I want deterrence.”
“You want control.”
“Control prevents chaos.”
Maya thought of Vivian.
Conrad.
Every person who called domination protection.
“No.”
Vale sighed.
“Then watch.”
A countdown appeared beside Nathaniel’s image.
Ten minutes.
The command vessel captain ordered Maya away from communications.
She refused.
Vance’s team remained unreachable.
Then Adrian’s voice came through a private channel.
“Maya.”
“Where are you?”
“Inside the lower tunnel.”
“Is Vance with you?”
“We were separated.”
“Vale has my father.”
“I know.”
Adrian had found the island’s security hub.
He could open Nathaniel’s cell.
But doing so would trigger a lockdown.
The tactical team might be trapped.
“You must choose,” Adrian said.
Maya closed her eyes.
Nathaniel’s countdown continued.
If she ordered the cell opened, dozens of officers could be endangered.
If she waited, her father might die.
Nathaniel looked toward the camera.
He seemed to understand.
“Maya.”
She heard him through the main feed.
“Do not trade lives for mine.”
Her father had been imprisoned for twenty-four years and still refused to make others disposable.
Maya made her decision.
“Adrian, do not open the cell.”
Vale smiled through the speaker.
“You are willing to lose him?”
“No.”
Maya looked at the island map.
“I am willing to trust the people who came to save him.”
Then a second signal appeared.
Marcus Vance.
“Trust accepted.”
The tactical team had restored communications.
Vance had reached the detention wing.
Adrian shut down the main power.
Darkness swallowed Saint Abel.
Gunfire erupted across the island.
Nathaniel’s camera vanished.
Maya waited.
One minute.
Three.
Five.
Then Vance returned to the channel.
“We have him.”
Maya nearly fell.
But Vance continued.
“Vale escaped through the northern launch tunnel.”
A small aircraft lifted from the far side of Saint Abel.
Its course pointed toward Boston.
Toward Julian.
May you like
Warren Vale had lost Nathaniel.
Now he was going after the final Ashford heir.
