Chapter 5 - THE SECRET JULIAN WAS NEVER SUPPOSED TO KNOW
Gunfire erupted through the underground room.
Arthur pulled Clara behind the concrete wall.
Military police returned fire.
The darkness filled with shouting.
Then silence.
The commander switched on a tactical light.
One attacker lay unconscious near the entrance.
Another had escaped.
Clara's hands were shaking.
“Who was that?”
Arthur crouched beside the unconscious man.
He removed the mask.
Julian stared at him.
“You know him?”
Arthur's face hardened.
“His father served under me.”
The commander checked the man's identification.
“Former intelligence contractor.”
Arthur nodded.
“Which means someone inside the government is helping them.”
Clara looked at the files.
“Dad, what exactly happened thirty years ago?”
Arthur finally told her.
Nightglass was never simply a military operation.
It was created to identify a group of wealthy Americans secretly manipulating government contracts, military procurement, elections, and foreign intelligence.
But the investigation uncovered something worse.
The group wasn't simply corrupt.
It had infiltrated parts of the government.
When Arthur's team discovered the truth, they were ordered to stop investigating.
They refused.
Then came the massacre.
Sixteen agents were killed.
Elena disappeared.
Arthur was officially declared dead.
But Elena survived long enough to hide the evidence.
Clara's voice cracked.
“Where was she?”
Arthur looked down.
“She came back to you.”
“What?”
“After the operation.”
Clara froze.
“She was alive when I was nine?”
“Yes.”
“Then why don't I remember?”
Arthur swallowed.
“Because someone wanted you to forget.”
A terrifying realization settled over her.
Her childhood memories were incomplete.
The accident.
The hospital.
The funeral.
Her mother's coffin.
All of it had always felt strangely distant.
“What happened to Mom?”
Arthur closed his eyes.
“She didn't die that night.”
Clara stopped breathing.
“She lived for three more years.”
Tears filled her eyes.
“Three years?”
“She stayed hidden.”
“Where?”
Arthur looked toward the archive.
“She was working on the final proof.”
The commander opened the microchip reader.
A screen flickered.
Files appeared.
Then a video.
Elena Vance appeared on the screen.
Older.
Tired.
But alive.
Clara covered her mouth.
“Mom…”
Elena looked directly into the camera.
“If Clara is watching this, it means Julian Hale has finally found her.”
Clara's blood ran cold.
The video continued.
“Julian is not who he claims to be.”
Arthur whispered:
“We knew.”
Elena shook her head on the screen.
“No.”
She looked terrified.
“You don't understand.”
“Julian isn't the danger.”
The screen went black for one second.
Then Elena spoke again.
“The person who raised him is.”
A name appeared.
VICTORIA HALE.
Clara turned toward the door.
Victoria had been taken into custody.
But someone had just sent a message to the commander's phone.
May you like
One sentence.
YOU ARRESTED THE WRONG HALE.
