Chapter 12 - THE MAN WHO BUILT HER NEW LIFE
Deputy Attorney General Charles Mason had built Natalie Bennett.
He had chosen her new name.
Her new school.
Her mother’s new identity.
Her entire life.
Which meant he had always known where she was.
“You gave Ethan my location,” Natalie said.
Mason smiled.
“Eventually.”
Claire struggled against the chair.
“You promised Daniel.”
“I promised Daniel many things.”
Victor stood beside him.
Adrian looked between them.
“So who works for whom?”
Mason laughed.
“That’s the mistake everyone makes.”
Victor’s face tightened.
Mason continued.
“Victor built the criminal network.”
“And you?”
“I made it respectable.”
Natalie felt sick.
Judges.
Prosecutors.
Witness protection.
Evidence control.
Mason had built an institution around protecting criminals who paid enough.
Victor looked angry.
“You talk too much.”
Mason glanced at him.
“You stopped being useful years ago.”
Victor went still.
Adrian noticed.
“Interesting.”
Mason drew a weapon.
Victor’s men moved.
Then everything fractured.
Victor shot Mason.
Mason fired back.
Gabriel’s team stormed the hangar.
Adrian pulled Natalie behind a concrete barrier.
Claire screamed.
Gunfire echoed.
When it ended, Victor lay wounded.
Mason had escaped through a rear door.
Adrian reached Claire and cut her free.
Natalie knelt beside her.
“You okay?”
“Yes.”
Victor groaned nearby.
Adrian stood over him.
Victor looked up.
“You think you won?”
“The files are uploading.”
Victor laughed weakly.
“Mason has a shutdown key.”
Natalie’s stomach dropped.
“What?”
“He can erase the Vale archive remotely.”
Adrian’s phone buzzed.
UPLOAD: 94%.
“How long?”
“Minutes.”
Victor smiled.
“He’s going to Federal Plaza.”
Adrian looked at Gabriel.
“Go.”
They raced back toward Manhattan.
Traffic stopped them three blocks away.
Natalie checked the upload.
97%.
“Too slow.”
Adrian looked at the buildings.
Then at her.
“Subway.”
“What?”
He grabbed her hand.
They ran.
Natalie had never imagined Adrian Mercer sprinting through a subway station in a thousand-dollar suit.
He jumped the turnstile.
She laughed breathlessly.
“You’re committing a crime.”
“I’ll pay the fine.”
They reached Federal Plaza.
98%.
Inside, alarms sounded.
Mason was already in the evidence control room.
Gabriel reached him first.
The men fought.
Mason broke away and slammed his hand toward the shutdown control.
Natalie tackled him.
He hit the floor.
Adrian stared.
She looked up.
“What?”
“You tackled the Deputy Attorney General.”
“He deserved it.”
The upload reached 100%.
For one beautiful second, nothing happened.
Then phones throughout the building began ringing.
News alerts appeared.
Files released.
Names.
Payments.
Murders.
Judges.
Politicians.
Police commanders.
Executives.
The Vale Protocol had activated.
Mason looked at Natalie with hatred.
“You have no idea what you’ve done.”
Natalie stood.
“Yes.”
She looked at Adrian.
“I opened the door.”
Mason was arrested.
Victor survived and was placed under federal guard.
It should have been over.
Then Adrian’s phone rang.
Evelyn.
Her voice was strange.
“Adrian.”
“What?”
“There’s one file you need to see before the press does.”
“What file?”
A pause.
“Daniel’s paternity report.”
Adrian looked at Natalie.
Evelyn continued.
“You and Natalie are not siblings.”
Natalie froze.
Adrian stopped breathing.
“What?”
“Daniel wasn’t your biological father.”
Silence.
“Then who was?”
May you like
Evelyn whispered:
“Robert Harlan.”
