Chapter 12 - Meridian Station
Rain began shortly after midnight.
Emily sat inside an armored federal vehicle.
Michael was beside her.
Daniel had been ordered to remain behind.
Nathaniel refused.
He sat across from Emily.
“You should not be here.”
Emily looked at him.
“You’ve said that six times.”
“You’re eight months pregnant.”
“Seven.”
Nathaniel almost smiled.
Then his face became serious again.
“Sophie just found you.”
“I’m not letting her lose you.”
Emily looked at him.
Something about the sentence broke through her defenses.
For thirty-four years, she had been an only child.
Now someone she had known for less than a day was worried about losing her.
She reached across and squeezed his hand.
“I’m coming back.”
“You better.”
The convoy stopped half a mile from Meridian Station.
Federal agents moved through the rain.
The old research facility looked abandoned.
Broken windows.
Rusting gates.
Concrete stained by decades of weather.
But beneath it sat something worth billions.
Emily entered with the tactical team.
The pendant rested beneath her coat.
They reached the lower level.
A steel door stood open.
“That’s bad,” Michael whispered.
They descended.
Lights were already on.
Someone had restored power.
They reached a massive underground room.
Rows of dormant servers lined the walls.
At the center stood Preston.
Alone.
Emily stopped.
He looked exhausted.
Wet hair.
No jacket.
Blood on one sleeve.
But he smiled when he saw her.
“You came.”
Emily looked around.
“Where’s Charles?”
Preston laughed.
“Always straight to business.”
“Where is he?”
A body lay behind one of the server cabinets.
Charles Whitmore.
Alive.
Barely.
Michael raised his weapon.
“Hands up.”
Preston obeyed.
“I didn’t do that.”
Emily looked at Charles.
“Who did?”
Charles whispered,
“Lawson.”
Emily froze.
Lawson had been arrested.
Or so she thought.
Michael radioed immediately.
No response.
Then gunfire erupted above them.
Preston dove behind a console.
Agents shouted.
Emily dropped.
Nathaniel covered her.
“What the hell is happening?”
Preston shouted from across the room.
“My mother didn’t tell you everything!”
Emily yelled back.
“That seems to run in the family!”
Another shot struck metal.
Michael pulled Emily behind cover.
“Lawson escaped transport two hours ago.”
Emily stared.
“How?”
“Inside help.”
Preston laughed bitterly.
“Mother.”
Emily looked at him.
“What?”
“She didn’t surrender because she was afraid of me.”
“She surrendered because she needed access to federal movement.”
Emily understood.
Margaret had manipulated everyone again.
“Why?”
Preston looked toward the steel door.
“Because Meridian was always hers.”
A woman’s voice came through the speakers.
“No.”
Everyone froze.
Margaret.
“It belonged to Thomas.”
Preston closed his eyes.
“Mother.”
Margaret’s voice echoed through the facility.
“And tonight, we take back what Arthur Harrington stole.”
Emily stood slowly.
“Your husband stole from my father.”
Margaret laughed.
“Still believing Arthur’s story.”
A screen activated.
Documents appeared.
Emily stared.
Old financial records.
Thomas Vale had indeed transferred money.
But another signature appeared.
Arthur Harrington.
Emily looked closer.
“What is this?”
Preston whispered,
“The truth.”
Margaret continued.
“Thomas and Arthur created Meridian together.”
Emily looked at Nathaniel.
Neither knew.
“Arthur removed Thomas.”
“Then claimed everything.”
Emily’s stomach tightened.
Was her father guilty too?
Preston stepped out from behind cover.
“That’s what I was trying to prove.”
Emily stared.
“You drugged him to prove it?”
“No.”
“My mother did.”
Margaret’s voice became sharp.
“Preston.”
He ignored her.
Emily watched him.
Something had changed.
“Bell was supposed to make Arthur talk.”
“Not kill him.”
“You knew.”
“I knew later.”
“And you did nothing.”
Preston looked ashamed for perhaps the first time.
“No.”
Emily felt no sympathy.
“You kidnapped a child.”
“I didn’t.”
Nathaniel lunged.
Michael stopped him.
Preston raised his hands.
“Vanessa arranged the pickup because I told her to bring Sophie somewhere safe.”
Nathaniel shouted,
“You threatened her!”
“I needed page forty-seven.”
“Why?”
“Because my mother’s name was on it.”
Emily stared.
“You were protecting Margaret.”
“At first.”
Preston looked toward the cameras.
“Then I realized she had been lying to me too.”
Margaret’s voice cut through.
“Enough.”
The steel doors slammed shut.
Red lights activated.
Michael ran toward the control panel.
Locked.
Margaret spoke again.
“Emily.”
“Yes?”
“Put the pendant into the central console.”
“No.”
“Then everyone in this room dies.”
A timer appeared.
10:00.
Nine minutes fifty-nine.
Nine minutes fifty-eight.
Nathaniel whispered,
“She’s bluffing.”
Preston shook his head.
“No.”
“She isn’t.”
Emily looked at him.
“What happens at zero?”
Preston stared at the server room.
“Fire suppression.”
Michael frowned.
“That won’t kill us.”
Preston looked upward.
“This system doesn’t use water.”
Emily understood.
Gas.
A sealed underground room.
No oxygen.
The timer continued.
8:47.
Margaret’s voice returned.
“The pendant, Emily.”
Emily touched the necklace.
May you like
Then she smiled.
“No.”
