Chapter 13 - JONATHAN VALE
Vale looked nothing like a monster.
That was the first thing I noticed.
No madness in his eyes.
No rage.
No theatrical cruelty.
He looked like somebody’s retired professor.
Clean shirt.
Gray cardigan.
Thin glasses.
Steady hands.
The kind of man strangers might trust with directions.
Rebecca bled against my arm.
Sarah lay motionless near the railing.
Elena’s weapon was aimed at Vale.
“Drop it.”
Vale looked at her.
“Eva’s daughter.”
Elena’s jaw tightened.
“Gun.”
“You have her posture.”
“Last warning.”
Vale smiled.
Then placed the pistol on the floor.
Slowly.
Too easily.
I didn’t trust it.
Neither did Elena.
“Step away.”
He did.
Richard stared at Vale.
“You kept Rebecca alive.”
Vale glanced at him.
“Not intentionally.”
Rebecca laughed weakly.
“Still arrogant.”
Vale ignored her.
His eyes settled on me.
“Daniel.”
“Don’t.”
He tilted his head.
“Don’t what?”
“Say my name like you know me.”
“I know you better than anyone.”
“No.”
“I know your resting heart rate.”
“I know the age you first displayed protective aggression.”
“I know your standardized scores.”
“I know every disciplinary incident.”
“I know which missions produced nightmares.”
My skin crawled.
“I know what you did in Ward’s operation.”
Elena stepped closer.
“You know reports.”
Vale smiled.
“Reports are people translated into patterns.”
“No.”
I looked at him.
“Reports are paper.”
“People are people.”
His smile faded slightly.
Interesting.
Rebecca had been right.
He hated variables he couldn’t quantify.
“Where is your backup?”
Elena asked.
Vale looked amused.
“You assume I need backup.”
“You shot Sarah.”
“She betrayed the work.”
Rebecca tried to stand.
I stopped her.
Vale looked down at her.
“You always were sentimental.”
“You stole my son.”
“You were incapable of raising him.”
“Who decided that?”
“I did.”
There it was.
The center of everything.
Not science.
Control.
“You decided.”
I said.
“Yes.”
“You decided who raised children.”
“Yes.”
“Who married.”
“Where people worked.”
“When they served.”
“Where they lived.”
“When necessary.”
“And you call that research.”
“I call it understanding.”
“No.”
I stood.
“I call it fear.”
Vale’s eyes narrowed.
“Fear?”
“You were terrified people might make choices you couldn’t predict.”
For the first time, anger appeared.
Tiny.
But there.
“You created entire systems because the idea of somebody choosing something you didn’t expect scared you.”
“You misunderstand.”
“Emily wasn’t planned.”
Silence.
“You didn’t choose her.”
“No.”
“I did.”
Vale’s jaw tightened.
“You didn’t choose Thomas.”
“He exists because of my work.”
“No.”
“He exists because Emily survived what you did.”
Vale looked toward Rebecca.
Then me.
I continued.
“Caleb rejected you.”
“He’s unstable.”
“He chose me.”
“Emily chose me.”
“Elena chose to save me overseas.”
“Ward chose to protect us.”
“Rebecca chose to keep looking.”
“Sarah chose to betray you.”
I stepped closer.
“Every person you thought you controlled eventually chose something you didn’t want.”
Vale’s face hardened.
“And now you’re standing in an abandoned bunker with a gun on the floor pretending that makes you powerful.”
He smiled again.
But it was forced.
“You still believe this ends with me.”
“Yes.”
“No.”
He looked toward Richard.
“Tell him.”
Richard’s face changed.
I turned.
“What?”
Richard said nothing.
“Tell me what?”
Vale smiled.
“Project Warden wasn’t mine.”
Richard closed his eyes.
“Richard.”
“Daniel.”
“Who funded it?”
Silence.
Vale answered.
“People who are still very powerful.”
Elena’s weapon remained steady.
“Names.”
Vale laughed.
“You think I carry a list?”
“No.”
I looked at him.
“But Ward does.”
His smile vanished.
There.
I had guessed.
And hit something.
“The ledger.”
I said.
Vale’s face remained still.
But too still.
“Ward sent it to my house.”
Vale looked at me.
“You don’t have it.”
“No.”
“But you want it.”
Silence.
“You attacked Ward because you thought he still had it.”
Nothing.
“You came here because Rebecca knew where copies were.”
His eyes flicked toward her.
Got him again.
“You don’t know everything anymore.”
I said.
That anger returned.
“Daniel.”
“No.”
“You’ve spent decades studying people.”
I stepped closer.
“But you never learned what happens when they stop being afraid of you.”
An alarm sounded.
Vale smiled.
That worried me.
“What did you do?”
He looked toward the ceiling.
“Removed the building from the equation.”
Richard’s face went white.
“Gas?”
“No.”
Vale smiled.
“Fire.”
Smoke began pouring from the ventilation system.
Elena radioed.
“Evacuate!”
No response.
Signal jammed.
Vale stepped backward.
A steel door opened behind him.
Escape route.
I moved.
He pulled a second weapon from behind his back.
Of course.
He fired.
I dropped.
Elena fired back.
Vale disappeared through the door.
I ran after him.
“Daniel!”
Elena shouted.
I ignored her.
Bad decision.
I knew it.
Still ran.
Vale knew where the exits were.
If he escaped, Thomas would never be safe.
I entered a narrow tunnel.
Emergency lights flashed.
Vale moved ahead.
Old.
But fast enough.
I followed.
He fired backward.
Bullet struck concrete.
I kept moving.
Tunnel split.
Left.
Right.
I stopped.
Training.
Listen.
Footsteps.
Left.
I followed.
Door.
Outside.
Mountain air.
Vale ran toward a black SUV.
Sarah’s vehicle.
I sprinted.
He reached the door.
I hit him from behind.
We went down.
His pistol slid away.
Vale struck me with his elbow.
Hard.
I rolled.
He grabbed for the weapon.
I caught his ankle.
Pulled.
He fell.
For an eighty-year-old man, he fought with surprising strength.
Fear did that.
He kicked me.
I lost grip.
He reached the pistol.
I reached him.
My hand closed around his wrist.
He turned the weapon toward me.
We struggled.
His face was inches from mine.
“You are mine.”
He hissed.
Something inside me became completely calm.
“No.”
I twisted.
Weapon dropped.
I pinned him.
“You were never my father.”
I said.
“You were never my commander.”
“You were never my creator.”
His eyes widened.
“You were just the first man who lied about who I was.”
Sirens sounded in the distance.
Vale looked toward the road.
For the first time, fear appeared fully.
I leaned closer.
“And now you get to find out who you are when nobody obeys you.”
Elena arrived seconds later.
She cuffed him.
Vale didn’t speak again.
As they led him toward the vehicles, Rebecca was brought outside on a stretcher.
Alive.
Sarah too.
The bullet had missed anything vital.
Richard emerged last.
Smoke behind him.
He looked at Vale.
Then at me.
“It’s over.”
I shook my head.
“No.”
Richard frowned.
I thought about the ledger.
Ward.
Northstar.
Halcyon.
May you like
People still unnamed.
“It’s finally started.”
