Chapter 15 - The Man in the Gray Car
Security footage from the rehabilitation center showed Daniel being escorted into a gray sedan.
He walked without resistance.
The driver wore a dark coat and kept his face turned from the camera.
A nurse stated that Daniel appeared calm.
He called the driver “Michael.”
Adrian reacted to the name.
Michael Rourke had been Blackout’s commanding officer.
He officially died four years before the safe-house attack.
Sarah had attended his funeral.
No body was displayed.
Only a sealed military casket.
Another staged death.
Michael had recruited Sarah.
Trained her.
Approved every operation.
He had access to the safe-house location before Catherine.
Perhaps Catherine did not betray the team alone.
She stared at Adrian.
“You knew he was alive.”
“I suspected.”
“Why didn’t you tell Sarah?”
“Because Michael ordered Daniel’s original surveillance.”
Sarah turned toward Adrian.
Every answer produced another betrayal.
Adrian admitted Blackout was never created solely to investigate Elias.
Michael built the unit to gather leverage over wealthy networks.
At first, he claimed it served national security.
Later, he began trading information.
Daniel discovered it.
Catherine exposed the safe house to prevent Michael from obtaining the evidence.
She believed the team had already been compromised.
The attack killed innocent agents, but Michael escaped with part of the files.
For decades, Elias, Arthur, Catherine, Adrian, and Michael circled the same evidence.
Each believed controlling Blackout meant controlling everyone else.
Maya had been pulled into a war that began before she was born.
Sarah looked at her daughter.
Maya’s eyes were clearer now.
“I chose to open the locker.”
“You did not choose to be drugged.”
“But I chose to keep looking.”
Sarah understood the same instinct that once drove her now lived inside Maya.
It frightened her.
The federal response commander reported the gray sedan heading south.
Toward Connecticut.
Toward the Vance estate.
Michael was bringing Daniel back to the gala.
Not rescuing him.
Delivering him.
Sarah looked through the tall windows.
Headlights appeared beyond the estate gates.
The final player had arrived.
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