“What did he say?”
“He said if anything happened to him, I should find you.”
The room went silent.
“Why me?”
“He said you were the only person he trusted to finish what he started.”
Naomi closed her eyes.
For two years, she had believed Marcus's death was unrelated.
Now she wasn't sure.
Daniel continued.
“There's something else.”
“What?”
“Orion had an internal authorization code.”
“EC-7?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
Daniel's voice dropped.
“EC-7 was only the access level.”
Naomi waited.
“The real authorization was called Black Meridian.”
She wrote the words down.
“What is Black Meridian?”
“I don't know.”
“Daniel.”
“I told you. I left before the final phase.”
“What happened after you left?”
Another silence.
“Someone tried to kill me.”
Naomi stopped breathing for a moment.
“Are you safe now?”
“No.”
A noise came through the phone.
Metal.
Then a door closing.
Daniel whispered:
“They found me.”
The call ended.
Black Meridian
Rachel found Daniel's name in an old government contractor database.
He had officially retired eight years earlier.
But his security clearance had remained active.
That shouldn't have been possible.
Rachel traced the authorization history.
The last access occurred three days earlier.
Someone had logged into the system using Daniel's credentials.
Naomi stared at the timestamp.
“He told us someone was coming.”
Rachel nodded.
“They were already inside.”
Then the lights went out.
The office fell completely dark.
Rachel whispered, “Naomi?”
“Stay where you are.”
Emergency lights flickered on.
Naomi moved toward the door.
It was locked.
She tried the handle.
Nothing.
Rachel pulled out her phone.
No signal.
Then the computer screens illuminated simultaneously.
A file appeared.
BLACK MERIDIAN — FINAL PHASE
Naomi walked toward the monitor.
A video began playing.
It showed an airport.
Then an aircraft.
Then passengers boarding.
The footage was dated five years earlier.
Naomi recognized the flight number.
Flight 229.
She had investigated that incident.
At the time, the official explanation had been a mechanical fault.
But the video showed something else.
A technician entering a secure maintenance area.
He connected a device to the aircraft's ground system.
A second man stood nearby.
Naomi paused the video.
The second man turned toward the camera.
She recognized him.
Marcus Vale.
Rachel stared.
“He was alive.”
“Five years ago,” Naomi whispered.
The video continued.
Marcus was speaking to someone off-camera.
“We can't continue.”
Another voice answered.
“You agreed to the protocol.”
“This isn't what we designed.”
“You don't get to change the rules now.”
Marcus shook his head.
“You're turning safety research into operational control.”
The recording ended.
A new file opened.
SUBJECT: ELLIS, NAOMI
Rachel's face went white.
“That's you.”
The document contained photographs.
Naomi entering her apartment.
Naomi leaving work.
Naomi with Rachel.
Naomi with her family.
Dates.
Locations.
Everything.
At the bottom was one sentence.
SUBJECT HAS REACHED DISCOVERY THRESHOLD.
Then the office door unlocked.
Naomi and Rachel looked at each other.
Someone was standing outside.
A man's voice came through the door.
“Dr. Ellis?”
Naomi recognized the voice.
It belonged to the airline's chief legal officer.
But he had never called her “Dr. Ellis” before.
And he had no reason to be there at midnight.
The Man Behind the Glass
Naomi didn't open the door.
Instead, she killed the monitors.
“Rachel,” she whispered, “back exit.”
The office had an emergency stairwell connecting to the parking garage.
They moved quietly.
The man outside knocked again.
“Dr. Ellis, we need to talk.”
Rachel whispered, “He's not alone.”
“How do you know?”
“Two shadows.”
Naomi opened the emergency door.
They slipped into the stairwell.
Thirty seconds later, they were running through the parking garage.
Naomi's car was gone.
Rachel's too.
Someone had planned for them to leave this way.
Then a black sedan rolled slowly into the garage.
Naomi grabbed Rachel's arm.
“Down.”
The sedan stopped.
A door opened.
Daniel Cross stepped out.
Rachel nearly screamed.
“Daniel?”
He raised a finger.
“Quiet.”
They hurried into the sedan.
As Daniel drove away, Naomi stared at him.
“I thought they found you.”
“They did.”
“Then how are you here?”
“Because I wanted them to think they had.”
He glanced at her in the mirror.
“You found Black Meridian.”
“Yes.”
“Then we're out of time.”
Naomi told him about the video.
Marcus.
The aircraft.
The unauthorized device.
Daniel's expression hardened.