A missile team waited near the ridge.
The helicopter approaching them carried eleven additional soldiers.
If it landed, everyone would die.
Olivia had cancelled the extraction herself.
She had chosen to strand six teammates to save eleven others.
The guilt had shattered the memory.
For three years, she had mistaken her own altered radio transmission for a stranger’s betrayal.
Olivia sank onto a chair.
“I did it.”
Mara nodded.
“You saved eleven people.”
“My team died.”
“Four did.”
Olivia looked up.
“Four?”
Mara pointed toward herself.
“I survived.”
“Who else?”
A door opened behind the monitors.
A man stepped through.
Lean.
Bearded.
Scar across his jaw.
Olivia stopped breathing.
Mateo Ruiz.
The teammate she remembered carrying through the snow.
The man she believed had died in her arms.
He smiled through tears.
“Still terrible at funerals, Cross.”
Olivia couldn’t move.
Then she crossed the room and threw her arms around him.
For several seconds, no one spoke.
When she stepped back, anger replaced shock.
“Why did you let me believe you were dead?”
Mateo looked toward Mara.
“Because we discovered who compromised the landing zone.”
Olivia turned.
“Who?”
Mara looked at Vale.
Vale went rigid.
Voss reached instinctively toward him.
Mara said:
“Not Warren.”
Vale exhaled.
“Then who?”
Mara changed the monitor.
Personnel photographs appeared.
One face.
Captain Harrow.
Olivia stared.
“I heard him say Blue Lantern Seven.”
“Yes.”
“He was Meridian.”
“No.”
“What?”
Mara smiled faintly.
“Harrow was investigating Meridian too.”
“Then why disappear?”
“Because he found the recruiter.”
The image changed again.
Lance Mercer.
Olivia frowned.
“Lance?”
“Was being recruited,” Mara said. “But he rejected them.”
“So who planted the card?”
“The actual recruit.”
Another face appeared.
Derek Sloan.
Olivia’s stomach tightened.
Derek.
The loud cadet.
The bully.
The man everyone underestimated because he seemed too foolish to be dangerous.
“Derek?”
Mara nodded.
“He wasn’t merely recruited.”
She brought up financial records.
Encrypted communications.
Training scores deliberately lowered.
Psychological reports.
“He entered Camp Valiant already working for Meridian.”
Vale whispered:
“How long?”
“Six years.”
Voss stared.
“He would have been seventeen.”
“Meridian starts early.”
Olivia remembered every interaction.
The tray.
The backpack strap.
The jokes.
The apparent insecurity.
All performance.
“He exposed my mark deliberately.”
“Yes.”
Olivia’s blood went cold.
“He knew who I was.”
“From the moment you arrived.”
The final layer of the plan became clear.
Derek had pulled the strap so Voss would recognize her.
He wanted questions.
Suspicion.
Movement.
He wanted Olivia searching.
“Where is he?”
Mara looked toward the bunker entrance.
“Inside the camp.”
Pulk grabbed his radio.
No signal.
Mara said:
“He disabled communications four minutes ago.”
Vale whispered:
“What is his objective?”
The lights flickered.
Then every monitor changed.
Live feed.
Camp Valiant.
Hundreds of trainees gathering in the central yard for emergency evacuation.
Military vehicles.
Fuel trucks.
Communications equipment.
Derek stood inside the control room.
He looked directly into a camera.
And smiled.
Mara’s face drained.
“He’s not escaping.”
Olivia stared.
“He wants everyone together.”
An alarm began sounding.
Vale said:
“For what?”
Olivia understood.
“Evidence.”
They stared at her.
“Meridian doesn’t want the camp destroyed.”
She looked at the screens.
“They want a massacre blamed on NATO incompetence.”
Voss went pale.
“That could fracture the entire alliance.”
Olivia was already moving.
“Then we stop him.”
PART 8 — THE LAST TEST
They reached Camp Valiant six minutes later.
Communications were down.
Electronic gates locked.
Emergency announcements ordered every cadet toward the central vehicle yard.
Olivia grabbed a radio from a security station.
Dead.
“Analog system?” she asked.
Pulk nodded toward the old tower.
“Training frequency.”
Olivia ran.
The same cadets who had laughed at her days earlier were now moving toward the yard exactly as instructed.
She climbed the tower.
Found the manual transmitter.
Switched frequencies.
“Everyone stop.”
Static.
Then her voice echoed through portable training radios.
“This is Cadet Mitchell. Do not enter the vehicle yard.”
Harrow’s voice answered unexpectedly.
“Listen to her.”
Olivia froze.
“Harrow?”
“I’m in the north control annex.”
“You’re alive.”
“For now.”
“Derek?”
“Main operations room.”
Harrow continued.
“He’s rigged the emergency fuel release system. If those vehicles start, the yard becomes an ignition point.”
Olivia looked down.
Hundreds of people.
“Evacuate west.”
“West gate is electronically sealed.”
“Manual override?”
“Operations room.”
Of course.
Where Derek waited.
Olivia descended.
Lance appeared at the bottom.
Free.
Bruised.
Angry.
“You need help.”
“No.”
“That stopped being funny two days ago.”
She looked at him.
“You were framed.”
“I noticed.”
“Get everyone away from the vehicles.”
“What are you doing?”
“Opening the gate.”
He stared toward operations.
“That’s where he is.”
“Yes.”
“I’m coming.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re still a cadet.”
Lance almost smiled.
“So are you.”
For once, Olivia had no answer.
They entered the administration corridor together.
Tara—Mara—moved through the communications wing.
Voss and Pulk controlled evacuation.
Vale searched for Harrow.
Olivia and Lance reached the operations floor.
Derek’s voice came through the hallway speakers.
“You know what’s funny?”
Lance whispered:
“He always talks too much.”
Derek continued.
“You all thought I was stupid.”
Olivia moved slowly.
“You worked hard to convince us.”
“Especially you.”
“Why?”
“Because arrogant people are invisible when everyone expects arrogance.”
Olivia understood.
His bullying wasn’t impulsive.
It was camouflage.
Derek had made himself look predictable.
Simple.
Harmless.
“You tore the map?”
“Kyle did that himself.”
“The tray?”
“That was fun.”
Lance muttered, “I’m going to enjoy this.”
Olivia raised a hand.
Derek continued:
“But the backpack? That mattered.”
“You wanted Voss to see the mark.”
“I needed him activated.”
“For what?”
“To bring Vale.”
Olivia stopped.
Vale had been the real target.
Not her.
Derek laughed softly through the speakers.
“Warren Vale has spent twenty years trying to expose Meridian. We finally got tired of him.”
Olivia looked toward the control room.
“You used me to draw him here.”
“Yes.”
“And the camp?”
“Collateral.”
The word made her cold.
Olivia entered the operations room.
Derek stood behind the main console.
No weapon in his hands.
He didn’t need one.
Digital countdown on the fuel control system.
Two minutes forty seconds.
Lance moved.
Olivia stopped him.
Derek smiled.
“Still protecting people who mocked you.”
“They’re annoying.”
Lance whispered, “Thanks.”
“But they’re mine to protect.”
Derek tilted his head.
“You really believe that?”
“Yes.”
“Even after Karsen?”
“Especially after Karsen.”
His smile faded.
“You left your team there.”
“I saved eleven people.”
“You abandoned four.”
“I carried that guilt every day.”
“Then you understand Meridian.”
“No.”
“You should.”
Derek stepped closer.
“We simply make the decisions governments are too weak to admit they make.”
Olivia looked at the timer.
Two minutes.
“Sacrifice a few to save many?”
“Yes.”
“I made that decision once.”
“And?”
Olivia looked him in the eye.
“It nearly destroyed me.”
For the first time, Derek looked confused.
Olivia continued:
“The difference between you and me is that you enjoy deciding who gets sacrificed.”
He lunged toward the console.
Lance intercepted him.
They collided.
Derek was much faster than he had ever appeared during training.
He struck Lance across the jaw.
Olivia moved in.
Derek countered.
She blocked.
He smiled.
“Finally.”
They fought between consoles.
No wild punches.
No wasted movement.
Derek had been trained.
Extensively.
He drove Olivia backward.
“You thought fifty-two seconds was impressive?”
He swept her leg.
She fell.
“I’ve been hiding my scores for years.”
Lance grabbed Derek.
Derek threw him over a chair.
Countdown:
01:19.
Olivia rose.
Derek came again.
She allowed him to commit.
Redirected his arm.
Turned.
Used his momentum.
He hit the floor.
Hard.
She pinned him.
“Lance!”
Lance reached the console.
“What do I do?”
“Manual fuel isolation.”
“There are twelve switches!”
“Red bank, third row.”
“How do you know?”