Chapter 18 - North
The vault opened with a slow hydraulic groan.
Rook spun.
“That’s impossible.”
Thomas did not look surprised.
A figure stepped out from the darkness inside.
A woman.
Mid-forties.
Dark suit.
Silver compass ring.
Adrian had never seen her before.
Victor had.
His face drained of color.
“Rebecca.”
The woman smiled.
“Hello, little brother.”
Emily stared at Victor.
“Little brother?”
Thomas closed his eyes.
Adrian turned on him.
“You said there were four Vales left.”
“There are.”
Rebecca stepped into the light.
“Because Thomas never counted daughters unless they were useful.”
Adrian stared.
“My sister?”
“Half-sister,” Rebecca said. “Your father was very busy in the eighties.”
Thomas snapped, “Enough.”
Rebecca ignored him.
“I built the digital side of North Star while Victor played heir and Adrian played hero.”
Rook raised his gun toward her.
“You were dead.”
Rebecca smiled.
“So were you.”
She pressed a remote.
Noah’s cage unlocked.
Adrian moved instantly.
He grabbed the boy and pulled him behind a concrete pillar.
Noah clung to him.
Rook shouted and fired.
Gunshots exploded through the archive.
Mara returned fire.
Victor dragged Emily behind cover.
Thomas disappeared behind a shelf.
Rebecca moved calmly toward the vault.
Adrian shouted, “Stop her!”
Rook fired at Rebecca.
The bullet struck a metal cabinet.
She vanished inside the vault.
Mara ran after her.
Victor tackled Rook.
They crashed into the terminal.
Emily crawled toward Adrian.
“Noah!”
The little boy looked at her.
She smiled through tears.
“I’m Emily.”
He stared.
“My sister?”
“Yes.”
For one tiny second, the chaos disappeared.
Then a siren began.
Thomas shouted from across the room.
“Rebecca triggered the purge!”
“What purge?” Adrian yelled.
“The archive burns if the vault is compromised.”
A countdown appeared on every monitor.
04:59.
04:58.
Smoke vents opened in the ceiling.
Rook kicked Victor away and ran for the vault.
Mara tackled him at the entrance.
Adrian handed Noah to Emily.
“Stay together.”
He ran toward the vault.
Inside were rows of servers and steel file cabinets.
Rebecca stood at the central console.
“Adrian,” she said. “You still don’t understand.”
“Understand what?”
“Rook isn’t trying to steal North Star.”
She pointed to Thomas.
“He’s trying to destroy it before your father activates the next phase.”
Adrian looked at Thomas.
“What next phase?”
Thomas did not answer.
Rebecca did.
“Tomorrow morning, every blackmail file becomes public.”
Adrian stared.
Rebecca smiled bitterly.
“Your father built a dead-man switch.”
The countdown reached 03:41.
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“And he set it to trigger when you were legally declared dead.”
