“What was Nightglass?”
Voss’s face seemed to age.
He sat.
For several seconds, he said nothing.
Then he looked directly at Elena.
“Nightglass was the operation in which your husband died.”
Chapter Five
Elena had spent twelve years believing she knew how David died.
A storm.
A failing helicopter.
A rescue launched in terrible weather because six special operators were trapped beyond a flooding river.
The aircraft disappeared from radar at 0217.
Debris was recovered two days later.
No bodies.
No survivors.
The official finding blamed mechanical failure compounded by extreme conditions.
Elena had read the report until the language became permanently etched into her mind.
Rotor instability.
Electrical loss.
Spatial disorientation.
Unrecoverable descent.
Now Colonel Voss sat six feet away and told her there had been another operation beneath the official one.
“Start talking,” Elena said.
Voss looked at Rodriguez.
Rodriguez folded his arms.
“You might as well.”
Voss exhaled.
“Nightglass was an assessment program.”
“What kind?”
“Human performance.”
Elena’s expression hardened.
“Be specific.”
“Stress response. Command compliance. Cognitive degradation under sustained pressure.”
Rodriguez looked disgusted.
“That’s the sanitized version.”
Voss ignored him.
“It began as a selection study.”
“Approved?”
“At first.”
Elena caught the wording.
“At first?”
Voss looked down.
“Later phases exceeded authorization.”
“How?”
“Sleep restriction. Social isolation. manipulated evaluations. False mission data.”
Elena felt sick.
“You experimented on service members.”
“We studied decision-making.”
“You manipulated them.”
“Yes.”
“Without consent?”
Voss did not answer.
That was answer enough.
Rodriguez spoke.
“Nightglass learned that you can break almost anyone if you control three things.”
Elena turned toward him.
“Information. Belonging. Reputation.”
His voice was flat.
“Make someone doubt what they know. Separate them from anyone they trust. Then convince everyone else that the person is unreliable.”
Elena thought of Holloway.
Beck.
Cho.
And Hammer’s methods.
Public humiliation.
Isolation.
Bad evaluations.
It wasn’t random cruelty.
It was a pattern.
“Captain Hammer,” Elena whispered.
Rodriguez nodded.
“He was unknowingly reproducing pieces of Nightglass.”
“Who revived it?”
Voss stood.
“We don’t know.”
Elena laughed once.
“You expect me to believe that?”
“Yes.”
“No.”
“Elena, listen to me.”
“Don’t use my name.”
Voss stopped.
Elena pointed toward the threat letter.
“This program killed my husband.”
“We don’t know that.”
Rodriguez looked at Voss.
“Yes, we do.”
The colonel’s head turned.
Rodriguez continued.
“David found out the study had moved from simulation into live operations.”
Elena stared.
Rodriguez’s eyes were full of something she had not seen all day.
Guilt.
“He planned to expose it.”
The room seemed to tilt.
“No.”
“He contacted three people.”
“No.”
“One was me.”
Elena stood so quickly the chair struck the wall.
Rodriguez didn’t move.
“You knew?”
“Yes.”
“You knew for twelve years?”
“Yes.”
“And you said nothing?”
“I was ordered—”
Elena slammed one hand against the table.
“Do not tell me about orders.”
Rodriguez fell silent.
“My husband died, and you let me believe it was an accident.”
His eyes reddened.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I was a coward.”
The answer struck harder than an excuse would have.
Rodriguez looked down.
“I had two daughters. One was six. One was eight. They sent me photographs of them leaving school.”
Elena could barely hear him over the blood rushing in her ears.
“They knew their names. Their teachers. My wife’s work schedule.”
Voss whispered, “Luis.”
“No. She deserves the whole thing.”
Rodriguez looked at Elena.
“David refused to stop.”
Of course he did.
That was David.
Brilliant, stubborn, impossible David.
“So they sent him on the extraction,” Rodriguez continued.
“Who is they?”
“I never knew.”
“Then how can you say they killed him?”
“Because the helicopter wasn’t supposed to crash.”
Elena froze.
Rodriguez’s eyes locked on hers.
“It was supposed to disappear.”
Silence.
Voss turned away.
Elena could barely form the words.
“What does that mean?”
Rodriguez reached into his pocket again.
He removed a small metal object.
A key.
Old.
Worn.
He placed it on the table.
“Room 17.”
Elena stared at it.
“What’s inside?”
“The last surviving Nightglass archive.”
Voss looked horrified.
“You said it was destroyed.”
“I lied.”
“Luis—”
“I lied because people kept getting hurt every time anyone tried to tell the truth.”
Rodriguez looked at Elena.
“And because six months ago, someone accessed it.”
“Holloway?”
“Yes.”
“Beck?”
“Yes.”
“Cho?”
“Yes.”
Elena understood.
“They discovered Nightglass.”
“Parts of it.”
“And then someone targeted them.”
Rodriguez nodded.
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
Elena picked up the key.
“Then we find out.”
Voss stepped forward.
“You cannot just walk into that room.”
“Why?”
“Because if the archive is what he says it is, access may trigger an alert.”
“Good.”
Voss stared.
Elena slipped the key into her pocket.
“I’m tired of chasing whoever is behind this.”
Her voice became quiet.
“Let them know I’m coming.”
Chapter Six
Supply Building Four had been abandoned for nine years.
Officially.
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