Chapter 6 - Northstar

Northstar sat beneath an abandoned weather station in Wyoming.

Official maps marked the access road closed.

Satellite imagery showed snow, fencing, and three empty structures.

Thermal data showed thirty-seven people underground.

Caleb found the heat signature through a commercial sensor feed.

“Expensive hobby,” Naomi said.

“Crime makes people resourceful.”

Reece pointed at the schematic.

“Primary entrance here. Service tunnel north side. Medical loading bay west.”

I looked at him.

“How many security?”

“Unknown.”

“That answer is getting old.”

“I have not been here in four years.”

Lila remained at the warehouse with Caleb.

Harris had managed to get a secure message out.

KEENE IN CUSTODY. VALE DENIES AUTHORITY. DIVISION INSPECTOR ARRIVING. NEED HARD PROOF.

Northstar was hard proof.

If Mercer lived.

If records remained.

If we survived.

We arrived before dawn.

Snow cut across the road.

Naomi drove.

Eli checked weapons.

Reece sat silent.

I watched him.

Finally he said, “Ask.”

“What?”

“You have been staring for twenty minutes.”

“Did Mercer know about Northstar?”

“No.”

“Did you?”

“Only as an old program.”

“What kind?”

“Enhanced interrogation research.”

“That is a clean phrase.”

“Yes.”

“What did they do?”

Reece looked out the window.

“Sleep deprivation. Chemical disorientation. memory disruption. controlled trauma.”

Naomi’s jaw tightened.

“On prisoners?”

“At first.”

“At first?”

He said nothing.

I understood.

“On our own people.”

“Yes.”

Eli whispered, “Why?”

“Because a compromised asset who cannot remember what he knows is useful.”

My stomach turned.

Mercer’s key.

Mercer’s ledger.

Mercer himself.

Maybe Vale had spent nine months trying to erase what a dead man knew.

We reached the final ridge on foot.

Below us, Northstar looked abandoned.

Too abandoned.

Eli scanned.

“Two cameras.”

Naomi pointed.

“Three.”

Reece said, “Fourth under the roof edge.”

I looked at him.

“You remember.”

“Some things.”

We approached through a drainage cut.

The service tunnel was locked.

Naomi bypassed it.

Inside, concrete stairs descended.

No military markings.

No unit patches.

Only numbers.

Level -1.

Level -2.

Level -3.

We heard voices below.

Reece raised a fist.

Stop.

Two guards turned the corner.

Civilian tactical gear.

No insignia.

Eli and Naomi moved fast.

No gunfire.

Both guards down.

Alive.

Bound.

We continued.

At level -3, the air changed.

Hospital smell.

Bleach.

Metal.

Memory.

I hated it instantly.

Rooms lined the corridor.

Some empty.

Some with beds.

One with restraints.

Eli whispered, “Mara.”

“I see it.”

We reached the control station.

A nurse looked up.

She froze.

Reece raised his weapon.

“Hands.”

She complied.

“Where is patient RAVEN-01?”

Her face changed.

“I do not know.”

I stepped closer.

“You do.”

She looked at me.

“Who are you?”

I pulled back my sleeve.

The insignia showed.

Her face drained.

“Oh God.”

“Where?”

“Isolation.”

“Take us.”

She shook her head.

“They will kill him.”

“Who?”

“Vale’s team.”

“When?”

“Evac protocol started twenty minutes ago.”

Reece cursed.

“How did they know?”

She looked at him.

“Because you entered the perimeter.”

Tracker.

I turned.

Reece went pale.

“No.”

Naomi aimed at him.

“Again?”

“I removed everything.”

The nurse pointed at his prosthetic interface.

His missing arm.

Reece stared.

I understood.

“They tagged the prosthetic.”

He looked sick.

“They built it.”

“Who?”

“Northstar.”

Eli whispered, “You have been carrying a tracker for years.”

Reece ripped at the interface.

Blood appeared.

I grabbed his wrist.

“Stop.”

“They can see us.”

“They already can.”

Alarm.

Red lights.

A voice over speakers.

“Security breach. Prepare terminal transfer.”

The nurse gasped.

“What is terminal transfer?”

She looked at me.

“Kill order.”

We ran.

Isolation was level -4.

Doors sealed one by one.

Caleb’s voice crackled through our earpieces.

“I am in their network.”

“How?”

“Your nurse left a terminal open.”

Naomi laughed.

“Marry him.”

“I heard that.”

“Open doors.”

“Working.”

Door ahead clicked.

We descended.

Gunfire from behind.

Eli returned fire.

Reece stayed at the rear.

Level -4.

One corridor.

Three rooms.

The last door had no window.

Caleb said, “Patient code in room four.”

“There are three.”

“Hidden partition.”

I hit the wall.

Hollow.

Naomi found a seam.

Reece inserted a stolen access card.

Red.

I pulled the insignia.

Reece shook his head.

“Do not.”

“Why?”

“Legacy key could trigger wipe.”

“Of what?”

“Records. Maybe life support.”

I looked at the door.

Mercer behind it.

Maybe.

I pressed the insignia to a small sensor.

Green.

Door opened.

The room beyond was dark.

One bed.

Machines.

A man strapped beneath a thermal blanket.

Thin.

Bearded.

Hair longer.

Scars at his temples.

I stopped.

Captain Isaac Mercer opened his eyes.

Not fully.

Barely.

He looked at me.

For several seconds, nothing.

Then his lips moved.

“Raven Three.”

My knees nearly gave out.

I crossed the room.

“Sir.”

He smiled faintly.

“You took your time.”

I laughed and cried at once.

“Can you move?”

“Not elegantly.”

Eli entered.

Mercer looked at him.

“Ward.”

Eli’s face broke.

“Sir.”

Naomi came next.

Mercer whispered, “Trent.”

She wiped her face.

“Still annoying.”

“Good.”

Then Reece entered.

Mercer’s expression changed.

Reece stopped.

“I did what you asked.”

Mercer closed his eyes.

“I know.”

Reece looked shattered.

Mercer opened them again.

“You kept her alive?”

Reece looked at me.

“She kept herself alive.”

“Better.”

Alarm changed tone.

Caleb shouted through comms.

“Vehicles inbound. Military transponders.”

I looked at Mercer.

“Vale?”

He whispered, “Yes.”

“How do you know?”

“Because he likes to arrive before the cleanup.”

Reece unstrapped him.

Mercer tried to sit.

Pain hit him.

I caught his shoulder.

“Easy.”

“No time.”

“Can you walk?”

“With help.”

Eli took one side.

I took the other.

The nurse entered.

“We need his medication.”

Mercer looked at her.

“No.”

“You will seize.”

He stared.

She stared back.

Then he nodded.

She grabbed two injectors and a small case.

Naomi covered the hall.

“Company.”

Gunfire.

We moved.

Mercer’s weight was almost nothing.

That terrified me.

At level -3, security teams blocked the corridor.

Eli fired smoke.

Naomi moved left.

Reece right.

I stayed with Mercer.

The nurse guided us through a side lab.

Computers still running.

I looked at her.

“Records?”

“All patient records on local server.”

Mercer whispered, “Take them.”

“No time.”

He grabbed my sleeve.

“Take them.”

The insignia flashed under the fabric.

Of course.

Proof mattered more than escape.

It always had.

I pulled a data module from the terminal.

Caleb guided.

“Port C.”

Inserted.

“Copying.”

Gunfire closer.

“Caleb.”

“Thirty seconds.”

“We have ten.”

“Then give me ten.”

Naomi shouted, “Move!”

Copy complete.

We ran.

The service tunnel was blocked.

Reece led us to a waste lift.

Small.

Industrial.

We crowded in.

Mercer looked at me.

“What did Harris say?”

“You knew Harris?”

“Trusted him once.”

“He knows about Meridian.”

Mercer’s eyes hardened.

“Then Vale has lost one chain.”

“What is the other?”

He looked at Reece.

Reece looked away.

Mercer whispered, “General Vale is not the top.”

The lift stopped.

Everyone froze.

“What?”

Mercer’s voice was weak.

“Adrian built the network. He did not authorize it.”

“Who did?”

The doors opened.

Snowlight flooded in.

A convoy approached across the service road.

Lead vehicle displayed a Joint Strategic Operations placard.

A general stepped out.

Not Adrian Vale.

A woman.

Four stars.

General Miriam Kade.

Chair of the Joint Security Council.

Mercer whispered one name.

“Kade.”

My blood went cold.

Every investigation we planned to trust eventually reached her office.

She looked toward us.

Then raised a hand.

Weapons around the convoy lifted.

Kade called across the snow.

“Sergeant Darby.”

I tightened my grip on Mercer.

“Put down your weapon and return government property.”

I almost laughed.

Mercer leaned closer.

“Do not let her take the ledger.”

I whispered, “Not planning to.”

Kade’s voice remained calm.

“This ends here.”

Mercer looked at me.

“No.”

His eyes were weak.

His voice was not.

“This is where it becomes public.”

We did not leave Northstar with only Mercer.

Ellen refused.

“There are six other patients.”

I stopped.

Reece looked toward the corridor.

“We do not have transport.”

Ellen’s face hardened.

“Then call it.”

Gunfire echoed above us.

Naomi swore.

Ellen continued.

“They are not all military. Two are contractors. One is intelligence. One I do not know. All were brought here without normal medical custody.”

Mercer gripped my sleeve.

“Do not leave them.”

I looked at him.

“You can barely stand.”

“That is not an argument.”

It was exactly the kind of answer I expected from him.

Eli looked at Naomi.

She nodded.

“We split.”

Reece pointed toward a secondary treatment wing.

“Three rooms there.”

Ellen said, “Two more through observation.”

Caleb’s voice came through.

“I can unlock patient doors remotely if you give me ninety seconds.”

“You have thirty.”

“Everyone is very demanding today.”

We moved.

The rescue became uglier and slower.

One patient could not walk.

Another fought us because he believed we were part of an interrogation cycle.

A woman in a gray hospital shirt stared at my uniform and whispered, “Which year?”

I told her.

She started crying.

There was no time to ask why.

We moved them through the waste lift in two groups.

The first inspector-general helicopter took Mercer and the most medically unstable patients.

The second landed as Kade’s team was being disarmed.

By then, snow was stained with blood from injuries that would later become exhibits.

Ellen stood beside me watching stretchers load.

“I signed treatment notes,” she said.

I looked at her.

“So?”

“I knew things were wrong.”

“How much?”

“Enough.”

“Then testify.”

Her eyes filled.

“That does not undo it.”

“No.”

She looked surprised by the answer.

I continued.

“Nothing undoes it.”

The rotor wash blew snow across us.

“What does that leave?”

“Truth. Consequence. Repair, if possible.”

She nodded slowly.

Mercer had said something similar once, years before.

Maybe all good answers eventually became simple.

Before boarding the helicopter, Mercer looked toward the Northstar entrance.

“Seal it.”

An inspector-general agent said, “We need it preserved.”

“I mean seal it from being used again.”

She nodded.

“We will.”

Mercer looked at me.

“Do you believe her?”

“No.”

The agent almost smiled.

“Good.”

Mercer did too.

Then he was lifted aboard.

As the helicopter rose, I watched Northstar shrink beneath us.

A place built to make people disappear had become a crime scene.

That was not justice.

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Not yet.

But it was the first correct name anyone had given it.