Page 78 of Echo: Burn
"Hostiles! Multiple contacts, full tactical gear...” Stryker's voice cuts off as automatic weapons fire echoes through the building.
"Rourke, I need eyes!"
"Tactical team moving on your position," Rourke responds, his sniper rifle cracking in the distance. "Twenty plus hostiles. Professional military. They've got you surrounded."
The lights shut off. Emergency lighting kicks in, bathing everything in red. And then I hear it—slow, measured footsteps approaching from the loading dock.
A figure emerges from the shadows. Tall. Military bearing. Tactical vest loaded with equipment. In the crimson light, I can see his face clearly.
Victor Kessler.
"I knew you'd bring her with you, Kane." His voice is calm. Professional. The tone of a man who's been planning this moment for a long time. "Just like Hart—always trying to protect the people you love. It makes you predictable."
"Kessler." Kane shifts, positioning himself between me and the approaching threat. "This doesn't have to go down like this."
"Yes, it does." Kessler signals, and tactical team members emerge from multiple entry points. Twenty men. Full combat gear. Surrounding us on all sides. "You burned my career, Kane. Destroyed everything I built."
"We followed orders. We burned evidence of illegal chemical weapons development. That was the mission."
"You buried the truth!" Kessler's voice cracks with rage. "Hart wanted those weapons exposed. Wanted to tell the world what the Committee was building. You buried it all—buried him right along with it."
"To protect innocent people," Kane counters. "To prevent exactly this—weapons falling into the wrong hands."
"To save your ass!" Kessler cuts him off. "You branded him a traitor. Made sure nobody would ever believe him."
Behind me, the data download continues. Sixty percent complete. I need more time.
"You're going to kill thousands of people. For what? Some twisted vision of patriotism?"
"For order." Kessler's eyes lock on mine. "Your father understood that, Dr. Hart. He knew the country was broken. Knew it needed people willing to make hard choices."
"My father kept his silence."
"Because Kane's team made sure he was too afraid to talk. They destroyed his reputation. Made sure nobody would believe him even if he did speak out." Kessler takes a step closer. "Your father died afraid and alone because of the man standing next to you."
The words hollow me out. Everything I thought I understood about my father's death shifts, reforming into something uglier. I look at Kane, seeing the truth in his face. The guilt he's been carrying.
"Is that true?"
"Yes." Kane doesn't look away. "We didn't kill him, Willa. But we destroyed his credibility. Made sure his testimony would be dismissed as conspiracy theory. I'm not proud of it."
"You killed him anyway." Kessler's weapon comes up. "Might as well have put the bullet in his head yourself. And now I'm going to return the favor."
His team raises their weapons in unison. Twenty rifles aimed at Kane and me. The download is at seventy-five percent. Not enough. Not nearly enough.
I have to choose.
Complete the upload and give Tommy the evidence he needs to stop the attack. Or help Kane fight our way out and maybe survive the next five minutes.
The math is simple. The answer is impossible.
"Willa, run." Kane's voice is steady. Resigned. "Take Odin and go."
"No." I keep my eyes on the screen. Eighty percent. "We finish this together."
"You took my career, my honor." Kessler's finger tightens on the trigger. "Now I take everything you love."
Gunfire explodes through the facility.
