Chapter 10 - FILE ZERO Nobody spoke for several seconds.
The countdown on the computer continued.
01:54:03.
01:54:02.
01:54:01.
Maria stared at Mr. Brown.
“Play it again.”
Catherine pressed the hidden mechanism.
Thomas Blackwood’s voice returned.
“If you found File Zero, then the family has already failed.”
Static.
“Do not destroy Meridian.”
Another burst of static.
“Because Meridian was never created to control governments.”
Then:
“It was created to stop something worse.”
Silence.
Reed looked at Catherine.
“What’s worse than a private network bribing judges and covering murders?”
“I don’t know.”
Alexander took the encrypted drive.
“We find out.”
They moved into the executive conference room.
Catherine connected File Zero to an isolated laptop.
Password required.
Alexander tried Thomas Blackwood’s birthday.
Denied.
Company founding date.
Denied.
Ethan’s birthday.
Denied.
Maria looked at the screen.
“Two families.”
Alexander turned.
“What?”
“The trust requires Blackwood and Delgado.”
She typed:
BLACKWOOD DELGADO.
Denied.
Then Catherine remembered the ownership certificate.
“Rafael.”
Alexander typed:
THOMAS RAFAEL.
The drive opened.
Hundreds of folders appeared.
Most dated between 1971 and 1989.
Reed stared.
“This is the origin of Meridian.”
Catherine opened the first video.
Thomas Blackwood appeared.
Young.
Beside him stood Rafael Delgado.
Thomas spoke.
“If this recording is being viewed, Meridian has either succeeded beyond our expectations…”
Rafael finished:
“…or become the thing we created it to fight.”
Alexander leaned closer.
Thomas continued.
“In 1971, seven American industrial families discovered that a private consortium was attempting to acquire controlling influence over strategic companies.”
Reed frowned.
“What consortium?”
Rafael answered.
“They call themselves Janus.”
Catherine whispered:
“Janus.”
Alexander looked at her.
“You’ve heard that name?”
“Once.”
“Where?”
“In Eleanor’s private files.”
The video continued.
“Janus does not operate publicly. It acquires debt, secrets, political leverage, and ownership through intermediaries.”
Alexander laughed bitterly.
“So Meridian copied them.”
Rafael’s recorded voice seemed almost to answer.
“That is our greatest danger.”
Thomas looked directly into the camera.
“To defeat an invisible system, we built another invisible system.”
Alexander stared.
Meridian had started as a defensive network.
Then become the monster it feared.
Catherine opened another file.
JANUS — KNOWN ASSETS.
Banks.
Shipping firms.
Technology companies.
Political foundations.
Some no longer existed.
Others had evolved into modern corporations.
Reed shook his head.
“This is forty-year-old intelligence.”
“Maybe Janus is gone.”
Catherine looked at him.
“Or maybe it won.”
Alexander opened another folder.
SUCCESSION.
Seven founding families.
Blackwood.
Delgado.
Sterling.
Four others.
Beside each name was a designation.
Guardian.
Auditor.
Diplomat.
Treasurer.
Enforcer.
Alexander stopped.
“Enforcer.”
Sterling.
Vanessa’s family.
Maria whispered:
“That explains Vanessa.”
Catherine nodded.
“She inherited a role before she understood it.”
Reed looked at Alexander.
“What was Blackwood?”
Alexander read the screen.
“Guardian.”
Delgado:
“Auditor.”
Maria closed her eyes.
“My brother.”
Gabriel had done exactly what his family was created to do.
Audit Meridian.
And Meridian had destroyed him for it.
Another file opened automatically.
CURRENT SUCCESSION STATUS.
BLACKWOOD — ETHAN BLACKWOOD.
DELGADO — MARIA DELGADO.
STERLING — VANESSA STERLING.
Alexander stared.
The system had updated.
Recently.
Reed looked alarmed.
“How is an offline drive showing current names?”
Catherine checked the device.
“It isn’t offline.”
Alexander turned.
“What?”
“There’s a transmitter.”
Reed swore.
“Disconnect it.”
Too late.
The screen flashed.
ACCESS DETECTED.
LOCATION TRANSMITTED.
Alexander looked at the countdown.
Michael knew exactly where they were.
“Move.”
They grabbed the drive.
Seconds later, the building alarm activated.
Reed’s radio erupted.
“Vehicles approaching south entrance.”
“How many?”
“Four.”
Michael’s people.
Alexander called the FBI command center.
No signal.
Catherine checked her phone.
Jammed.
Reed pulled his weapon.
“Stairwell.”
Maria grabbed the drive.
“No.”
Alexander looked at her.
“What?”
“Michael wants this.”
“Yes.”
“So let him think he gets it.”
Catherine understood.
“A copy.”
Maria nodded.
They copied the visible files to another drive.
Catherine changed its label.
FILE ZERO.
Reed looked at her.
“He’ll know.”
“Not immediately.”
Alexander took the real drive.
“Where do we hide this?”
Ethan’s voice came from the doorway.
“In Mr. Brown.”
Everyone turned.
Alexander’s face changed.
“What are you doing here?”
A federal protection officer stood behind Ethan.
“Sir, the safe floor was evacuated because of the alarm.”
Alexander immediately crossed the room.
He knelt.
“You stay with Officer Daniels.”
Ethan looked at the teddy bear.
“Mommy hid things in him before.”
Catherine’s eyes filled.
Alexander hated involving Ethan.
But the boy was right.
Michael knew Catherine had used the bear.
Which meant he might search it first.
Too obvious.
Alexander looked at Ethan’s sneaker.
“Give me your shoe.”
Ethan frowned.
“My shoe?”
Alexander hid File Zero beneath the removable insole.
“Now nobody takes this shoe off.”
Ethan nodded solemnly.
“Okay.”
Gunfire echoed downstairs.
Reed shouted:
“Move!”
They evacuated through the executive stairwell.
Michael’s men entered from below.
Federal officers exchanged fire.
Alexander carried Ethan upward.
“Roof?” Maria asked.
“Again?” Alexander muttered.
Catherine almost laughed despite everything.
They reached the rooftop.
A helicopter waited.
Reed pushed them aboard.
Gunmen burst through the rooftop door.
Shots struck the helicopter.
“GO!”
The aircraft lifted.
Boston fell beneath them.
Ethan clung to Alexander.
Maria held the fake drive.
Catherine watched the city.
Then the pilot turned.
“Where?”
Alexander looked at the countdown.
01:21:17.
“Vermont.”
Reed stared.
“That’s not how hostage negotiations work.”
“Tonight it is.”
The helicopter landed fifteen miles from the church.
They transferred to vehicles.
State police established a hidden perimeter beyond Michael’s surveillance zone.
Alexander refused to remain behind.
Maria refused even more aggressively.
Catherine stayed with Ethan.
Before Alexander left, Ethan grabbed him.
“Daddy.”
Alexander crouched.
“Yeah?”
“Bring Maria’s brother back.”
Maria turned away, crying.
Alexander kissed Ethan’s forehead.
“I’ll try.”
The church appeared at the end of a deserted road.
Old white wood.
Broken steeple.
Snow beginning to fall.
00:19:43.
Nineteen minutes.
Alexander and Maria approached alone.
Maria carried the fake File Zero.
Inside, candles burned.
Michael stood near the altar.
Vanessa beside him.
Gabriel was tied to a chair.
Alive.
Maria stopped.
“Gabriel.”
His eyes opened.
“Don’t.”
Michael smiled.
“Touching.”
Maria stared at him.
“You’re Michael.”
His smile widened.
“There she is.”
“You locked me in a basement.”
“You remember.”
“I remember Gabriel breaking the door.”
Michael looked toward his twin.
“He always had to be the hero.”
Gabriel coughed.
“And you always needed an audience.”
Michael’s smile vanished.
Alexander stepped forward.
“Let him go.”
“The drive.”
Maria held it up.
“First Gabriel.”
Michael raised a detonator.
“No.”
Alexander looked around.
Explosives lined the church supports.
Michael continued.
“You give me File Zero. I verify it. Then Gabriel walks.”
Vanessa stared at Alexander.
Something in her eyes was wrong.
Fear.
Not of Alexander.
Of Michael.
Maria handed over the drive.
Michael inserted it into a laptop.
Folders appeared.
He smiled.
“Finally.”
Gabriel looked at Alexander.
“It’s fake.”
Michael froze.
Alexander closed his eyes.
Gabriel smiled through blood.
“You always were easy to impress.”
Michael checked deeper.
Encryption errors appeared.
His face twisted.
“WHERE IS IT?”
Alexander said nothing.
Michael struck Gabriel.
Maria screamed.
“STOP!”
“Where is File Zero?”
Alexander stared.
“Somewhere you’ll never find it.”
Michael raised the detonator.
Vanessa suddenly grabbed his wrist.
“Enough.”
Michael stared at her.
“What are you doing?”
“You said nobody else had to die.”
Michael laughed.
“You believed me?”
Vanessa’s face changed.
Alexander saw the exact moment she understood.
She had never been Michael’s partner.
She was another tool.
Michael shoved her.
Vanessa hit the altar.
Gabriel shouted:
“Maria, run!”
Michael pressed the detonator.
Nothing happened.
He stared.
Pressed again.
Nothing.
Then Detective Reed stepped from the shadows.
“Looking for this?”
He held a small receiver.
Michael’s face drained.
“Signal jammer.”
Police lights exploded outside.
Michael grabbed Maria.
Gun against her head.
“BACK OFF!”
Alexander stopped.
Michael dragged Maria toward a side door.
Gabriel struggled against his restraints.
Vanessa crawled toward a fallen weapon.
Michael saw her.
He fired.
Vanessa fell.
Alexander tackled Michael.
The gun slid away.
They crashed through the side door into the snow.
Michael punched Alexander.
Alexander hit back.
Years of anger exploded.
Catherine.
Ethan.
Richard.
Maria.
Every lie.
Every grave.
Every secret.
Michael reached for a knife.
Alexander caught his wrist.
They struggled.
Michael laughed.
“You think you’re different from us?”
Alexander slammed his hand against the ground.
The knife fell.
“You ran a company built on bodies!”
Another punch.
“You signed the papers!”
Another.
“You spent the money!”
Alexander froze.
Michael smiled through blood.
“You’re Meridian too.”
Alexander could kill him.
For one terrible second…
he wanted to.
Then Ethan’s face appeared in his mind.
Alexander stepped back.
“No.”
Michael laughed.
“No?”
Alexander looked at Reed approaching.
“My son has seen enough men solve problems with violence.”
Reed handcuffed Michael.
“You’re under arrest.”
Michael smiled.
“This doesn’t end anything.”
Alexander stared at him.
“For you it does.”
Inside the church, Maria freed Gabriel.
Brother and sister embraced.
Neither spoke.
They didn’t need to.
Vanessa lay near the altar.
Catherine rushed toward her.
Blood spread across Vanessa’s side.
Vanessa looked at Alexander.
“I’m sorry.”
Alexander knelt.
“For Ethan?”
“For everything.”
“You’ll tell him yourself.”
She smiled weakly.
“You think he’ll ever forgive me?”
Alexander looked at the woman who had once raised a riding crop over his son.
“I don’t know.”
Vanessa nodded.
“That’s fair.”
Paramedics carried her away.
Gabriel approached Alexander.
“You have File Zero?”
“Yes.”
“Destroy it.”
Alexander stared.
“Why?”
Gabriel looked toward Michael.
“Because Meridian isn’t the real danger.”
“Janus?”
Gabriel nodded.
“You know.”
“We found the files.”
“Then you know Meridian was created to fight them.”
“And became just as corrupt.”
“Yes.”
Alexander lowered his voice.
“What does Janus want?”
Gabriel looked toward Ethan standing outside with Catherine.
“The same thing Meridian wanted.”
“Blackwood Industries?”
“No.”
Gabriel’s expression darkened.
“Ethan.”
Alexander felt cold.
“Why does everybody want my son?”
Gabriel looked at him.
“Because Thomas Blackwood hid something inside the trust.”
“What?”
“Not money.”
“Then what?”
Gabriel stepped closer.
“Ownership.”
“Of what?”
May you like
Gabriel whispered:
“Janus.”
