Chapter 3 - THE SECRET INSIDE CELESTE’S HOUSE
Celeste ran.
She did not wait for the agents.
She did not wait for Admiral Reed.
She pushed through the side exit and entered the rain.
Cold water struck her face.
The admiral’s jacket remained wrapped around her torn gown.
Her car waited near the valet stand.
A young attendant stepped forward.
“Ms. Warren—”
“Keys.”
He fumbled through the box.
Behind her, Reed emerged from the ballroom.
“Celeste.”
She turned.
“My goddaughter is in that house.”
“I’m coming.”
“You need to stay here.”
“No.”
“Thomas.”
He stopped close to her.
“You are not walking into an unknown threat alone.”
Federal vehicles began moving around the building.
Agents shouted into radios.
The valet handed Celeste her keys.
She entered the car.
Reed opened the passenger door and got inside.
“You don’t take orders well,” she said.
“You taught me that.”
She started the engine.
The tires cut across the wet pavement.
Behind them, two federal SUVs followed.
Celeste drove through the city at dangerous speed.
Reed held the dashboard as she turned sharply onto the highway.
“Who is the child?”
“Emma Hayes.”
“Daniel’s daughter?”
Celeste nodded.
Reed’s expression tightened.
Captain Daniel Hayes had served under Celeste during the Kandar operation.
He had been one of the six soldiers she carried out.
He had survived the extraction.
He died two years later after a private aircraft malfunction.
His wife died in the same crash.
Emma had been five.
Celeste became her legal guardian.
No one in the Warren family knew.
“Why is she at the house alone?” Reed asked.
“She isn’t.”
Celeste pressed a number on the steering wheel.
Her housekeeper’s phone rang.
No answer.
She called again.
Nothing.
“Maria stays with her when I travel.”
“When did you last speak with them?”
“Before the gala.”
Reed looked toward her.
“Did anyone know Emma was there?”
“Only Maria.”
“And whoever has been watching you.”
Celeste’s jaw tightened.
The live video remained open on her phone near the console.
The image shook.
Emma was hiding somewhere dark.
Only part of her face was visible.
“Emma,” Celeste said.
The child did not answer.
“Emma, can you hear me?”
A tiny movement.
Then a whisper.
“Yes.”
“Where are you?”
“In the wall.”
Reed looked at Celeste.
She kept her eyes on the road.
“There is a secure room behind the library shelves.”
“Does it lock?”
“From inside.”
“Good.”
Celeste spoke louder.
“Emma, do not open the door.”
“I won’t.”
“Is Maria with you?”
Silence followed.
Celeste’s grip tightened around the steering wheel.
“Emma?”
The child began to cry quietly.
“Maria fell down.”
Celeste felt the world narrow.
“Did someone hurt her?”
“I heard a loud sound.”
Reed closed his eyes briefly.
Celeste forced her voice to remain gentle.
“Listen to me.”
“Are you listening?”
“Yes.”
“Stay inside the safe room.”
“Do not make any sound.”
“Do not turn on the lights.”
“I’m scared.”
“I know.”
“I’m coming.”
A man’s voice sounded somewhere beyond Emma’s hidden room.
“Check upstairs.”
Celeste heard it through the phone.
She recognized the voice.
Her face changed.
Reed noticed.
“Who is it?”
“Marcus Vale.”
“That’s impossible.”
“I know his voice.”
Marcus Vale had been Celeste’s field communications officer.
He had disappeared during the final hours of the Kandar extraction.
The official report listed him as killed in action.
His body was never recovered.
Reed stared at the phone.
“Are you certain?”
“I spent three years listening to that man through an earpiece.”
Another voice responded from inside the house.
“The office is empty.”
Marcus spoke again.
“Find the archive.”
Celeste looked toward Reed.
“They aren’t there for Emma.”
“What archive?”
She did not answer.
“Celeste.”
“I kept copies.”
“Copies of what?”
“The Kandar mission files.”
Reed stared at her.
“You told the review board everything was destroyed.”
“It was supposed to be.”
“Why would you keep classified materials in your home?”
“Because the official report was false.”
The rain grew heavier.
Reed’s expression hardened.
“What was false?”
“Marcus did not die during the extraction.”
“We know that now.”
“I knew it then.”
Reed turned toward her.
Celeste continued.
“He abandoned the northern checkpoint.”
“He opened the evacuation route to the militia.”
“That ambush was deliberate?”
“Yes.”
Reed sat back slowly.
The Kandar extraction had been blamed on an intelligence failure.
Seventeen people died.
Celeste had carried the blame privately for years.
“The review board cleared you,” Reed said.
“They cleared me publicly.”
“What happened privately?”
“They gave me a choice.”
Her eyes stayed on the road.
“Accept the sealed report or watch the identities of every surviving operative become public.”
“Who gave you that choice?”
Celeste did not answer.
Reed watched her.
Then realization entered his face.
“Arthur.”
She remained silent.
“Your father was involved?”
“He was a civilian contractor.”
“He had no authority over a military review.”
“He had authority over the communications network used in Kandar.”
Reed stared through the windshield.
The Warren family’s defense company had supplied encrypted satellite systems to several government agencies.
Arthur had built his fortune on those contracts.
“If Marcus survived,” Reed said, “Arthur may have hidden him.”
Celeste nodded.
“And now they want the files.”
The live video shook again.
Emma pressed one hand over her mouth.
Footsteps approached the library.
Celeste’s heart pounded.
A beam of light crossed the shelves.
One of the intruders entered the room.
Emma’s hidden camera showed only a narrow angle through a ventilation gap.
A black-gloved hand moved across the desk.
Drawers opened.
Papers scattered.
Then Marcus stepped into view.
He was older.
His beard was gray.
A scar cut across the left side of his face.
But Celeste recognized him immediately.
He stopped near the library shelves.
His gaze moved slowly across the room.
Then he looked directly toward the hidden camera.
Celeste felt cold.
Marcus smiled.
“Commander.”
His voice came clearly through Emma’s phone.
Reed stared at the screen.
Marcus walked closer to the shelves.
“You always did like secret rooms.”
Emma’s breathing became faster.
Celeste spoke quickly.
“Emma, move away from the door.”
Marcus tapped the wood panel.
Once.
Twice.
“I know you’re watching, Celeste.”
He looked directly into the camera.
“Bring me the Kandar key.”
Celeste’s face remained still.
Marcus continued.
“You have twenty minutes.”
“After that, I burn the archive.”
He paused.
“And the child with it.”
The video ended.
Celeste pressed harder on the accelerator.
Reed looked behind them.
The federal SUVs were still following.
“We need tactical support.”
“No.”
“Celeste.”
“If Marcus sees agents, he kills Emma.”
“He may kill her anyway.”
“I know him.”
“You knew him fifteen years ago.”
“I know how he thinks.”
Reed’s voice became firm.
“You are emotionally compromised.”
Celeste looked at him.
“So was I when I carried your son out of Kandar.”
Reed went silent.
His son, Lieutenant Michael Reed, had been among the wounded.
Celeste had saved him.
Michael still walked with a cane.
But he was alive.
Celeste looked back at the road.
“I did not leave him.”
“I will not leave Emma.”
Reed lowered his voice.
“I am not asking you to.”
The house appeared in the distance.
Smoke rose behind the trees.
Celeste slowed before reaching the driveway.
She turned off the headlights.
The federal vehicles stopped farther back.
Reed opened the glove compartment.
Inside was a compact pistol.
He looked at Celeste.
“You keep this loaded?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
He checked it.
Celeste removed a small silver pendant from beneath her dress.
Reed watched her.
“What is that?”
“The Kandar key.”
“You wore it to the gala?”
“I wear it everywhere.”
The pendant contained an encrypted storage chip.
It held evidence capable of destroying careers, defense contracts, and perhaps several government officials.
Celeste stepped from the car.
Rain soaked her hair immediately.
Reed followed.
The front door stood open.
A faint orange glow flickered inside.
Celeste moved toward the porch.
Reed caught her arm.
“Wait.”
He pointed toward the ground.
A thin wire stretched across the first step.
Celeste crouched.
“Alarm trigger.”
“Or explosive.”
She moved around the side of the porch.
They entered through a kitchen window.
Smoke drifted through the hallway.
The fire had started near the rear office.
Celeste heard a faint moan.
“Maria.”
She found the housekeeper near the pantry.
Blood marked the side of Maria’s head.
But she was breathing.
Reed checked her pulse.
“Alive.”
Celeste looked toward the library.
“I have to get Emma.”
“I’ll stay with Maria until the agents enter.”
“No gunfire unless you see Marcus.”
Reed nodded.
Celeste moved through the smoke.
She reached the library.
The room appeared empty.
Books covered the floor.
The desk had been overturned.
She approached the hidden panel.
Before she could touch it, a voice came from behind her.
“You got old, Commander.”
Celeste stopped.
Marcus Vale stepped from behind the curtains.
A pistol rested in his hand.
He smiled.
She turned slowly.
“You got ugly.”
His smile widened.
“I missed you too.”
“Where is Emma?”
“Safe.”
“Open the room.”
“Give me the key.”
Celeste touched the pendant.
Marcus raised the weapon.
“Slowly.”
She removed the chain.
He extended his free hand.
Celeste looked beyond him.
Smoke thickened near the ceiling.
“You set the fire too close.”
“I know.”
“You may not have enough time to escape.”
“Neither will you.”
Celeste held out the pendant.
Marcus moved closer.
The moment his fingers touched it, she twisted his wrist.
The pistol discharged.
The bullet struck the bookshelf.
Celeste drove her knee into his stomach.
Marcus staggered.
She struck his wrist again.
The weapon fell.
He grabbed her hair and threw her against the desk.
Pain shot through her injured back.
The old scars felt as though they had torn open.
Marcus reached for the gun.
Celeste kicked it beneath a cabinet.
He turned toward her.
“You were always too sentimental.”
He struck her across the face.
She fell to one knee.
Marcus grabbed the pendant from the floor.
“Arthur was right about you.”
Celeste looked up.
“Arthur ordered this?”
Marcus laughed.
“Arthur ordered everything.”
A section of the ceiling collapsed behind him.
Flames spread across the curtains.
Celeste moved toward the hidden panel.
Marcus blocked her.
“The girl comes with me.”
“No.”
“She is insurance.”
“You touch her, and you die here.”
Marcus leaned closer.
“So much like Daniel.”
Celeste froze.
He smiled when he saw her reaction.
“You still think his plane malfunctioned?”
Her face went still.
Marcus pressed a hidden switch.
The library shelves began to slide open.
Emma stood inside the secure room.
Her eyes were wide with terror.
Marcus grabbed her before Celeste could move.
He pressed a small blade near the child’s throat.
“Back away.”
Celeste raised her hands.
Emma looked at her.
“Aunt Celeste.”
“I’m here.”
Marcus pulled the child toward the hallway.
Celeste followed slowly.
“Let her go.”
“When I’m clear.”
“You won’t make it out.”
“I have before.”
A gunshot sounded from the kitchen.
Marcus turned his head.
Celeste moved.
She caught his wrist and forced the blade away from Emma.
The child dropped to the floor.
Marcus shoved Celeste into the burning curtain.
Fire caught the admiral’s jacket.
She tore it from her shoulders and threw it aside.
Marcus dragged Emma toward the front door.
Celeste reached for the pistol beneath the cabinet.
She fired once.
The bullet struck Marcus in the shoulder.
He cried out and released Emma.
The child ran toward Celeste.
Marcus stumbled through the smoke.
Reed entered the library with the pistol raised.
“Stop!”
Marcus looked at him.
Then he smiled.
“Admiral.”
He threw something onto the floor.
A flash exploded.
White light blinded the room.
Celeste covered Emma with her body.
By the time her vision cleared, Marcus was gone.
Federal agents stormed through the front entrance.
Reed helped Celeste stand.
Emma clung to her.
Celeste searched the floor.
The silver pendant was gone.
Marcus had taken the Kandar key.
An agent shouted from outside.
“We have a vehicle leaving through the north road.”
Celeste held Emma tighter.
Reed looked toward the burning office.
“The archive.”
Celeste shook her head.
“The files weren’t in the office.”
“Where were they?”
Celeste looked down at Emma.
The child’s face was wet with tears.
Then Emma reached inside her sweater.
She pulled out a small black drive.
“Maria told me to hide this.”
Celeste stared at it.
Emma held it toward her.
Before Celeste could take it, Maria’s weak voice came from the doorway.
“Don’t.”
Two agents supported her.
Blood covered her temple.
Celeste looked at her.
Maria pointed at the drive.
“That one is not yours.”
Celeste’s eyes narrowed.
May you like
Maria’s voice shook.
“Arthur planted it here yesterday.”
