My mentor.
And the only person alive who knew every classified secret I had.
Including the one capable of destroying the entire program forever.
Thunder rumbled in the distance. Smoke drifted across the ruined yard. And standing there among the ashes of my family’s barbecue, I finally understood the truth.
This had never been about humiliation. Never about Derek. Never even about me.
Someone was hunting Athena from the inside.
And they had just declared war.
Daniel looked toward the burning house. Then back at me.
“What now?”
I stared at the photo of Evelyn Shaw.
The woman I buried.
The woman who should have been dead.
The woman who once told me:
If Athena ever falls, trust nobody.
Not your government. Not your commanders. Not even your own people.
At the time, I thought she was paranoid.
Now I realized she had been preparing me.
