Chapter 12 - THE SON OF A FALLEN GHOSTMaya's first instinct was anger.
Her second was fear.
Her third was discipline.
She did not interrogate Ethan.
She invited him into her office.
“Who gave you that mark?”
Ethan frowned.
“What mark?”
Maya showed him.
His expression changed.
He believed it was an identification tattoo given during a private military scholarship program.
Maya's blood chilled.
Vale had reached him years earlier.
After Cole died, someone had paid Ethan's tuition.
Counseling.
Training.
Travel.
Everything had been designed to guide him toward military service.
Ethan thought he was honoring his father.
Vale had been building another experiment.
Maya told him the truth.
Not all of it.
Enough.
Ethan became furious.
“So my entire life was planned?”
“No.”
“How can you know?”
“Because plans fail.”
She leaned forward.
“And you're still allowed to choose what happens after they fail.”
Ethan looked at her.
That had been Cole's final gift to Maya.
Now she gave it to his son.
Vale contacted them that night.
He offered a trade.
Ethan for Vale's database.
Maya refused.
Vale laughed.
“You misunderstand. I'm not asking for Ethan.”
A pause.
“I'm offering him.”
Maya froze.
Vale revealed that Ethan's mother had been kidnapped.
The message included coordinates.
An abandoned military facility.
Morrison recognized it immediately.
Ghost 1's original assessment site.
The same place Thomas had trained decades earlier.
The circle was closing.
Thomas insisted on going.
Maya refused.
“You're dying.”
“So?”
“So I'm not losing you twice.”
Thomas smiled sadly.
“You never got to choose the first time.”
Then he picked up his coat.
“But you don't get to choose everything either.”
Father and daughter stared at one another.
For once, Maya understood him.
“Fine.”
Thomas smiled.
“Still bossy.”
“Still dead for twenty-four years.”
May you like
“Fair.”
They went together.
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