Chapter 5 - THE LETTER FROM A DEAD FATHERMorrison handed Maya an envelope.
Her name was written across the front.
She recognized the handwriting.
Her father's.
Maya opened it with trembling fingers.
Thomas explained that he had disappeared because he believed distance would protect his family.
But the most important revelation came halfway down the page.
Ghost had never begun as a genetic experiment.
It had begun with people.
Veterans helping younger soldiers.
Parents teaching children.
Commanders mentoring recruits.
Survivors passing lessons forward.
Not through blood.
Through example.
Hale had corrupted that idea into statistics and control.
Thomas wrote about Maya falling from an oak tree at five years old.
She had broken her arm.
Cried.
Then climbed the tree again because she refused to let the tree win.
Maya laughed through her tears.
She remembered.
Then she turned the letter over.
Coordinates.
Morrison recognized them.
A storage facility in Virginia.
Two hours later, Maya, Morrison, and Captain Noah Pierce entered an underground archive beneath an abandoned agricultural station.
Inside waited a wooden box.
Fifteen folders.
Fourteen carried the names of Ghost 7.
The fifteenth belonged to Maya.
Inside were photographs spanning her childhood.
Seven.
Ten.
Fourteen.
Eighteen.
Military training.
Airborne qualification.
Someone had watched her for years.
Then Pierce discovered a false bottom.
Beneath it rested a digital recorder.
And a newspaper dated three weeks earlier.
Impossible.
Maya activated the recorder.
An old man's voice spoke.
“Maya.”
Her knees weakened.
Her father.
Thomas Reeves.
The recording revealed that Hale wasn't Ghost's creator.
Ghost had originally been an unofficial network created by veterans determined to preserve hard-earned knowledge between generations.
Hale had hijacked it.
Nightfall happened because Ghost 7 discovered her plan.
Then footsteps sounded behind them.
Pierce drew his weapon.
An elderly janitor stood in the doorway.
Gray beard.
Thin shoulders.
Work clothes.
He looked at Maya.
Blue eyes.
Her eyes.
Morrison whispered,
“Tom.”
The recorder slipped from Maya's hand.
The old man's mouth trembled.
Maya barely managed one word.
“Dad?”
Thomas Reeves smiled.
“Hi, tree climber.”
Maya crossed the room.
She hugged him.
Then hit his chest.
Then hugged him again.
Twenty-four years of grief broke apart inside her.
But reunion quickly became anger.
“You watched me?”
“Yes.”
“You watched me become a soldier?”
“Yes.”
“You watched me deploy?”
Thomas's eyes filled.
“Yes.”
“You let me think you were dead.”
“I thought it kept you alive.”
Maya stepped away.
“You don't get credit for watching.”
Thomas lowered his head.
“You're right.”
Then he revealed why he had finally returned.
Cancer.
Months remaining.
Maya felt another piece of herself break.
But Thomas still carried one more secret.
Ghost 7 had originally selected fifteen operators.
The fifteenth had been removed forty-eight hours before Nightfall.
May you like
His name was Daniel Caldwell.
Marcus's older brother.
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