Chapter 4 - The Man from the Compound
His name was Viktor Soren.
At least that was the name Allison had known.
He had never shouted during her captivity.
That was what made him frightening.
Other guards threatened.
Some tried intimidation.
Viktor simply watched.
He was the man who asked questions while Allison sat beneath a single hanging light.
The man who knew details about American operations no foreign contractor should have known.
The man who once placed a photograph of her father on a table and said:
"Everyone has a breaking point."
Allison remembered answering:
"Then I hope you enjoy waiting."
Now Viktor had appeared on airport footage servicing Flight 427.
Nathan enlarged the image.
"Facial match ninety-eight percent."
"You told me he was dead."
"We believed he was."
"Based on what?"
"Explosion at a safe house in Prague."
"Body?"
Nathan didn't answer.
Allison laughed without humor.
"You declared two people dead without bodies. That's becoming a pattern."
They were transported away from Redstone under heavy protection.
Media surrounded every road.
News helicopters filmed the damaged Sterling aircraft from above.
By evening, the story dominated television.
DEAD NAVY COMMANDER SAVES DISABLED AIRLINER
WHO IS ALLISON REED?
VALKYRIE RETURNS
Allison hated every headline.
Nathan placed her in a secure federal facility.
Daniel, Lauren and Victoria were taken separately for statements.
The passengers went home.
Allison couldn't.
She sat in a conference room wearing borrowed clothes while investigators moved around her.
Her leather jacket lay folded beside her.
The Valkyrie coin rested on top.
Nathan entered.
"Your father is stable."
Allison looked up.
"Surgery?"
"Postponed until tomorrow because of the media circus."
She closed her eyes.
"He knows?"
"He knows you're alive."
"That wasn't the plan."
"Plans changed at thirty-two thousand feet."
Allison almost smiled.
Then Nathan sat opposite her.
"We need to talk about Viktor."
"I've already told you everything."
"You told us everything five years ago."
"Then read the files."
"Allison."
She looked at him.
Nathan continued.
"He knew your flight."
"Yes."
"He had access to the aircraft."
"Yes."
"He survived Prague."
"Apparently."
"And someone gave him information about your identity."
Allison understood.
"You still have an internal leak."
"We're investigating."
"Which means I shouldn't trust this facility either."
Nathan's silence confirmed it.
Allison stood.
"Take me to my father."
"No."
"Nathan."
"Absolutely not."
"He spent five years believing I was dead."
"And if Viktor knows Richard Reed is your father?"
"He always knew."
Nathan paused.
That was the truth neither wanted to say aloud.
Allison's father had always been a possible target.
The only protection had been Allison's official death.
Now that protection was gone.
Nathan rubbed his face.
"We've moved him."
"Where?"
"Secure medical center."
"I want to see him."
"After we confirm the route."
"No."
"You don't give orders anymore, Commander."
"Neither do you."
Nathan stared.
Then smiled faintly.
"Still Valkyrie."
"Unfortunately."
That night, after extensive security preparations, Allison was transported to the medical center.
She hadn't seen Richard Reed in five years.
The elevator seemed to take forever.
At the end of the hallway stood two agents.
Nathan opened the room door.
Allison stopped.
Her father sat beside the window.
Older.
Thinner.
Gray hair almost completely white.
Hospital gown beneath a navy robe.
He turned.
For several seconds, neither moved.
Allison had imagined this reunion thousands of times.
In every version she had the right words.
Now she had none.
Richard stood slowly.
His eyes filled.
"You're late."
Allison laughed through tears.
"Traffic."
He crossed the room.
Then his arms were around her.
She buried her face against his shoulder.
For the first time since escaping captivity, Commander Allison Reed allowed herself to become someone's daughter.
Richard whispered, "I knew."
She pulled back.
"What?"
"I knew something wasn't right."
"Dad—"
"They never found enough."
His hands touched her face as though confirming she was real.
"I told them my daughter was too stubborn to die."
Allison smiled.
"You weren't wrong."
They talked for hours.
About her brother.
About missed birthdays.
About her mother's old garden.
About everything except the worst parts.
Richard didn't ask what captivity had done to her.
He simply said:
"You came home."
Near midnight, Nathan entered.
His expression warned Allison before he spoke.
"We found something."
Richard looked between them.
Allison stood.
"What?"
Nathan handed her a tablet.
A bank account.
Several transfers.
Dates.
One recipient.
Allison recognized the name.
Thomas Kessler.
Deputy Director in the intelligence office that had managed her protective identity.
Her stomach turned.
"Kessler?"
Nathan nodded.
"He had access to your travel restrictions."
"He knew Megan Foster."
"Yes."
Richard quietly asked, "Who is he?"
Allison didn't answer.
Nathan continued.
"Kessler disappeared three hours ago."
"Where?"
"We don't know."
"And Viktor?"
"Also missing."
Allison stared at the transfer history.
One payment occurred forty-eight hours before Flight 427 departed.
Another after the forced landing.
They weren't done.
"What are they trying to accomplish?"
Nathan said, "Maybe silence you."
"They already failed."
"Then maybe they're trying something else."
Richard spoke from behind them.
"Make her run."
Both turned.
Richard had spent twenty-six years in military intelligence.
Retired didn't mean useless.
He pointed at the tablet.
"If they wanted Allison dead, they had opportunities."
Nathan nodded slowly.
Richard continued.
"They attacked a civilian aircraft knowing there was a chance she'd intervene."
Allison felt cold.
"Exposure."
Richard looked at her.
"They wanted the world to discover you're alive."
"Why?"
"Because once you're public, your testimony becomes valuable."
Nathan finished the thought.
"Or dangerous to someone other than Viktor."
Allison understood.
The network was not one unified organization.
It was alliances.
Deals.
Mutual secrets.
If Allison publicly appeared, old partners might panic.
Destroy evidence.
Kill one another.
Move money.
Run.
Viktor wasn't simply trying to murder her.
He was shaking the entire network.
Forcing everyone into motion.
Nathan's phone rang.
He answered.
Listened.
His expression hardened.
"Where?"
He ended the call.
Allison asked, "What?"
"A storage facility outside Baltimore just burned."
"Connection?"
"One of the companies you identified after your escape rented it."
Richard said, "They're cleaning house."
Nathan nodded.
Allison stared through the hospital window at Washington lights.
For five years she'd hidden because remaining dead was supposed to protect people.
Now her resurrection had triggered something larger.
The network was destroying evidence.
People might disappear next.
Allison looked at Nathan.
"Then stop hiding me."
"What?"
"Put me in public."
"Absolutely not."
"They're reacting because they don't know what I remember."
"That's precisely why—"
"Use it."
Nathan stared.
Allison's eyes became the eyes of Valkyrie again.
"Tell the world I'm cooperating with investigators."
"That makes you a target."
"I'm already a target."
Richard smiled faintly from the bed.
Nathan noticed.
"Don't encourage her."
"I've tried stopping her from doing reckless things since she was twelve."
"Did it work?"
"No."
Allison leaned forward.
"If Viktor wants panic, let's give him uncertainty instead."
"How?"
"We announce that I remember more than I actually do."
Nathan understood.
A bluff.
Make every compromised person wonder whether Allison could identify them.
Force mistakes.
Nathan hated it.
Which meant it might work.
The following morning, Allison Reed walked into a press room for the first time since her memorial.
Camera shutters exploded.
Hundreds of reporters shouted.
She stood behind a podium.
Dark suit.
Hair tied back.
The Valkyrie coin hidden in her pocket.
"My name is Commander Allison Reed."
The room became silent.
"Five years ago, my country believed I died during service."
She paused.
"I did not."
She revealed nothing classified.
Nothing about operations.
Only enough.
"I survived captivity. I survived people who believed fear could erase truth. Yesterday, the passengers and crew of Flight 427 survived an attack designed to look like an aviation accident."
Gasps.
Allison looked directly into the cameras.
"To the people responsible: I remember you."
She paused.
"And I am done hiding."
Across Washington, television stations carried the statement live.
Inside a dark hotel room, Viktor Soren watched.
He smiled.
Beside him sat Thomas Kessler.
Kessler looked terrified.
"She knows."
Viktor turned toward him.
"No."
"She said—"
"She is bluffing."
"How can you know?"
Viktor's smile disappeared.
"Because I taught her how to lie."
Then he placed a photograph on the table.
It showed Richard Reed entering the secure medical center.
Kessler stared.
"What are you planning?"
Viktor answered quietly.
"The only mistake Allison ever made."
"What?"
"Believing this was about killing her."
He tapped Richard's photograph.
"It was always about making her choose."
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And before the next sunrise, Allison would discover exactly what Viktor meant.
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