Page 181 of Silent Target

Another section of the barricade collapses.

Victor’s armored hand reaches through.

We have one escape route.

Less than five minutes.

And evidence that could expose every living member of the First Circle.

40

EVIE

The purge timer reaches four minutes, forty-one seconds.

Rook looks from the escape tunnel to Fathom.

“How long do you need?”

“Five minutes.”

“You have three.”

Fathom drops to his knees beside the vault server and begins working.

Cobra and Shark reinforce the barricade.

Falcon remains beside them, his injured arm pressed against his chest.

Caleb checks the tunnel.

I open the Chairman’s journal again.

The succession directive is filled with names, codes, and instructions, but the final pages are written in a different hand.

More hurried.

Less controlled.

One sentence appears beside a sketch of the bunker.

TRUST CAN BE STOLEN MORE EASILY THAN IDENTITY.

I turn another page.

A diagram shows the central command servers and a handwritten override sequence.

“Fathom.”

He doesn’t look away from his screen. “Busy.”

“I found the purge authorization.”

That gets his attention.

He moves beside me.

“Where?”