Chapter 6 - RECKONING IN THE CLOUDSShe didn't flinch.
Even with a military helicopter hovering outside the window and her daughter standing in front of her holding a loaded firearm, Victoria Bennett slowly took a sip of her scotch, set the crystal glass on the side table, and looked at me with pure, unadulterated coldness.
"You always were remarkably persistent, Mara," she said smoothly, as if we were discussing the weather over tea. "It’s a trait you inherited from your father. Regrettably, neither of you ever possessed the vision to see the bigger picture."
"The 'bigger picture'?" I stepped closer, my gun locked onto her chest. "You murdered Dad. You poisoned him bit by bit while he trusted you to care for him!"
Victoria chuckled—a dry, bitter sound. "Arthur was a foolish idealist. He believed that technology belonged to governments and borders. Do you know how much money international consortia pay for corporate state defense assets? Enough to ensure our family would never answer to any law, any judge, or any nation ever again."
"Caleb is sitting in a federal holding cell right now, Mother," I spat. "He sang like a bird. Sterling gave up the server location. It’s over."
Victoria’s lip curled in disgust. "Caleb was soft. He lacked the nerve to do what was necessary. I knew the moment he blundered that forged will that he would fall apart under pressure. That's why I let him take the fall for the forgery."
"You used your own son as a decoy," I said, disgust twisting my stomach.
"I used a tool that failed its purpose," she corrected flatly. "And as for you... you were supposed to die in that burning Humvee in Al-Anbar twelve years ago. Do you know how inconvenient it was when Daniel Hayes dragged your broken body out of that wreckage? I had already arranged for your death to be sealed under national security protocols."
The world seemed to stop spinning.
The roar of the rain outside, the hum of the jet engines, the beating of my own heart—everything vanished, replaced by a cold, white rage.
"You..." I whispered, my hand trembling slightly on the grip of my gun. "The ambush on Task Force 88... that wasn't an intelligence failure."
Victoria smiled—a wicked, terrifying expression of ultimate malice.
"I sold your convoy’s GPS coordinates to the local insurgents for two million dollars, Mara. You were getting too close to discovering my shell accounts before you deployed. I couldn't have my brave little soldier daughter snooping around my ledgers. It was supposed to be a tragic casualty of war. A mother grieving her hero daughter. It would have made the perfect cover."
"You killed my team," I said, my voice shaking with a rage so profound it burned like acid in my throat. "Six men died in that trench!"
"They were collateral damage," she said coldly, standing up and smoothing her designer coat. "Just like your father. Now, put the gun down, Mara. You’re a decorated war hero now. You won't shoot your own mother in cold blood. You don't have it in you."
May you like
She took a step toward me, reaching for her leather handbag on the seat beside her.
"Try me," I whispered.
