Page 182 of Silent Target

I show him the rotating sequence written in the margin.

His eyes widen.

“The Chairman left himself a back door.”

“He didn’t trust his successors.”

“He didn’t trust anyone.”

Fathom enters the first sequence.

The purge timer slows.

Three minutes, fifty seconds.

Then stops.

For one heartbeat.

A second authorization window opens.

EXECUTIVE COUNCIL CONFIRMATION REQUIRED.

Mac sees it.

Only the color leaves his face.

“What?” Rook asks.

“The executive succession system.”

“Can you access it?”

“Only senior members had authority.”

Evie searches the journal.

A folded document is hidden inside the back cover.

I pull it free.

Three signatures appear beneath its title.

EXECUTIVE EMERGENCY SUCCESSION ORDER.

Charles Whitmore.

Victor Kane.

Mac Stenson.

Mac stares at his name.

“I never signed this.”

Fathom examines the document. “The signature is authentic.”

“They must have taken it from another order.”