Page 196 of Silent Target

I search faster.

Pages slip beneath my fingers.

Budgets.

Assignments.

Recruitment lists.

A folded document rests inside the back cover.

I remove it.

EXECUTIVE EMERGENCY SUCCESSION ORDER.

Three signatures appear beneath it.

Charles Whitmore.

Victor Kane.

Mac Stenson.

Mac takes the paper from me.

“I never signed this.”

Fathom examines it. “The signature is real.”

“They copied it from another document,” I say.

Mac’s hand tightens around the page.

“He planned for my return.”

“No,” I tell him. “He planned for your obedience.”

The distinction lands hard.

Whitmore never trusted Mac.

He believed guilt would eventually make Mac surrender.

The demolition timer reaches five minutes, forty seconds.

Mac stands in front of the scanner.

“I don’t deserve this authority.”

Rook moves beside him.

“This isn’t about deserving it.”

Mac looks at him.

“It’s about ending it.”

Mac presses his palm against the black glass.