Page 83 of Silent Target

FIRST CIRCLE CANDIDATE—RECRUITMENT UNSUCCESSFUL.

Evie looks from the photograph to me. “Your father knew about them.”

“No.”

“You can’t be sure.”

“He would have told me.”

Mac pushes away from the tree. “Not if telling you would put you on their list.”

Fathom scrolls farther.

Another document appears.

This one is recent.

My photograph fills the page.

Below it is a complete history of my military career, every classified operation, every confirmed kill, and every member of my family.

Across the top, someone has stamped one word in red.

LEGACY.

A sound moves through the trees behind us.

Dozens of boots.

The federal teams have reached the ridge.

Rook lifts his weapon.

Cobra and Fathom do the same.

Evie releases my hand and draws her pistol.

I stare at my father’s photograph for one final second.

Walter Graves didn’t choose this listening station merely because it held the First Circle archive.

He chose it because of me.

And somewhere inside the organization, someone has been waiting years for Caleb McDougal to come looking for the truth.

16

EVIE

Dozens of boots move through the forest.

Caleb closes Fathom’s tablet, hiding the photograph of his father.

No one has time to ask what the word LEGACY means.

Branches snap above us.

A voice carries across the ridge.