Chapter 10 - Fire Under Blackthorn.
Blackthorn Manor glowed orange against the night.
By the time Elena’s convoy arrived, firefighters had already surrounded the east wing.
Smoke rolled from a basement ventilation grate.
Marcus stared through the vehicle window.
“My servers.”
Elena looked at him.
“You mean the evidence.”
He did not answer.
Elias coordinated with the federal team while firefighters entered through the lower service entrance.
Daniel kept Elena back.
She could see the room where Marcus had once hosted investors.
She could see the staircase where he had pushed her.
Now flashing emergency lights painted everything red and blue.
It felt less like a home than a crime scene.
A fire captain approached Elias.
“The basement door was sealed electronically.”
“From inside?”
“Remote system.”
Marcus shook his head.
“Nolan.”
Elena turned.
“You keep saying his name as if it absolves you.”
“I’m trying to help.”
“No.”
“You’re trying to separate yourself from the machine you built.”
A firefighter carried out a melted storage rack.
Marcus visibly winced.
Elias noticed.
“Those aren’t your only copies.”
Marcus said nothing.
Elena saw it too.
“Where is the second site?”
“There isn’t one.”
She stepped closer.
“Marcus.”
His gaze flicked toward the west lawn.
The movement was tiny.
Daniel immediately signaled two agents.
They moved toward the old carriage house.
Marcus cursed.
“Stop.”
“What’s there?” Elena asked.
He stared at her.
“A cold archive.”
Elias’s expression turned grim.
“How much?”
“Everything before 2024.”
Elena almost smiled.
Marcus had been so obsessed with protecting himself from hackers that he had created the backup that might destroy him.
Agents entered the carriage house.
Minutes later, they found a concealed floor safe.
Inside were twelve encrypted drives.
One bore a handwritten label.
MERIDIAN.
Marcus looked defeated.
Then a firefighter shouted from the basement.
Everyone turned.
A man had been found unconscious near the server room.
He was not staff.
He carried no identification.
In his jacket was a key card registered to Celeste Monroe.
Sarah arrived with a federal escort.
She saw the man on the stretcher and stopped.
“I know him.”
Elena looked at her.
“Who?”
“Celeste’s brother.”
Marcus frowned.
“She has a brother?”
Sarah nodded.
“Evan Monroe.”
Elias’s face changed.
He remembered the name from North Meridian.
Evan had been seventeen when Adrian Monroe was indicted.
Now he was forty.
The old war had more survivors than anyone realized.
The paramedics stabilized him.
As they prepared to leave, Evan opened his eyes.
He saw Elena.
His hand shot out weakly and caught her wrist.
Daniel moved, but Elena stopped him.
Evan’s voice was barely audible.
“Not Nolan.”
Elena leaned closer.
“What?”
“Fire.”
He struggled to breathe.
“Not Nolan.”
“Who set it?”
Evan’s eyes moved toward Marcus.
Then toward Sarah.
His grip tightened.
“She did.”
Sarah stepped backward.
Elena turned slowly.
Sarah’s face had gone white.
Evan whispered one final word before losing consciousness.
May you like
“Sarah.”
For the second time that night, Elena’s closest witness became a suspect.
