Episode 25: Project Nightfall

The first bullet struck the steel door before anyone could reach it.

BANG!

Elena flinched.

Another followed.

Then another.

The facility's emergency lights came alive, bathing the corridor in crimson.

Matthew grabbed Elena's arm.

“Down!”

Adrian moved in front of her.

“Everyone behind the console.”

Victor looked toward the entrance.

“How many?”

Richard listened.

“Too many.”

Claire stared at the symbol still glowing on the screen.

“They found us.”

Elena looked at her.

“Who?”

Claire's face had gone pale.

“The people the Covenant was built to stop.”

A violent explosion shook the building.

The lights went out.

For several seconds, there was only darkness.

Then Elena heard footsteps.

Not hurried.

Not chaotic.

Disciplined.

Dozens of them.

Adrian whispered:

“They're coming.”

Elena looked around.

“What exactly are we dealing with?”

Matthew's answer was barely audible.

“Nightfall.”

The Enemy Behind the Enemy

A steel security door at the far end of the corridor suddenly unlocked.

Richard stared at it.

“That shouldn't be possible.”

Victor gave a humorless smile.

“Apparently someone has access.”

Adrian raised his weapon.

“Who?”

Richard looked at Elena.

“Nightfall isn't a criminal organization.”

“Then what is it?”

“A private intelligence network.”

Elena frowned.

“Like the Covenant?”

“No.”

Richard shook his head.

“The Covenant manipulated systems.”

He looked toward the door.

“Nightfall manipulates people.”

Elena's stomach tightened.

“How powerful?”

Claire answered.

“Governments have unknowingly carried out their instructions.”

Matthew added:

“Corporations have destroyed competitors because of them.”

Richard's voice became darker.

“Entire investigations have disappeared because Nightfall decided they shouldn't exist.”

Elena understood.

“And the Covenant existed to stop them.”

Richard nodded.

“Eventually.”

Victor stepped forward.

“That's the lie we've all believed.”

Everyone looked at him.

Victor pointed at the screen.

“Look at the date.”

Elena turned.

The Project Nightfall file displayed an old timestamp.

1998.

Victor continued.

“The Covenant didn't exist to stop Nightfall.”

He looked at Richard.

“It existed because Nightfall created the Covenant.”

Silence.

Elena stared at Richard.

“Is that true?”

Richard said nothing.

That was enough.

The Original War

Elena turned toward her mother.

“You knew.”

Claire nodded.

“Yes.”

“You all knew.”

“Yes.”

“And nobody thought I deserved to know?”

Claire looked at her.

“You were a child.”

“I grew up.”

“I know.”

“You still lied.”

Claire's eyes lowered.

“I was afraid.”

Elena shook her head.

“Fear seems to be everyone's favorite excuse.”

A loud crash came from the corridor.

Adrian looked toward the door.

“We can argue later.”

He checked his weapon.

“We need an exit.”

Matthew nodded.

“There is one.”

“Where?”

“Below us.”

Richard immediately objected.

“No.”

Matthew looked at him.

“You know another way?”

Richard's expression hardened.

“The lower tunnels were sealed twenty years ago.”

Matthew smiled bitterly.

“Then you haven't been keeping up.”

He pulled a small key from his pocket.

“The tunnels aren't sealed.”

He looked at Elena.

“Your father made sure of that.”

The Woman in White

The security door exploded inward.

Three armed figures entered.

They wore black tactical clothing with no insignia.

Adrian fired once.

The first attacker dropped.

The second disappeared behind a pillar.

Victor fired.

The second fell.

The third didn't shoot.

She simply stood in the doorway.

A woman.

Tall.

Composed.

Wearing a white coat over black clothing.

She looked almost completely out of place among the destruction.

Her eyes went directly to Elena.

“Hello.”

Elena raised her weapon.

“Who are you?”

The woman smiled.

“Someone who has been looking for you since before you were born.”

Matthew stepped forward.

“Don't.”

The woman's expression changed.

“Matthew Cross.”

She said his name like an old acquaintance.

“You're still alive.”

Matthew's grip tightened.

“So are you.”

The woman looked at Elena again.

“Unfortunately.”

Adrian moved closer to Elena.

“Name.”

The woman smiled.

“Dr. Evelyn Ash.”

Elena's heart skipped.

She had seen that name.

Not in the Covenant files.

In her own investigation.

An anonymous researcher who had disappeared from public records twenty-five years earlier.

“You worked on Project Custodian.”

Evelyn nodded.

“I designed the original neurological model.”

Mara looked at her.

“You experimented on me.”

Evelyn's expression remained calm.

“Yes.”

Mara's face hardened.

“Then you should be afraid.”

Evelyn smiled.

“I am.”

The Truth About Mara

Evelyn walked slowly into the room.

No one fired.

Not yet.

She looked at Mara.

“You survived longer than anyone expected.”

Mara glared.

“You're disappointed?”

“No.”

Evelyn's voice softened.

“I'm relieved.”

Mara looked confused.

“Why?”

“Because you're the only one who can tell Elena what really happened.”

Elena's pulse quickened.

“What?”

Evelyn turned toward her.

“The Covenant's intelligence wasn't the first system connected to Mara.”

Matthew's face changed.

“Stop.”

Evelyn ignored him.

“There was an earlier network.”

Elena stared.

“Nightfall?”

“No.”

Evelyn shook her head.

“Something older.”

Victor stepped forward.

“What are you talking about?”

Evelyn looked at him.

“You were never told.”

Victor's expression darkened.

“Told what?”

“That Nightfall didn't create the Covenant.”

She looked at Elena.

“And the Covenant didn't create Nightfall.”

Elena's mind raced.

“Then who did?”

Evelyn smiled faintly.

“That is why Project Nightfall was activated.”

The Lower Tunnels

Matthew suddenly grabbed Elena's hand.

“Enough.”

He pulled her toward a concealed panel.

“Move.”

Adrian followed.

Claire, Mara and Victor came behind them.

Richard remained where he was.

Adrian stopped.

“Father.”

Richard shook his head.

“Go.”

Adrian stared at him.

“I'm not leaving you.”

Richard looked at his son.

“You have to.”

“Why?”

Richard's expression softened.

“Because someone has to slow them down.”

Adrian stepped toward him.

“No.”

Richard placed a hand on his shoulder.

“For once, let me do something right.”

Adrian hesitated.

Elena watched the exchange.

Then she touched Adrian's arm.

“We have to go.”

He looked at her.

His eyes were filled with anger and fear.

Then he nodded.

Richard opened the panel.

The tunnel beyond was dark.

“Go.”

They entered.

The door closed behind them.

Seconds later, gunfire erupted above.

Adrian stopped.

“Dad.”

Elena took his hand.

“He knew what he was doing.”

Adrian stared at the closed door.

Then he forced himself forward.

The Recording

The tunnel ended at a small underground chamber.

An old projector activated automatically.

A woman's recorded voice filled the room.

Claire.

Elena looked at her mother.

“You recorded this?”

Claire shook her head.

“No.”

The recording continued.

“If you're hearing this, the Covenant has failed.”

Elena's blood chilled.

Claire looked at the screen.

Her younger self appeared.

Twenty-four years earlier.

She was sitting beside Matthew.

Both looked exhausted.

The younger Claire spoke.

“The Covenant was never designed to defeat Nightfall.”

Elena stared.

“It was designed to contain it.”

The recording changed.

Images appeared.

A symbol.

The same symbol Elena had seen earlier.

Then seven names.

But there were eight lines.

The eighth was empty.

Younger Matthew spoke.

“We don't know who leads them.”

Claire nodded.

“But we know what they want.”

The screen displayed:

PROJECT NIGHTFALL

OBJECTIVE: LOCATE THE ORIGINAL HOST

Elena frowned.

“Original host?”

Mara suddenly whispered:

“No.”

Everyone turned toward her.

She was staring at the screen.

“I know that symbol.”

Elena looked at her.

“From where?”

Mara's face had gone white.

“My childhood.”

The Memory

Mara closed her eyes.

“I was six.”

Her voice trembled.

“There was a room beneath the old facility.”

She swallowed.

“There was a man there.”

Victor frowned.

“What man?”

“I never saw his face.”

Mara pressed a hand against her temple.

“He spoke to me through a glass wall.”

“What did he say?”

Mara looked at Elena.

“He said I wasn't the first.”

Elena's stomach dropped.

“The first what?”

“Listener.”

The projector flickered.

The recording continued.

Claire's younger voice:

“If Nightfall finds the original host, they won't need the Covenant.”

Elena stared.

“Why?”

Claire's younger self looked directly into the camera.

“Because the original host can control the network without connecting to it.”

Adrian slowly turned toward Elena.

“You.”

Elena shook her head.

“No.”

Mara whispered:

“Not Elena.”

Everyone looked at her.

Mara's eyes were fixed on the screen.

“The original host.”

She pointed toward the empty eighth line.

“It's someone else.”

The Eighth Name

The projector displayed the eight founding positions again.

Seven names.

One blank.

Then the blank began filling.

Letter by letter.

M

A

T

T

H

E

W

C

R

O

S

S

Elena stared.

Her father's name.

Matthew stepped backward.

“No.”

Claire looked at him.

“Matthew…”

“I didn't know.”

Evelyn's voice suddenly came through the chamber speakers.

“You were never supposed to.”

Everyone spun around.

Her voice continued.

“The original host wasn't Mara.”

Mara's face went pale.

“It wasn't Elena either.”

Elena stared at the speaker.

“Then who?”

A pause.

Evelyn answered:

“Matthew Cross.”

Elena looked at her father.

He couldn't speak.

Adrian stared at him.

“My father?”

Matthew shook his head.

“I don't remember.”

Evelyn laughed softly.

“That's because they removed the memories.”

Matthew's face suddenly twisted with pain.

He grabbed his head.

Images flashed across the projector.

Matthew.

A laboratory.

A young Evelyn.

Claire.

A much younger Richard.

And a child.

A little girl.

Mara.

Then another image.

Matthew holding newborn Elena.

And behind him—

a symbol.

The Nightfall symbol.

Elena whispered:

“Dad…”

Matthew looked at her.

Tears filled his eyes.

“I remember.”

The chamber went silent.

“What?”

He stared at Elena.

“I remember why I disappeared.”

Adrian stepped forward.

“Why?”

Matthew's voice broke.

“Because I wasn't running from the Covenant.”

He looked toward the projector.

“I was running from Nightfall.”

A final image appeared.

Matthew standing before eight people.

One of them was Evelyn.

Another was Claire.

Another was Richard.

And the eighth figure was hidden in darkness.

Matthew whispered:

“They weren't hunting me.”

Elena's heart pounded.

“Then who were they hunting?”

Matthew looked directly at her.

“You.”

The lights went out.

And from somewhere deep beneath the facility came a sound Elena had never heard before.

A child's laughter.