Thomas failed.
“Elena helped me escape, but only because she wanted leverage against her father.”
Marcus listened intensely.
“Afterward, I learned something worse.”
Another pause.
“Meridian was not created by Vale.”
Alexander looked at Marcus.
“Then who?”
The answer came from the tape.
“It was created by Colonel Richard Brooks. Our father.”
Alexander nearly dropped the recorder.
My heart stopped.
Sofia whispered, “Grandpa?”
Daniel’s voice continued.
“Vale inherited it. Father built it.”
Alexander sat down hard.
Everything he believed about his family had collapsed in a single sentence.
Daniel explained that Richard Brooks had created Meridian decades earlier as an unofficial network to move restricted surveillance systems into covert operations that could not be publicly funded.
What began as clandestine military work became corruption.
Private sales.
Hidden accounts.
Fraud.
Bribery.
And eventually m/u/rder.
“Our father wanted out before he d/i/ed,” Daniel said. “He created a master confession identifying everyone involved.”
