"Fine. I'll work the evidence. But I want updates on everyone the Committee targets. Every name. Every casualty. I want to know exactly what my investigation costs."
"Agreed." Kane turns to me. "Keep her focused. Make sure she doesn't try any heroics. Tommy's running counter-surveillance but we have to assume the Committee's looking for digital signatures. Any communication Reagan sends could compromise this location."
"Understood."
Kane leaves. His boots echo down the hallway toward the command center.
Reagan stands there, glass still scattered around her feet, looking like she wants to punch something. Or someone. Probably me.
"This is what it costs." I keep my voice neutral. "People die. Investigations have casualties. You chose to dig into the Committee's operations knowing it would be dangerous. Started with Morrison's crimes, but the network is bigger than one man. Now you live with the consequences."
"Don't lecture me about consequences. I've been living with them for six months."
"Then you know this is part of the job." I start cleaning up the glass, giving her something concrete to focus on. "Committee escalates until they eliminate the threat or the threat eliminates them. We're past the point of warnings and intimidation. They're in full suppression mode now."
Reagan grabs a trash bag from the corner, starts helping with the cleanup. Her hands are steadier now.
"How do you live with it? Knowing people die because of what you do?"
"I don't. I just keep moving forward. Make sure their deaths accomplish something worth dying for."
"That's not an answer."
"It's the only answer that matters." I dump glass into the bag. "You can torture yourself with guilt or you can channel it into destroying the people responsible. One option is self-indulgent. The other gets results."
Reagan studies me like I'm a puzzle she's trying to solve. "You really are the monster they say you are."
"Yes. But I'm your monster now. And that means keeping you alive long enough to make Webb and the Committee pay for what Morrison did and what they are doing."
The hours crawl past. Reagan works the evidence with single-minded focus. I monitor her progress, make sure she doesn't access anything that compromises operational security. Kane checks in periodically with updates from Willa.
Dr. Patterson is stable. Gunshot wound to the shoulder. He'll survive.
The other two civilians are less lucky. One dead on scene. The other critical condition.
Reagan takes the news without visible reaction. Just adds the names to a document she's keeping. A casualty list. Everyone who's died because she asked questions the Committee wanted buried.
Hours later, I'm exhausted. Reagan should be too but she's still at the terminal, cross-referencing financial records against personnel files. Relentless.
I should let her work. Should get some sleep while Mercer has overwatch. But her focus is too intense. Obsessive.
I pull up the system logs. Check what files she's been accessing.
The logs show deletions.
She's not building the case anymore. She's deleting backups.
I'm across the room before I fully process what I'm seeing. Close the terminal window she's got open. Lock the system.
"What are you doing?"
Reagan spins to face me. Guilty. Defensive. "What I should have done months ago."
"You're destroying evidence."
"I'm destroying the digital trail that's getting people killed." Her voice is flat. Hard. "Every file I accessed tonight has left traces. Tommy can scrub databases but he can't erase everything. The Committee's following my investigation like breadcrumbs. Every source I contacted, every document I pulled, it all points back to the people who helped me."
"So you're going to delete the evidence that proves the Committee's crimes?"
