Page 234 of Broken Oath

25

ROOK

Project Nightfall didn’t exist.

Officially.

Fathom searched military databases.

Intelligence archives.

Defense contracts.

Black-budget programs.

Nothing.

Not a single current reference.

Not one complete historical record.

Someone had removed an entire project.

That required more than high clearance.

It required control over the people who maintained the system.

“Everything leaves a footprint,” Cobra said.

“Yes,” Fathom answered.

“So where is this one?”

“Inside whatever survived on the cargo ship.”

He isolated the damaged Nightfall files from the wider network.

“Searching conventional databases may alert whoever erased it. I’m staying inside the offline copies.”

Rook approved.

The less the conspiracy knew, the better.

Fathom reconstructed fragments while the team continued preparing for Canada.

Shark tested the long-range radios with his uninjured hand.

Reef arranged transportation from the landing zone.

Falcon studied the private airstrip and marked probable guard positions.

Cutter entered with winter flight charts.

“The pilot is ready,” he said. “Storm clears enough for takeoff in four hours.”

“We leave as soon as it does.”

“Canadian contact will have two vehicles waiting at the landing strip.”