Page 378 of Broken Oath

“Madow divides people. He turns trust into suspicion and love into leverage. It’s how Project Nightfall survived.”

“You still haven’t answered the question,” Wade said.

“No.”

Dad looked at him.

“And you deserve the truth.”

Madow’s laughter stopped.

Dad leaned forward, resting his forearms on his knees.

“Project Nightfall didn’t begin as a prison program. It began as an off-book intelligence group created to identify threats inside our own government.”

Rook stood near the open cabin door, listening.

“Who created it?” he asked.

“Eight senior officials. Military, intelligence, and political.”

My stomach tightened.

“The eight people on my list.”

Dad nodded.

“At first, their mission was legitimate. At least that was how they sold it. They claimed existing agencies were too compromised to investigate corruption at the highest levels.”

“What changed?” Wade asked.

“Power.”

Dad’s expression hardened.

“They stopped investigating threats and started deciding who qualified as one. Anyone who questioned them became an enemy. Operators disappeared. Evidence was altered. Missions were designed to fail.”

Wade looked toward the ruins of the mountain behind us.

“And the prison?”

“Containment. Interrogation. Leverage.” Dad’s voice roughened. “A place to bury anyone who knew too much.”

“Where do you fit into this?” I asked.

Dad looked at me.

“I found them.”

The answer surprised everyone.

“Twenty-three years ago, I was assigned to investigate a series of compromised operations. Different countries. Different teams. The only connection was that each mission exposed corruption involving powerful American officials.”

“You discovered Nightfall,” Rook said.

“The earliest version of it.”

Dad nodded slowly.