Page 61 of Oliver

Oliver

Two Days After the Broadcast – Our Home, in Carlsbad Foothills

It started with a knock at the door.

Then came the letters.

Then the messages.

By noon, our secure communications were flooded—government contacts, media reps, survivors of other programs, activists, and strangers who had finally found someone to speak for them.

And in between the waves of support?

The threats.

Raven scanned the latest message, jaw tight. “This one says they know where she sleeps.”

Oliver snatched the phone from my hand. “They won’t get close.”

“Whoever’s left in Vale’s network just got scared,” Cyclone added from the corner. “They’re desperate.”

I looked over at Emery, curled up on the couch with Olly asleep in her lap. She was reading a hand-written letter from amother who lost her daughter to a similar trafficking scheme. Tears streamed silently down her cheeks.

“She knew,” Emery whispered, voice breaking. “She knew something was wrong. But no one believed her. They wouldn’t listen to her.”

I sat down next to her. “They’ll believe now.”

Emery looked up. “We can’t wait for another press cycle. Whoever’s still pulling the strings—they’re not done.”

She was right.

I knelt in front of her, taking her hands. “Then we don’t wait.”

Her eyes locked on mine. “Are you with me?”

“Always,” I said. “But this time,we bring the fight to them.No more running. No more hiding.”

She stood, voice steady. “Then it’s time I release the files. First, I’m putting Olly to bed.”

Cyclone’s head whipped up. “The encrypted drive? Are you telling us you’ve had them all this time?”

I didn’t know I had them until I was about to wash my swim bag and felt something tucked into the side of it. I don’t know how it got there; it had to have been one of the coaches.

“We let the public see it all. Redact what we must. But the system only changes when people force it to.”

Raven cracked his knuckles. “You realize that puts a target on your back bigger than ever.”

Emery didn’t even blink. “Then aim carefully, because I don’t break easy.”

The team went still.

Then, one by one, they nodded.

This was no longer a rescue mission.

It was a war for truth.

And we were done playing defense.

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