CHAPTER 2 – THE HIDDEN FILES

The hum of the helicopter was still ringing in my ears long after we landed.
They dragged me out blindfolded, wrists zip-tied, boots slipping on metal floors. The air smelled of jet fuel and salt.
Wherever we were, it wasn’t any base I recognized.

Someone barked an order. Hands shoved me forward, then down into a chair. The blindfold came off.

The room was white — too white. No markings, no insignia, not even a clock.
A camera blinked red in the corner.

Across the table sat a woman in a gray uniform, her expression unreadable. She was young, maybe thirty, with sharp eyes and a voice that carried command.

“Eli Morgan. Lieutenant, former SEAL Team Nine. You know why you’re here.”

I didn’t answer.

“You’ve been charged with treason. Espionage. Violation of national security protocol. The Admiral wants to see if you have anything to say before you’re transferred to Black Site Zero.”

Black Site Zero.
That name wasn’t supposed to exist outside classified briefings.
It meant I was never coming back.

“I want to speak to my father,” I said.

“That’s not possible.”

She slid a folder across the table. My file — stamped in red: TRAITOR – CLASSIFIED LEVEL OMEGA.

Photos spilled out: me shaking hands with diplomats, standing near supply crates, coded messages printed out from my own encrypted terminal.
Except I’d never sent those messages.

“This is fabricated,” I said quietly.

The woman raised a brow. “Then explain the data we found on your drive.”

“My drive was cloned. You’re chasing a ghost.”

She leaned back. “A ghost who happens to have your DNA, your signature, your clearance codes…”

I said nothing.
Silence, again, was my only weapon.

After a few seconds, she sighed and gathered the files. “You’ll be transferred within the hour.”

As she stood, she hesitated — just long enough for her voice to soften.

“For what it’s worth, not everyone believes the Admiral.”

My heart stopped for half a second.
“What do you mean?”

But she didn’t answer. The guards came back, blindfolded me again, and marched me through the cold corridors.

The next time the hood came off, I was inside a steel cell.
No windows. No light except the pulse of a blue strip running along the ceiling.
Every few seconds, it flickered — like a heartbeat.

The silence pressed on my ears until I could hear my own blood rushing.

Then, from the darkness beyond the door, a whisper.

“Eli…?”

I froze. That voice.
“Tessa?”

The door hissed open a few inches, just enough for me to see her silhouette — Tessa Quinn, intelligence analyst, my closest ally before everything went to hell.

She slipped inside, closing the door behind her. Her face was pale, eyes tired.
“You shouldn’t be here,” I whispered.

“Neither should you.”

She held up a small data drive, same model as mine.
“I pulled this from the Leviathan archive before they wiped it. You were right, Eli — your father’s signature is on every authorization document. He’s been selling off research data to a foreign contractor.”

“Which one?”

“The name’s redacted. But the payment route leads through private accounts — Cayman Islands, Zurich, then Washington.”

Of course it did. It was always bigger than one man.
Still, hearing her say it… it burned.

Tessa looked at me, her voice trembling.

“They’re planning to move you off-world. Black Site Zero isn’t on U.S. soil, Eli. It’s in the Pacific — experimental facility, zero oversight.”

“How long do I have?”

“An hour. Maybe less.”

She slid the drive into my palm. “This is your proof. Use it.”

“Where?” I asked. “Every network I had is gone. Every channel burned.”

“Not all of them. I left a backdoor on the SEAL tactical relay. Code Black protocol still exists — only your old team can receive it.”

I stared at her. “You expect me to call the same men who just arrested me?”

“They don’t know the truth. They think they’re following orders.”

She moved closer, eyes locked on mine. “Eli, if you still believe in the country you swore to protect — you have to show them who the real traitor is.”

Before I could answer, the door slammed open.
Two guards stormed in, rifles raised.

“Step back, Quinn!”

Tessa shoved the drive into my hand and turned — too late. One of the guards struck her with the butt of his gun.
She fell hard.

Something inside me snapped.
I lunged, headbutting the nearest soldier. The room exploded into chaos — shouts, gunfire, blinding flashes.
I don’t remember every move; training took over.

When it was over, both guards were down.
Blood on the floor. The alarms already blaring.

Tessa groaned, clutching her shoulder.
“Can you walk?” I asked.

“I’ve had worse,” she muttered, forcing a grin.

I grabbed a rifle, helped her up, and we staggered into the corridor. Red lights strobed across the metal walls.
Somewhere overhead, a voice shouted through the intercom:

“Containment breach! Morgan is loose! Lock down all exits!”

We ran.

The facility was a maze — glass labs, steel doors, endless hallways.
At every turn, more memories hit me: the same sterile architecture, the same security protocols.
This wasn’t just a prison. It was a research site.

Leviathan wasn’t a project. It was a place.

We reached a sealed blast door. I punched the panel, but it was locked.
Tessa moved beside me, plugging a cable from her wristband into the terminal.

“Two minutes,” she said through gritted teeth. “Buy me time.”

Footsteps thundered down the hall.
I aimed the rifle and exhaled slowly.

Three targets appeared.
Three shots.
Three bodies down.

Smoke filled the corridor, mixing with the hum of klaxons.

“Got it!” Tessa yelled.

The door slid open, revealing the launch pad beyond — an elevator shaft rising toward the surface.

We ran in.
The doors began to close — but not before I saw something through the gap.

A figure standing at the end of the corridor.
White uniform.
Cold, unreadable eyes.

My father.

“You can’t run from the truth forever, Eli,” his voice echoed through the comms. “You think you know what you’re fighting for — but you don’t.”

The doors sealed shut before I could answer.

The elevator roared upward, shaking with speed.
Beside me, Tessa clutched the data drive, blood streaking her hand.

I looked at her, then at the flashing light above.

“When we hit surface,” I said, “we call them.”

“Who?”

“SEAL Team Nine.”