Leaving the facility was easy. All he needed to do was get into his car and drive away as police cars sped past him to the scene of a concluded conflict. But by then, it was already impossible to contain the news. Neshoba knew it was only a matter of time before someone connected the dots between the multiple murders, dead mercs, and battles across the southern states, and that one person was involved in all of it. News outlets call into question why these secret battles were happening across the United States of America. People demanded answers and wondered why so many deaths were going on. But all they could get was silence. The world wasn’t ready for the truth, nor were they prepared for the horror that was Jackson’s surprising return.

  But after finding shelter in a dingy motel with the document on the bed, he sat down and contemplated. Neshoba tried to understand what he should do next, what the best course of action he should take. That if it was really worth going through it to see the truth and what was going on.

  He figured that Jackson’s return was a symptom, not the problem. As there was proof that Brian was involved in Jackson’s containment and attempted murder, he concluded that the first target Jackson murdered, Danial Sean, was also a former member of MODOC.

  Yet the question remained. Why was Brian alive in the first place? How could an organisation that went against the Order have members who survived the purge, still be breathing? The Order wasn’t known for mercy or giving people second chances when they went against their directives. They never liked taking that sort of risk. It also didn’t make sense as to why the council would give him the order to cease his hunt for Jackson. That was doubly strange and out of the ordinary.

  Unless it was all part of the plan. Well, not a plan, as it was clear that Jackson’s return was not intentional. There was no reason to keep him imprisoned with the clear intention of leaving him to rot, only to utilise him almost a century later. But even if there was no intention for his survival, Jackson was still a weapon. To Neshoba, it had to be a deliberate attempt to cause destruction, to kill what could be the last surviving members of MODOC. Something the reptile would be perfect at.

  All of it must be approved by someone high up in the Order, perhaps even the council. Why they would allow for such open destruction and risk of exposing the existence of horrors to humanity is unknown. Downright insanity, if he could say so himself. But one thing was clear: someone allowed it to happen. He just needed the why.

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  Though there was a catch, what if he was wrong? What if the answers he was seeking would only cause more harm than good? There was danger in knowledge, a risk that was ingrained in him when he was just a child, to avoid looking too deeply into things that the Order wouldn’t want him to venture into. Maybe there was a grand plan to it all. Perhaps there was a reason they let the reptile go on his massacre.

  ‘So, we got the document. What now?’ Claire said through Neshoba’s earpiece.

  ‘I’m not sure,’ Neshoba admitted. ‘This isn’t easy, going against the Order. Even if we are uncovering something, none of this sits right with me as I feel I am going against what I stand for.’

  ‘Don’t tell me you are getting cold feet after getting this far?’

  ‘It isn’t that. I…’ He stopped himself, realising that there was no point in making any excuses. ‘We are both at risk, you are at risk. We are going into this blind, and there is a chance that I might be wrong. The thought is uncomfortable, to put it kindly.’

  ‘But what if you are right? What if the whole thing reeks of something nefarious?’

  ‘That is worse. Because it means the Order is corrupted from the inside without us even noticing it.’ Neshoba pondered for a moment, calculating the risks of going against the Order he had loyally followed ever since he was born. ‘Claire, I need your input on something.’

  Claire chuckled. ‘That is a first in a long time. You must be desperate.’

  Neshoba smiled, amused by Claire’s attempts to lighten the mood and soothe his worries. ‘Tell me, is it worth it?’

  As he asked that question, Claire went silent. Even she had doubts about their investigation and about going rogue. To them, the Order was their lives, and an incorruptible force of good that humanity needed to survive in an uncaring universe. But there were signs of corruption, something that violated the sanctity of what the Order represented. At first, it was easy to try to sniff out evil from within, but as they looked deeper into it, the more they realised there was more to the whole story.

  However, Neshoba wasn’t asking if the investigation was worth it. They both knew it was. What he really wanted, what he needed to hear from her, was whether they should break their idea of what the Order represented. He was asking for permission to kill what he believed his world was meant to be, so he could stop the madness before the world realised what was about to happen.

  ‘Yes,’ Claire responded with a heavy breath. ‘I think it is worth it. Even if we could be wrong in the end.’

  Neshoba sighed and spoke to himself, ‘thank you.’