Chapter 904

The rescue operation had been a success.

The extraction had also gone smoothly.

In fact, everyone involved had managed to leave the ship safely—including the enemy.

Not a single hostile operative had been captured.

By the time Captain America and the others boarded their aircraft, there was little sense of accomplishment. The mission had technically succeeded, but the mood aboard the Quinjet was decidedly grim.

Still, there was work to be done.

Natasha immediately took a seat at the onboard computer and established a private connection with Nick Fury to report the mission’s results.

Steve knew she had been assigned a separate objective, so he led the other operatives away to give her some privacy.

The connection was established almost instantly.

Fury had clearly been waiting.

The screen went black for a moment before his familiar face appeared.

Natasha began by confirming that both objectives had been completed: the hostages had been rescued, and the intelligence aboard the vessel had been copied successfully.

However, the moment she began describing the details and mentioned Umbrella, Fury interrupted her.

"Report everything when you return. In person. My office."

The screen went dark.

Fury disconnected.

By the following morning, the team had returned to S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters aboard their Quinjet.

As promised, Natasha went directly to Fury’s office.

She gave him a detailed account of everything that had happened aboard the vessel, including the pirates, Umbrella’s involvement, Sarah’s appearance, and the mysterious assassin who had seemingly returned from the dead.

Throughout the report, Natasha maintained the discipline expected of a senior intelligence operative.

She presented the facts without offering unnecessary speculation.

When she finished, she placed the USB drive containing the recovered intelligence on Fury’s desk.

Fury didn’t immediately pick it up.

For some time, he’d been uneasy about the situation surrounding the Lemurian Star.

Something about Project Insight had never sat right with him. He couldn’t identify the exact problem, but his instincts kept telling him that the operation concealed something dangerous.

Unfortunately, instinct wasn’t evidence.

He couldn’t explain precisely what bothered him, let alone prove it.

There was, however, a well-known principle in intelligence work:

If something could go wrong, eventually it probably would.

That was why he’d ordered Natasha to retrieve a copy of the information aboard the ship.

Under normal circumstances, Fury would have immediately connected the drive to his computer and examined its contents.

This time, he simply sat behind his desk.

His single eye remained fixed on the USB drive.

He didn’t move.

His thoughts were racing.

The pirates’ involvement wasn’t what concerned him. He knew perfectly well why they’d attacked the vessel.

He had hired them.

The entire operation had been arranged to provide cover for Natasha’s intelligence-gathering mission.

But Umbrella’s unexpected appearance was another matter entirely.

The conclusion was almost unavoidable.

Project Insight had been compromised.

The only question was how.

Several people knew that Project Insight existed, but most of them knew little beyond its name. The actual details were restricted to a much smaller circle.

Who had access to those details?

The World Security Council immediately came to mind.

Its members were career bureaucrats with extensive political connections and complicated personal networks. Unlike professional intelligence officers, they had never undergone the same rigorous security training.

They were, by far, the weakest link in the confidentiality chain.

But...

No.

Fury slowly shook his head.

The council might have been the easiest target, but its members didn’t know everything.

They understood the broad outline of Project Insight, not its technical details. More importantly, they had no knowledge of the relationship between the Lemurian Star and the project itself.

Who else knew the entire plan?

Who had coordinated every detail?

Apart from Fury himself, there was only one person who possessed that level of knowledge.

The people aboard the ship?

No. They were technicians. Even Agent Sitwell, who had joined the vessel later, had no idea what he was actually supporting.

The personnel involved in the operation hadn’t known the secret.

Fury’s expression darkened.

If he hadn’t leaked the information, and the people aboard the ship hadn’t known it, then only one possibility remained.

He slowly turned his gaze toward the window.

It couldn’t have been him... could it?

Across the same building, Alexander Pierce was experiencing a very similar headache.

He sat behind his desk with both hands covering his face while listening to the reports from Brock Rumlow and Agent Sitwell.

Every sentence made the veins on his forehead stand out a little more.

By the time the two men finished, Pierce was struggling to contain his anger.

"How?"

He slowly lowered his hands.

"How did Umbrella’s people get aboard that ship? And how did they learn about our secrets?"

The pirate incident could wait.

Umbrella was the real problem.

It was an enormous organization with resources Pierce could scarcely estimate, and its sudden appearance aboard the Lemurian Star was deeply troubling.

If Umbrella had discovered the connection between the vessel and Project Insight, then HYDRA’s most important undertaking in decades was already compromised.

Yet Pierce, like Fury, had absolutely no idea how the information had leaked.

"Sir..."

Rumlow stood with his hands clasped behind his back.

His military bearing remained impeccable, but his speech was unusually hesitant.

"There was someone among the Umbrella personnel we encountered who was... rather unusual."

Pierce looked up.

"What do you mean?"

"She could come back from the dead."

"Come back from the dead?"

Pierce studied him.

"Are you certain?"

"Yes, sir. I saw it myself."

"Then can you confirm she was actually dead? Could she simply have been severely wounded, and you failed to recognize it?"

"I don’t believe so."

Rumlow’s expression tightened.

"I’m confident in my shooting. I personally put a bullet into her chest. It should have destroyed her heart."

Pierce’s eyes immediately darkened.

Sitwell seized the opportunity to ask a question.

"Could her heart have been on the right side?"

He hesitated.

"I realize that sounds like something out of a movie, but it’s not entirely impossible."

"That wouldn’t have helped her."

Rumlow shook his head.

"The bullet entered horizontally and passed straight through her chest. Even if her heart had been in the center, it would still have been destroyed. I also checked afterward. She was unquestionably dead."

Pierce slowly leaned back in his chair.

His expression became difficult to read.

"And what exactly are you suggesting?"

"I..."

Rumlow hesitated.

"I honestly don’t know what to make of it. I’ve never seen anything like it. A soldier who was unquestionably dead suddenly got back up and started fighting again."

A dead soldier who returned to life...

Pierce’s lips twisted into an unsettling smile.

His gaze slowly shifted toward Sitwell.

"Project Deathlok..."

The implication was immediate.

Sitwell’s eyes widened.

"John Garrett..."

Then he shook his head.

"No. Wait."

He looked back at Rumlow.

"You confirmed that the woman was dead, so you must have identified her afterward. Did you find anything?"

"Noriko Sato."

Rumlow lowered his eyes, adopting the expression of a man who was merely delivering the facts and had no intention of getting involved in the conclusions.

"According to the information I found, she’s a nineteen-year-old foreign student with connections to organized crime in Japan."

"I remember her."

Sitwell thought for a moment.

As an administrative intelligence officer, he was familiar with many of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s recruitment records.

"She was one of the candidates S.H.I.E.L.D. once considered recruiting. She was eventually rejected."

He paused.

"The agent responsible for evaluating her was..."

His expression changed.

"John Garrett."

BANG!

Pierce slammed both hands against his desk and shot to his feet.

His expression twisted with barely contained fury.

His pale hair seemed almost to stand on end.

"Well. Well..."

He repeated the words, his voice dangerously quiet.

For several seconds, he remained standing.

Then, slowly, he sat back down.

The anger hadn’t disappeared, but he’d managed to regain control of himself.

He raised one hand and rubbed his temples, thinking.

"However..."

Sitwell swallowed.

He deliberately adopted an anxious expression, his voice trembling slightly as he continued.

"Although the evidence seems to point toward John Garrett, isn’t it a little too convenient?"

He looked between Pierce and Rumlow.

"Everything fits almost perfectly. It feels as though someone arranged it this way."

"Hmm?"

Pierce’s gaze snapped toward him.

A cold glint flashed in his remaining patience.

Was Sitwell defending Garrett?

But the suspicion lasted only an instant.

Pierce was an experienced political operator. He understood the importance of keeping his emotions under control.

And Sitwell had a point.

The circumstances were almost suspiciously convenient.

He couldn’t afford to let anger cloud his judgment.

"Furthermore, we’ve had no contact with John Garrett since the incident some time ago," Sitwell continued, encouraged by Pierce’s silence.

"He hasn’t received any of the latest information. He certainly knows about Project Insight, but he doesn’t know about the connection between the Lemurian Star and the project."

Sitwell stopped.

His expression suddenly went pale.

"Unless..."

He looked at Pierce.

"Could Umbrella have been targeting the Lemurian Star itself rather than Project Insight?"

The suggestion sounded absurd at first.

After all, the ship was one of the most important components of Project Insight. How could the two be treated as separate matters?

But there was a possible explanation.

Umbrella might not have known about the connection.

Perhaps they’d simply discovered that the Lemurian Star was an unusually important vessel and decided to investigate it independently.

Pierce’s expression shifted.

"That transfer order..."

He began speaking, then abruptly stopped.

His mouth remained slightly open.

The words wouldn’t come.

Sitwell had been reassigned to the Lemurian Star under an official transfer order.

Pierce himself had issued it.

And he’d used the regular administrative channels.

The order had eventually been delivered to Sitwell by Victoria Hand.

At the time, they had all been gathered together discussing the hunt for the Clairvoyant.

John Garrett had been present.

He must have overheard the conversation.

Garrett hadn’t known about the connection between the Lemurian Star and Project Insight, but he’d learned that the vessel was important enough to command the personal attention of the S.H.I.E.L.D. director.

That alone suggested something valuable was aboard.

And if Garrett had wanted to earn favor with his new employers, reporting the existence of such a vessel would have been an excellent opportunity.

But the fault ultimately lay with Pierce.

He had issued the order carelessly, at the wrong time, through the wrong channels.

He had practically handed Garrett the information.

And even if Umbrella hadn’t known about Project Insight before boarding the ship, they almost certainly knew now.

Pierce closed his eyes.

The situation was becoming worse by the minute.

"There’s another possibility."

Rumlow suddenly spoke.

Until now, everyone’s suspicions had centered on John Garrett.

But something else had occurred to him.

"What if Nick Fury arranged the entire operation?"

Pierce turned toward him.

"Fury?"

He considered the suggestion.

Unlike Garrett, Fury possessed complete knowledge of Project Insight. If someone had leaked the plan to Umbrella, Fury certainly had the necessary information.

But...

"Are you suggesting that Nick Fury is working with Umbrella?"

"Not necessarily."

Rumlow shook his head.

"But I don’t think we can rule it out."

He spoke with the confidence of someone accustomed to operating in the field.

"I’ve spent a lot of time carrying out missions personally assigned by Fury. I know what kind of man he is."

He paused.

"Take the black operation I participated in Afghanistan. We cooperated with local terrorists to accomplish our objective. Once the mission was complete, we simply turned our weapons on them and eliminated them."

Rumlow shrugged.

"Fury is perfectly capable of working with an enemy if it serves his interests."

He continued.

"There’s another suspicious detail. After we boarded the ship, Black Widow disappeared for a while. None of us knew what she was doing."

His expression hardened.

"Think about it. This was a rescue operation. Captain America and our strike team were more than sufficient. Why was Natasha involved?"

He answered his own question.

"She’s an intelligence operative. A direct assault isn’t her specialty. Her real strengths are infiltration, recruitment, and..."

He looked at Pierce.

"Information theft."

Pierce said nothing.

"We kept a great deal of Project Insight’s details from Fury, but how can we be certain we actually succeeded?"

Rumlow continued.

"He might have discovered something on his own. Perhaps he noticed inconsistencies, or perhaps his instincts simply told him that something was wrong."

He spread his hands.

"Then he secretly contacted Umbrella and arranged this operation. Black Widow could retrieve the intelligence without anyone suspecting that Fury was involved."

Rumlow paused.

"After all, who would ever suspect the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. of cooperating with Umbrella?"

Pierce slowly stood up.

He walked toward the window, turning his back to the two men.

For a moment, he simply stared outside.

"Honestly, Rumlow..."

His voice carried a bitter trace of amusement.

"I almost hope you’re right."

The two men exchanged confused looks.

"Sir?"

"Why?"

Pierce gave a faint, humorless smile.

"Because if Fury didn’t arrange this, and he doesn’t know anything about John Garrett, then he has only two possible suspects who knew the entire plan."

He paused.

"Himself..."

Another pause.

"And me."

Pierce turned his head slightly.

"If he knows he didn’t leak the information, then who do you think he’ll suspect?"

The answer was obvious.

"Me."

He looked back toward the window.

"Until now, I’ve been able to sit comfortably in this office because Fury trusts me. Our relationship has been close enough that he never considered the possibility."

His expression darkened.

"But if he begins to suspect me, he’ll investigate. That’s simply the kind of man he is."

Pierce let out a quiet, bitter laugh.

"And given his abilities..."

He shook his head.

"Well, you can imagine how that might turn out."

"Th-then what should we do?"

Rumlow and Sitwell exchanged alarmed looks.

Both had spent years working under Fury. They might have belonged to a different faction, but neither underestimated the director.

Fury was an exceptionally capable intelligence officer.

Even with S.H.I.E.L.D. thoroughly infiltrated by HYDRA, he might not uncover the entire conspiracy.

But he could certainly discover that something was wrong with Project Insight.

And once he did, he might be able to stop it.

The consequences would be catastrophic.

"Sitwell."

Pierce suddenly spoke.

His voice had become remarkably calm.

"Zola’s algorithm. Is it functioning correctly?"

"Yes, sir."

Sitwell nodded immediately.

"There’s no problem. By the time Umbrella arrived, we’d already launched the final satellite. They had no opportunity to interfere with the deployment."

He continued.

"I also compared the current data with the original records. Everything matches. There have been no alterations."

"Good."

Pierce nodded.

For the first time since the meeting began, he seemed genuinely composed.

The pieces were falling into place.

Project Insight was nearly complete.

There was no reason to let their enemies dictate the pace of events.

"Then we don’t need to worry about it anymore."

Pierce turned away from the window.

"Whether Umbrella has discovered our plans or Fury has begun to suspect something, we cannot afford to give him the opportunity to interfere."

His voice hardened.

"Accelerate every stage of the operation. All remaining schedules are to be moved forward."

He paused.

Then his expression softened.

A warm, almost grandfatherly smile appeared on his face as he looked at the two men.

"We’ve spent long enough hiding in the darkness."

He spread his hands slightly.

"It’s time to step into the light."

His smile remained.

"And that curtain hanging over our heads..."

His eyes narrowed.

"If something stands between us and the future, tear it down."

HYDRA’s time was almost at hand.