Failsafe

The file lay open on the table, pages scattered beneath the dim glow of the single light in Whitmore’s house. Jessica barely blinked as she flipped through them, her fingers tight around the edges of the paper. Nothing. No mention of her. She had been erased. Or rather, she had been removed.

Jessica exhaled sharply, tapping a page against the table. “You’re still hiding something.”

Whitmore sighed from across the room. “You already have your answers.”

Jessica’s gaze darkened. “Not all of them.”

The old scientist studied her for a long moment. Then, almost reluctantly, she spoke.

"Project Dominion wasn’t just about control. It was about contingency."

Jessica narrowed her eyes. “Explain.”

Whitmore leaned forward, folding her hands together. “Every compromised leader, every installed official, they all have a failsafe embedded in them.”

Jessica’s pulse jumped. “A kill switch.”

Whitmore nodded. “If activated, it erases them completely. No memories, no personality. Just an empty shell.”

The room went dead silent. Leanna’s expression hardened. Olivia paled. Jessica didn’t react. Not at first. She just let the words settle into her bones, pressing against everything she already knew about Vanguard.

They didn’t just control people. They had the power to unmake them.

Jessica’s voice came low and sharp. “Where is it?”

Whitmore’s lips barely moved. “Buried in the vault. In Rome. Right where you left it.”

Jessica’s hands curled into fists. She had been standing in front of it. And she hadn’t even known.

Jessica ran a hand through her hair, pacing the small room. Her mind was racing.

Olivia spoke first. “Jess… if you destroy it, they’ll still be out there. The Vanguard assets. The compromised leaders. They’ll stay in power.”

Leanna countered. “But if we don’t destroy it, someone else will use it. It’s a loaded gun waiting for a hand to pull the trigger.”

Jessica felt the weight of their words.

This wasn’t just another Vanguard facility. It wasn’t another lab or data center. This was the master key. The ability to erase entire people. For the first time in a long time, Jessica hesitated.

“If I do this… if I burn it…” she exhaled. “It means I can never take them down.”

Olivia’s silence was answer enough. Leanna crossed her arms, watching Jessica.

Leanna met her gaze. “That’s not true. It just means you don’t get the easy way.”

Jessica closed her eyes. This was what Vanguard was. Manipulation. Control. The illusion of choice. The ability to unmake a person with the push of a button.

She gripped the edge of the table.

“Then we burn it.”

* * *

Jessica wouldn’t destroy everything, not yet. She and Olivia went through the files. She removed everything that referenced herself. She removed everything that referenced anyone still alive. There were some things that didn’t need to be erased because they needed to be exposed. But Jessica was not about to let Vanguard take anyone else down with them.

Olivia stepped back from the stack, arms crossed. “You know, in another life, this would’ve been worth a Nobel and a bullet.”

Leanna glanced at her. “You still think it isn’t?”

Jessica stepped back from the pile of remaining files. Only what needed to burn remained.

Leanna watched her, eyes unreadable. “You could have kept it.”

Jessica shook her head. “I don’t want their power.”

She held up a lighter. “I just want them gone.”

She flicked it. The flame caught with a soft whisper. Paper curled, ink ran, secrets turned to smoke. Jessica didn’t look away. This wasn’t vengeance. It was reclamation.

* * *

The files were ash. The last remnants of Project Dominion’s failsafe was gone. Jessica stepped outside, watching the embers rise into the night. She gripped the pawn pendant around her neck. She wasn’t a pawn anymore. She exhaled. Steady. For the first time in a long time, she had made a choice that was truly hers.