SPLINTER CELL: MEGIDDO
Chapter 1— "Newton's Law"
Sam Fisher was inside the Paladin command center, looking at Grim, Charlie, Briggs, and Vic; they were all crowded around the SMI, talking to each other while using it.
"Grim, what's going on?" he asked.
Grim said to Briggs, "Sitrep on the Selection attacks?"
Briggs said, "We've got a minute left. Let's hope Sam reaches launch control in time."
"Selection attacks? What is that? Why haven't I heard about any of this?" asked Sam.
"Are you sure he's going to be okay out there on his own? Why don't you go with him, Briggs?" Charlie said. "You're the other field work guy, right?"
"'Field work guy?'" said Briggs, raising his eyebrows.
"Just keep an eye on his AO with the drone surveillance footage, Charlie," sighed Grim, "and leave Briggs' job to Briggs."
"Right… I'll do that," said Charlie, looking back at the SMI.
"I'm right here… What the fuck is going on?"
"I dunno, Sam's been pretty off lately, talking to me about his worries and whatnot. That's not like him." said Vic.
"Vic? What have I been talking to you about?" asked Sam.
"Your daughter, for one thing," said an unidentified yet familiar British voice that was loud enough for it to seem like the voice was speaking right next to him.
"Dad?" said Sarah, who was standing behind him.
"Sarah?" said Sam in disbelief as he turned around. The room became dark and blurry, but his team, Vic, Sarah, and the voice remained. "Sarah, what are you doing on the Paladin? You're supposed to be back—"
"Supposed to be back where?" said the voice. "Home? Have you ever really had one? Has Sarah ever had one either, Sam?"
"Dad, it's me," said Sarah.
"Remember all the times that she needed you? All the times that you weren't there for her? The times when she was kidnapped by your enemies, exposed to violence and trauma and heartbreak?"
"I know you've been abroad for the last several months. I'm doing okay on my own, too…" said Sarah.
"It seems you have a very difficult long-distance relationship with her," said the voice.
"…but I miss you. Every day you're gone."
"Sarah…" said Sam, still in awe of everything that was happening at once.
Then he felt a hand turn him around back to look at his Fourth Echelon team again. "Then again, you were always one for distance. Of staying unseen, a lone ghost in the mist… Of keeping your true self under the cover of darkness."
The team continued to ignore him. Briggs said, "Thirty seconds left."
And suddenly he could see images circling around of him of practically everyone he had ever met. "After losing so many people you care about throughout your life, your parents, your wife, your friends in the military, the CIA, Third Echelon… Wilkes… Shetland… Enrica Villablanca… Lambert… Some of them by your own hand. It's quite tragic, but you've managed to outlast them."
"Twenty seconds left," said Briggs.
"Oh fuck, I'm a little scared," said Charlie.
"Come on, Sam…" said Vic.
"I know Sam… he's going to make it," said Grim shakily.
"But how do we know he's going to make it?" said Charlie.
"He'll make it!" shouted Grim.
"Now it seems that all you're able to hold onto that you care about is the ability for you to let go."
Starting to come to his senses more and understanding the desperate situation they were in, Sam tried to run toward his team, but he couldn't move.
"Regardless, I just want you to know…" said Sarah as she walked toward the others.
The hand on his shoulder became visible in the darkness, and the voice's face began to appear. The voice, becoming more and more familiar by the second, said to him, "You should try to hold on to them while you still can, before you regret it."
"Ten seconds left until the Selection begins…" said Briggs.
"Is this the end?" said Charlie.
"Sam… it's been a great run with ya, pal," said Vic.
"Sam, it's Grim! You've been dark on comms for several minutes now. Are you at the launch control, over? Sam, answer me, please!"
"Five seconds…"
"…in case you or I don't make it out of this, this… Selection, thing, alive…" said Sarah.
"Four…"
Sam looked up at the face as it finally had materialized fully in the light.
"Three…"
"You should have killed me at Site F, Sam," said Majid Sadiq.
"Two…"
"…that I love you."
"One…"
"You should've killed me like you killed Tom Reed. You should have brought down… Megiddo."
The drone footage on the consoles and SMI aboard the Paladin were all displaying mushroom clouds in the distance before they went static.
"SARAH!" Sam yelled.
Sam ran at Sarah to try and protect her, only for the Paladin to begin to fall out of the sky after a deafening explosion threw them all over the command center, and the world went white, then black.
