Elena moved toward the door.
“Admiral.”
She stopped.
Hammer’s face was different now.
Not arrogant.
Afraid.
“The last note came yesterday.”
She turned.
“What did it say?”
Hammer swallowed.
“Make the new transfer quit before sunset.”
Elena stared at him.
“How could anyone know I was coming?”
“I don’t know.”
“You didn’t know who I was.”
“No.”
“Did the note identify me?”
“It said female transfer. No rank. No name tape. Arriving before noon.”
Elena felt every instinct she had sharpen at once.
Only four people in Washington had known those details.
And one person at Camp Ironwood.
The officer assigned to coordinate her anonymous entry.
She asked the question even though part of her already knew the answer.
“Who handled my arrival paperwork?”
Hammer replied:
“Sergeant Major Rodriguez.”
Chapter Four
They searched Hammer’s house at 5:42 p.m.
The note was exactly where he claimed.
Inside a plastic freezer bag taped beneath the bottom drawer of his bedroom dresser.
Eight words.
MAKE THE FEMALE TRANSFER QUIT BEFORE 1800. NO EXCEPTIONS.
No signature.
No fingerprints except Hammer’s.
The paper had come from a standard military printer.
The font matched thousands on base.
But one detail mattered.
A nearly invisible yellow tracking pattern printed by the machine.
Every modern secure printer on Camp Ironwood left one.
Elena sent the page to forensic support.
Then she returned to headquarters.
Sergeant Major Rodriguez was waiting in the corridor.
“Ma’am.”
He looked tired.
More tired than earlier.
“You wanted to see me?”
“Yes.”
He followed her into a conference room.
Elena closed the door.
Rodriguez remained standing.
“Sit.”
He did.
Elena placed no papers on the table.
People lied differently when they didn’t know what evidence you had.
“How long have you served here?”
“Three years.”
“How long under Colonel Voss?”
“Two.”
“Captain Hammer?”
“Fourteen months.”
“Do you like him?”
Rodriguez almost smiled.
“Is that relevant?”
“Everything is relevant.”
“No, ma’am.”
“Why?”
“He confuses fear with respect.”
“You’ve reported that?”
“More than once.”
“To Voss?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“Counseling.”
“To Hammer?”
“Yes.”
“And then?”
“Nothing.”
Elena leaned back.
“You saw what he did to me today.”
“Yes.”
“You hesitated before giving him the soda.”
Rodriguez’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“I didn’t know what he planned to do with it.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
He remained silent.
“You hesitated.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I knew you weren’t a rookie.”
Elena had expected several answers.
Not that one.
“You recognized me?”
“Not at first.”
“When?”
“When you arrived.”
“That was hours before formation.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
Rodriguez took a breath.
“Your face.”
“My public photographs are usually from ten years and twenty pounds ago.”
A faint smile.
“I served under your husband.”
Elena stopped breathing.
Not visibly.
But inside.
“My husband has been dead twelve years.”
“I know.”
Commander David Vance had died when a helicopter went into the sea during a classified rescue mission in the Arabian Gulf.
His body had never been recovered.
Rodriguez stared at her.
“He carried a picture of you.”
Elena’s throat tightened.
“You knew David?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Where?”
Rodriguez looked at the closed door.
“Operation Nightglass.”
The name meant nothing to Elena.
That terrified her.
David had told her almost everything he was allowed to tell.
Nightglass had never appeared in any report she had seen after his death.
“What was Operation Nightglass?”
“I signed papers saying I would never answer that question.”
“I’m a rear admiral conducting an authorized investigation.”
“It won’t matter.”
Elena leaned forward.
“What does that mean?”
Rodriguez rubbed his jaw.
“It means the people behind this outrank both of us.”
Elena stared at him.
“You expect me to accept that without evidence?”
“No.”
“Good.”
Rodriguez reached inside his uniform blouse.
Slowly.
He removed a folded piece of paper.
Elena’s body went still.
Rodriguez placed it on the table.
It was old.
The creases had softened from being opened many times.
“I received this six weeks ago.”
Elena unfolded it.
Three typed lines.
YOU HAVE FORGOTTEN WHAT NIGHTGLASS COST.
RETIRE QUIETLY.
THE NEXT WARNING WILL NOT BE FOR YOU.
Elena looked up.
“You were threatened.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you report this?”
“I did.”
“To whom?”
“Colonel Voss.”
“And?”
“He told me to burn it.”
Elena felt anger move through her like electricity.
“Why?”
Rodriguez’s voice became quieter.
“Because he knew what Nightglass was.”
The door opened.
Colonel Voss stood there.
Nobody had heard him approach.
His face was colorless.
“Sergeant Major,” he said, “leave us.”
Rodriguez stood.
Elena didn’t look away from Voss.
“No. Stay.”
Voss stepped into the room.
“Admiral, there are things you don’t understand.”
Rodriguez gave a dry laugh.
“That’s becoming a popular sentence today.”
“Sergeant Major.”
“Colonel.”
Voss looked at Elena.
“We need to speak privately.”
“No.”
“Elena.”
He used her first name.
That was when she knew this was no longer about Hammer.
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