Elena’s heartbeat accelerated.
“What case?”
Grace smiled faintly.
“The one containing the device meant to destroy your servers.”
For the first time all night, Elena felt something close to hope.
“Where’s the tracker?”
Grace gave her a number.
Elena called the forensic team.
They entered it.
A map appeared.
A blinking point.
Not outside the base.
Not near Supply Building Four.
Not at Voss’s house.
The tracker was moving.
Slowly.
Across Camp Ironwood.
Then it stopped.
At headquarters.
Elena stared at the screen.
Second floor.
Command Sergeant Major’s administrative suite.
Rodriguez’s office.
Chapter Nine
They approached quietly.
Elena.
Grace.
Two investigators.
Colonel Voss remained downstairs under guard—not as a suspect, but because Elena trusted nobody enough to leave the base commander unobserved.
Rodriguez’s office door was unlocked.
Inside, the lights were off.
Elena entered first.
Empty.
Desk.
Filing cabinets.
Bookshelf.
A framed photograph of Rodriguez with his wife and two adult daughters.
No case.
No device.
One investigator swept the room.
“Clear.”
Grace stared at the tracker.
“It says here.”
Elena looked at the walls.
“Check everything.”
They searched.
Nothing.
Then Elena noticed the family photograph.
The frame was crooked.
Barely.
She lifted it.
Behind it was a square hole in the wall.
Inside sat a black equipment case.
Grace whispered, “That’s it.”
Elena did not touch it.
“Bomb team.”
One investigator called downstairs.
Before anyone could answer, the office door slammed shut.
The lights died.
Grace cursed.
A mechanical lock clicked.
Elena drew her weapon.
The ventilation system stopped.
Then smoke began seeping from a ceiling vent.
“Gas,” Grace said.
Elena pulled her collar over her mouth.
They struck the door.
It did not open.
One investigator kicked beside the lock.
Again.
Again.
The room was filling.
Elena’s eyes burned.
Grace grabbed a chair and smashed the narrow side window.
Reinforced glass.
It cracked but held.
Elena fired at the locking mechanism.
The shot deafened everyone.
Still locked.
Then a voice sounded from the office speaker.
Rodriguez.
“Admiral.”
Elena stared upward.
Grace looked horrified.
“Luis?”
“I’m sorry.”
Elena’s heart sank.
Not because she was surprised.
Because some small part of her had still wanted the evidence to be wrong.
“Open the door,” she said.
“I can’t.”
“Then you’re making a final choice.”
Silence.
“Maybe I made it twelve years ago.”
Elena’s eyes watered from the smoke.
Grace shouted, “You saved me!”
“Yes.”
“Then save us now.”
Rodriguez’s voice cracked.
“I can’t.”
Elena leaned against the desk.
“Why?”
A long pause.
Then:
“Because David is alive.”
Everything stopped.
Elena forgot the smoke.
The locked door.
The gun in her hand.
“What?”
Grace stared at her.
Rodriguez continued.
“David survived the crash.”
Elena’s knees nearly failed.
“No.”
“He was never on the helicopter when it went into the water.”
“Stop.”
“They extracted him before takeoff.”
“Stop talking.”
“He became part of Nightglass.”
Elena’s voice broke.
“You’re lying.”
“I wish I were.”
The room tilted.
She heard David’s video.
If Elena ever sees this…
She remembered his face.
The bruise.
The apology.
“That recording was made after his death,” Rodriguez said.
Elena pressed a hand against the desk.
“How long?”
“Twelve years.”
“How long has he been alive?”
“Admiral—”
“How long?”
“All of it.”
The words tore through her.
Grace whispered, “Oh my God.”
Elena looked up at the speaker.
“Where is he?”
Rodriguez did not answer.
“Where is my husband?”
“He is the reason Nightglass still exists.”
Elena’s face emptied.
“No.”
“He didn’t just discover the program.”
Rodriguez’s voice became barely audible.
“He took it over.”
The office door unlocked.
Everyone stared.
Fresh air rushed in from the corridor.
No one moved.
Rodriguez’s voice came through the speaker one last time.
“He wanted you to find out.”
Then the system went silent.
Elena stepped into the hallway.
“Find Rodriguez.”
Security searched the building.
His office.
Basement.
Roof.
Motor pool.
Nothing.
At 11:24 p.m., the west gate camera showed Sergeant Major Luis Rodriguez driving away in a medical transport vehicle seven minutes before the base lockdown had been reinforced.
Someone had cleared the gate remotely.
Elena stood in the operations center staring at his disappearing vehicle.
Grace stood beside her.
“You believe him?”
“No.”
“You think he lied?”
“I think truth is more useful when mixed with lies.”
Grace studied her.
“What now?”
Elena turned toward the Nightglass server data being copied onto secured drives.
“Now we stop reacting.”
Her voice had changed.
The grief was still there.
But something harder had formed around it.
“Rodriguez wanted me chasing David.”
“Wouldn’t you?”
Elena looked at her.
“Exactly.”
She returned to David’s archived video.
Watched it again.
Slower.
Frame by frame.
At first she saw nothing.
Then something bothered her.
The bruise.
The flight suit.
The lighting.
The clock on the wall.
She zoomed in.
02:11.
The helicopter disappeared at 02:17.
Popular Posts
→- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
Recently Viewed
Stories you read recently will appear here.
