Chapter 5 - The Secret Audit
By noon, the base was buzzing with rumors. The dining hall incident had spread through the ranks like wildfire, retold in barracks, motor pools, and maintenance bays. The story of the arrogant captain who dumped water on a four-star general’s top undercover investigator was already legendary.
Inside the secure operations center of Building 100, Tessa stood before a bank of glowing monitors alongside General Marcus Vance. On the central display was the real-time flight tracking data for a private Gulfstream jet descending through five thousand feet, its approach vector locked onto Fort Hawthorne’s military runway.
"Senator Harrison Voss will be on the ground in fifteen minutes," Vance said, checking his watch. "He brought two defense lobbyists and his chief legal counsel. He thinks he's attending a victory lap for the depot contract."
"All perimeter checkpoints around Warehouse 14 are secured, sir," Tessa reported. "Major Torres and the Special Operations audit team took custody of the physical inventory an hour ago. What did they find?"
Tessa tapped a command on the keyboard, bringing up live video feeds from inside the massive warehouse on the edge of the base. Rows upon rows of olive-drab shipping containers sat open under floodlights. Teams of investigators in black tactical vests were scanning barcodes, cross-referencing manifests, and prying open wooden crates.
"Seventy percent of the crates marked as active inventory are filled with scrap metal and concrete blocks," Tessa said, her jaw tight. "The actual high-tech components—drones, laser rangefinders, thermal scopes—were swapped out weeks ago. Nolan Voss was preparing to stage an accidental electrical fire tonight during the shift change to destroy the evidence before tomorrow’s scheduled quarterly audit."
General Vance's fists clenched so hard his knuckles popped like gunshots. "They were going to burn down a military facility to hide their theft."
"And blame it on outdated electrical wiring in the old depot infrastructure," Tessa confirmed. "Which would have conveniently supported Senator Voss’s public campaign to privatize all regional storage facilities and award the contract to his private holding firm, Aegis Logistics."
"It's treason," Vance growled. "Pure, unadulterated treason."
"It's more than that, sir," Tessa said, bringing up an encrypted banking summary. "Look at the buyers. The dummy corporation in Panama didn't sell this gear to private domestic collectors. The shipment scheduled to leave the depot tonight was headed for an unregistered cargo ship docked at an industrial pier in Newark, destined for an arms cartel operating in Eastern Europe."
Vance turned to look at Tessa, his eyes filled with grim determination. "If that cargo left this base, American lives would have been endangered abroad by our own stolen weapons."
"The cargo isn't leaving," Tessa said, strapping her sidearm holster securely around her waist. "Because Captain Voss is going to deliver it himself."
Vance raised an eyebrow. "You're running a sting?"
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"Captain Voss broke the moment he realized his father couldn't protect him from twenty years in solitary confinement," Tessa said. "He agreed to wear a wire and complete the scheduled transfer call with his father's civilian transport coordinator. We're going to catch the senator's private courier red-handed at the gate."
Vance nodded slowly, a dark smile spreading across his weathered face. "Go get them, Commander. Finish what your father started."
