Chapter 15 - The Betrayal No One Saw Coming
The recording from Richard's meeting reached federal investigators before midnight.
By the following afternoon, I was called into a secure briefing with Commander Whitcomb.
The audio confirmed several important facts.
Nathan Cole had attended the investment meeting under an assumed name.
He had objected to the reliability claims surrounding Aegis Vector's prototype.
And he had argued with Douglas Harland in front of three investors.
What it didn't explain was how a man declared killed during a combat extraction had ended up working for a suspicious defense technology company in California.
Whitcomb played the final thirty seconds of the recording.
A man's voice spoke sharply.
"You don't understand what you're asking me to approve."
Douglas responded.
"You're being paid to provide technical assurances, Reed."
"The system is unsafe."
"That's not your decision."
"Then find someone else's signature."
A chair scraped against the floor.
Douglas spoke again.
"You think they'll protect you when they find out who you really are?"
The recording stopped.
I leaned back.
Nathan had been threatened.
But by whom?
And why had he remained hidden?
Whitcomb folded her arms.
"We've submitted the recording for authentication and identified two attendees. Both are being interviewed."
"What about Nathan?"
"Still missing."
I looked toward the windowless wall.
"Then we find him."
"We're working on it."
"Is Daniel Brooks being investigated?"
She hesitated.
"His name has surfaced in materials that require verification."
"He's innocent."
"Commander, your loyalty to him is understandable, but we cannot make that assumption."
I stood.
"Neither can you assume he's guilty."
Whitcomb's expression softened slightly.
"That's why we investigate."
Later that evening, Daniel called me from Virginia.
I nearly dropped my phone.
"Brooks?"
"Hey, Valkyrie."
His familiar voice brought back a dozen memories of carrier landings, midnight briefings, and terrible coffee in the ready room.
"How are you?" I asked.
"Depends. Are you somewhere private?"
I moved into our bedroom.
"What's happening?"
He sighed.
"I've been questioned twice about Night Lantern."
My pulse quickened.
"By whom?"
"Federal investigators. Naval intelligence. People who don't introduce themselves beyond their credentials."
"What did they ask?"
"Whether I knew Nathan Cole."
"Did you?"
"Of course I knew him. We flew cover for his extraction."
"Anything else?"
Daniel fell silent.
Then he said something unexpected.
"Avery, there's a reason Nathan was never officially recovered."
I sat down slowly.
"What reason?"
"The radio transmission."
My fingers tightened around the phone.
"What transmission?"
"During the extraction, I intercepted a secondary signal. It wasn't on our assigned channel."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"I tried. You were dealing with the missile warning and the aircraft damage. By the time we landed, intelligence personnel had taken custody of my mission recordings."
"What did the signal say?"
Another silence.
Then Daniel answered.
"Someone told the hostile team exactly when our extraction aircraft would arrive."
I felt the room grow cold.
"You're saying the mission was compromised?"
"Yes."
"By whom?"
"I don't know."
"Daniel—"
"And there's something else."
I held my breath.
"The transmission used a recognition phrase."
"What phrase?"
He spoke quietly.
"'Valkyrie is clear to descend.'"
My stomach dropped.
That phrase had appeared in a classified operational communication during the original mission.
Very few people should have known it.
"Someone was impersonating command," I whispered.
"That's what I think."
I heard movement on his end.
"Brooks? Where are you?"
"Outside my apartment."
"Get somewhere secure."
"I have to go."
"Daniel, listen to me—"
"Avery, if something happens, check the original maintenance discrepancy report. Not the revised one."
The call disconnected.
I immediately reported the conversation to Whitcomb.
While I was speaking to her, another call came through.
Ethan.
I answered.
"Hey."
His voice sounded strange.
Controlled.
Too controlled.
"Avery, are you at the office?"
"Yes. Why?"
"Because somebody just sent me a video."
My heart sank.
"Of what?"
"Daniel Brooks."
I stood so quickly my chair struck the wall.
"What's happening?"
Ethan inhaled sharply.
"He's sitting in a room with his hands tied."
For one terrible second, the only sound I heard was my own breathing.
Then Ethan continued.
"And the man standing behind him is wearing a naval uniform."
"What rank?"
"Captain."
"Can you see his face?"
"Yes."
I grabbed my keys.
"Send the video to Whitcomb. Don't delete anything."
"Avery—"
"Who is he?"
Ethan hesitated.
Then spoke a name I hadn't heard in years.
"Captain Victor Hale."
My blood froze.
Because Victor Hale wasn't just another officer.
May you like
He was the commanding officer who had personally authorized Operation Night Lantern.
And he'd been the man who signed Nathan Cole's death notification.
