Chapter 6 - The Soldier Who Wasn't Dead
Colonel Ward stared at the photograph for almost a minute.
"Graham Sloane died in 2015."
I looked at him.
"Apparently he got better."
Captain Shaw pulled out her notebook.
"Tell me who he is."
"Victor Sloane's older brother. Meridian's founder. He handled the contracts and the money. Victor handled the people."
Ward shook his head.
"Meridian was investigated after the Black River incident."
"Investigated by whom?"
"Defense investigators. Contract oversight. A congressional review."
"And what did they find?"
He hesitated.
I nodded.
"Exactly."
Ward leaned back.
"Graham was reported killed in a plane crash."
"Was his body identified?"
"According to the report."
"By whom?"
Ward didn't answer.
I had learned long ago that a document could tell the truth about its own existence while lying about everything inside it.
Shaw looked between us.
"We need to verify this independently."
"Good," I said. "That's the first sensible thing anybody's said since my shirt ripped."
Reese was still standing by the door.
Nobody had dismissed him.
The boy had been silent for so long that I'd almost forgotten he was there.
Then he raised his hand.
Ward stared at him.
"Private, this is not a classroom discussion."
"Yes, sir. Sorry, sir."
He lowered his hand.
A few seconds passed.
Then he raised it again.
I sighed.
"What, Reese?"
He looked at Shaw.
"Ma'am, I think I know that guy."
Shaw turned.
"Which guy?"
He pointed at Graham Sloane.
"My dad has a picture of him."
I went cold.
Ward spoke carefully.
"Where?"
"In his office."
"What does your father do?"
Reese hesitated.
"He's a defense contractor, sir."
Nobody moved.
"What company?" Ward asked.
"Northstar Integrated Systems."
I looked at Shaw.
She was already writing.
"What's your father's name?"
"Richard Reese."
Ward closed his eyes briefly.
I could see him searching his memory.
Then he opened them.
"Richard Reese was on Vale's logistics staff."
Reese frowned.
"No, sir. My dad was never in the military."
"He was a civilian contractor."
The boy looked stunned.
"I didn't know that."
I believed him.
For four weeks, Dalton Reese had been the loudest recruit in our company.
He bragged about football, his father's truck, and the expensive watch he wasn't allowed to wear during training.
But he'd never once mentioned anything about military contracts.
I had assumed he was just another spoiled teenager trying to be noticed.
Now I wondered whether his name had put him in my training company by accident.
Shaw turned toward the MP.
"Take Private Reese to a separate interview room. Preserve his phone. Make sure he's not contacted without counsel or command approval."
Reese's face changed.
"Am I in trouble?"
"You're a witness," Shaw said. "We need to establish what you know."
He looked at me.
I expected another stupid joke.
Instead, he whispered, "I'm sorry I tore your shirt."
For some reason, that hurt more than the teasing.
"Go with the officer," I told him.
He nodded.
When the door closed, Ward looked at me.
"You think he was planted?"
"I think that's what somebody wants us to believe."
Shaw frowned.
"What do you mean?"
"Look at him. He had no idea who his father's business partners were. He posted a video because he thought embarrassing the old woman would make his friends laugh."
"You don't think he was involved?"
"I think someone knew he would behave exactly the way he did."
Ward nodded slowly.
"Create the opportunity."
"Wait for the mistake."
"And exploit it."
I folded my arms.
"That's how Graham works."
Shaw received another call.
She stepped into the hallway.
Ward and I sat alone.
For the first time since seeing the tattoo, he looked directly at my face rather than the mark.
"Why did you come back?"
I stared at him.
"To the Army?"
"Yes."
I could have lied.
I had become very good at it.
But there was no point.
"Because somebody found Sofia."
Ward's expression hardened.
"When?"
"Six months ago."
"What happened?"
"She called me from college."
He looked startled.
"College?"
"She's seventeen now."
"Of course."
He swallowed.
"I still picture her as a little girl."
"So do I sometimes."
I told him about the call.
Sofia had been attending a community college under a different name.
A man approached her outside the library.
He knew her mother's real name.
He knew about Black River.
And he showed her a photograph of nine soldiers standing in front of a medical tent.
The photograph had been taken before our mission.
Eight faces were clearly visible.
Mine was partly hidden behind Daniel's shoulder.
The man pointed at the photograph.
"Your mother knew these people."
Sofia told him he had the wrong person.
He smiled.
Then he said something that turned her blood cold.
"Ask Aunt Mara why she let your father die."
Ward stared at me.
"Her father?"
I nodded.
"His name was Dr. Emil Navarro. He was one of the physicians working at Black River."
"Working for Meridian?"
"At first. Then he discovered what they were doing."
"What were they doing?"
I looked at the door.
"Conducting unauthorized drug trials on detained civilians. Using falsified treatment records. Some patients weren't even ill when they arrived."
Ward's face tightened.
"Do you have proof?"
"Part of it."
"The recording?"
"That's one piece."
"What else?"
I leaned forward.
"Her father kept records. He knew what Vale and the Sloanes were hiding. He tried to leave with his daughter."
"And?"
"He disappeared before we arrived."
Ward looked down.
"Jesus."
"Sofia thought he died trying to protect her. That's what her mother told me."
"But now?"
"Now somebody wants her to believe I betrayed him."
Ward studied me.
"Did you?"
"No."
I said it without hesitation.
Then I looked away.
"But I know who did."
Ward waited.
I closed my eyes.
And saw a face I had spent thirteen years trying not to remember.
"One of the nine."
The colonel sat perfectly still.
"What?"
"Somebody in my team was working with Meridian."
Ward looked horrified.
"Who?"
"I didn't know then."
"And now?"
"I have an idea."
Before I could explain, Captain Shaw returned.
Her face was pale.
"Colonel, we've received a response from federal investigators regarding Graham Sloane."
Ward stood.
"What did they find?"
"They're sending an investigative team. They also asked us to preserve every record and restrict access to the witness."
"Why?"
Shaw swallowed.
"Because someone requested a copy of Private Bennett's entire military personnel file eighteen hours before today's training."
I stared at her.
"Who?"
"The request originated from an account assigned to Lieutenant General Adrian Vale's retirement advisory office."
Ward frowned.
"Vale retired seven years ago."
"Yes, sir."
"Then why would his office have access?"
"They shouldn't."
I felt something inside me settle.
It was the same feeling I'd had at Black River when I realized the helicopters weren't coming.
A terrible kind of clarity.
"They knew where I was before Reese tore my sleeve."
Ward looked at me.
I nodded.
"The tattoo wasn't how they found me. It was how they told you they'd found me."
Shaw's phone rang again.
She listened.
Then her expression changed.
"Colonel, we have another issue."
"What now?"
"Military police located an unauthorized package in Private Bennett's barracks locker."
I stood.
"What kind of package?"
"A padded envelope. No postage. No return address."
"Did anyone open it?"
"Not yet."
I looked at Ward.
"Don't touch it until they've cleared it."
Shaw nodded.
"That's already being handled."
Ward watched me.
"What do you think is inside?"
I knew Graham Sloane well enough to understand that he preferred messages with personal meaning.
He didn't send threats when he could send memories.
"I don't know," I said.
But I was wrong.
Somewhere deep down, I knew.
An hour later, after the envelope had been cleared and documented, Shaw placed the contents on the table.
One photograph.
One handwritten note.
One silver identification bracelet.
I knew the bracelet.
It belonged to Sergeant Caleb Dunn.
The man we'd left behind when the tunnel collapsed.
The note contained eleven words.
The first snake is still alive. Ask him what he remembers.
And underneath was an address.
Not overseas.
Not in some distant prison.
Less than twenty miles from Fort Leland.
I looked at Ward.
For thirteen years, I'd believed Caleb died saving us.
May you like
Now somebody was telling me he had been living close enough to hear the training helicopters every morning.
And he'd never once tried to find me.
