Chapter 2 - The Man Beside Me
Hayes stopped when he saw me looking at him.
His hand remained near his weapon.
"Lieutenant," I said.
He swallowed.
Then deliberately moved his hand away.
"Commander, I was securing my sidearm."
Maybe.
Deputy Secretary Shaw reached us with his protective detail.
Blackwood stepped forward.
"Mr. Deputy Secretary, I demand an explanation."
Shaw looked at the blood on my face.
Then at Blackwood.
"What happened?"
Nobody answered.
Shaw turned to Hayes.
"Lieutenant?"
Hayes hesitated.
"Admiral Blackwood struck Commander Mercer, sir."
Shaw's expression became stone.
Blackwood immediately said, "I had no knowledge of her identity."
"That's going to be a problem for later."
Blackwood stiffened.
"Later?"
"Right now we have a larger one."
Shaw looked at me.
"Cole?"
"Administration building."
Shaw signaled his team.
Half moved immediately.
I joined them.
Blackwood grabbed my arm.
"You're not going anywhere."
I looked down at his hand.
He released me.
"Admiral," Shaw said quietly, "I suggest you stop touching federal investigators today."
Blackwood stepped back.
We crossed the parade ground.
Behind us, the ceremony dissolved into controlled confusion.
I entered the administration building with Shaw and three operators.
General Cole's office was on the second floor.
The door stood open.
Empty.
Computer gone.
Desk drawers open.
A framed photograph lay broken on the floor.
I crouched.
Cole with Blackwood.
Both younger.
Afghanistan.
Behind them stood six men.
One face had been scratched out.
Shaw saw it.
"Take that."
I photographed it.
A security officer appeared.
"Sir, General Cole exited through the east stairwell."
"When?"
"Three minutes ago."
"Vehicle?"
"Unknown."
I moved toward Cole's desk.
Something was wrong.
A senior general fleeing a federal operation wouldn't waste time cleaning drawers unless there was something he desperately needed.
I checked beneath the desk.
Nothing.
Then the trash.
Empty.
Bookshelf.
One book sat slightly farther forward than the others.
I pulled it.
A small compartment opened.
Inside was a burner phone.
Shaw exhaled.
"Careless."
"No."
I picked it up using gloves.
"He left it intentionally."
The phone illuminated.
One unread message.
I opened it.
SHE SHOWED THE COIN. PHASE TWO.
My stomach tightened.
"They knew about Reaper."
Shaw stared at the screen.
"How?"
That question was worse than Cole escaping.
Task Force Reaper contained fewer than twenty active operators.
Its existence was compartmented beyond normal special operations channels.
Someone had penetrated the program.
My phone rang.
Unknown encrypted number.
I answered.
"Mercer."
A distorted voice spoke.
"You weren't supposed to show the coin."
"Who is this?"
"You've made everything harder."
"Good."
The caller laughed.
"You still think Cole is running from you."
"Isn't he?"
"No."
The call ended.
Shaw looked at me.
"What did they say?"
Before I could answer, an explosion shook the building.
Windows rattled.
Alarms screamed.
We ran.
Smoke rose beyond the east parking lot.
A black SUV burned near the perimeter.
Security teams surrounded it.
The vehicle belonged to General Cole.
But Cole wasn't inside.
A dead man was.
Lieutenant Hayes.
I stared at the body.
Impossible.
Hayes had been standing behind us minutes earlier.
I turned toward the parade ground.
The man I had believed was Hayes was gone.
Shaw understood simultaneously.
"Imposter."
We returned to the command center.
Facial recognition confirmed it.
The real Hayes had disappeared that morning.
Someone had taken his uniform and place.
Someone close enough to stand beside me.
Someone who knew about Reaper.
Blackwood entered under escort.
"This is insanity."
I showed him the photograph from Cole's office.
"Who are these men?"
His anger vanished.
"Where did you get that?"
"Cole's office."
He stared.
"Afghanistan. 2008."
"Who was scratched out?"
Blackwood remained silent.
"Admiral."
"His name was Jonathan Mercer."
My blood went cold.
Shaw looked at me.
"Relation?"
I couldn't answer immediately.
Jonathan Mercer had been my father.
He had supposedly died in a helicopter crash when I was fourteen.
I held up the photograph.
"My father knew you?"
Blackwood lowered himself into a chair.
"More than knew me."
"What does that mean?"
He looked suddenly older.
"Your father saved my life."
"Then why was his face scratched out?"
"I don't know."
I didn't believe him.
Blackwood saw it.
"Commander, whatever you think of me after what happened outside, I'm telling you the truth."
"Start proving it."
He explained that my father had served in an intelligence unit supporting special operations. Cole had been part of the same network.
There had been an investigation.
Missing weapons.
Unauthorized transfers.
Exactly what I was investigating now.
My father had discovered something.
Then he died.
"What?"
Blackwood shook his head.
"He never told me."
Shaw leaned forward.
"You're saying this operation existed eighteen years ago?"
"I'm saying something similar did."
My secure phone vibrated.
A photograph appeared.
It showed me standing on the parade ground less than an hour earlier.
Taken from above.
A second image arrived.
My apartment in Virginia.
A third.
My mother leaving a grocery store.
I stopped breathing.
The message beneath the photographs read:
YOUR FATHER MADE THE SAME MISTAKE.
Blackwood saw my face.
"What?"
I showed Shaw.
He immediately ordered protection for my mother.
Then another photograph arrived.
This one was old.
My father.
Alive.
The date stamp was six years after his supposed death.
I stared until the numbers blurred.
Blackwood whispered, "That's impossible."
Another message appeared.
HE DIDN'T DIE IN THE CRASH.
Then another.
HE FOUND REAPER BEFORE YOU DID.
I looked at Shaw.
He looked as stunned as I felt.
Then the command center door opened.
A wounded General Cole staggered inside.
Blood covered his uniform.
He collapsed against the wall.
I rushed toward him.
Cole grabbed my wrist.
"They're inside Reaper," he gasped.
"Who?"
His fingers tightened.
"Your father tried to stop them."
"Where is he?"
Cole looked toward Blackwood.
Fear filled his eyes.
Then he whispered a name.
May you like
"Shaw."
Every person in the room turned toward the Deputy Secretary of Defense.
