Chapter 4 - The Dead Man's Uniform
The man in the doorway wasn't Daniel Cross.
He was younger.
Mid-twenties.
Pale.
Terrified.
And bleeding slightly from a cut above his eyebrow.
The uniform name tape read CROSS.
Cole surged to his feet.
"Who the hell are you?"
The man raised his hands.
"My name is Noah Cross."
Hale's eyes narrowed.
"Relation?"
"Daniel was my brother."
Riley studied him.
"Why are you wearing his uniform?"
"Because somebody told me it was the only way you'd listen."
"Who?"
Noah looked behind him.
"I don't know."
That answer was becoming common.
Noah had received an anonymous package three days earlier.
Inside was Daniel's old uniform, a keycard, a photograph of Emma Castillo, and instructions.
Come to Fort Alden.
Wait until Riley Quinn finds locker 317.
Then enter Investigation Room Four wearing the uniform.
Noah hadn't understood any of it.
But the package contained something else.
A handwritten note in Daniel's handwriting.
NOAH, IF THIS REACHES YOU, I FAILED.
Riley asked the obvious question.
"When was the note written?"
"Three years ago."
Hale stared.
"But Daniel died eleven months ago."
"That's what you were told."
Noah pulled an old photograph from his pocket.
Daniel Cross stood beside Emma Castillo and Cole Mercer.
The date stamp was three years earlier.
On the back Daniel had written:
IF THEY SAY I DIED LATER, DON'T BELIEVE THEM.
The room went quiet.
Cole sank into his chair.
"What did you mean when you said Daniel died three years ago?" Riley asked.
Cole rubbed both hands over his face.
"Room 204."
Building Twelve.
Second floor.
Room four.
Three years earlier, Cole had followed Daniel there after receiving a frantic message.
He found blood.
A broken chair.
Daniel's identification tags.
And Major Lawson standing in the hallway.
Lawson told Cole Daniel had been taken to a hospital after an accident.
The next morning, Daniel was listed as transferred.
Cole never saw him again.
Months later, rumors spread that Daniel was working elsewhere.
Then eleven months ago came official news of the helicopter crash.
"You just accepted that?" Riley asked.
"I was already buried in what we'd done. Lawson knew it."
Riley understood.
Guilt made obedient people.
The anonymous caller wanted them to examine Room 204.
This time, Hale brought military police and an evidence team.
No secrecy.
No improvisation.
They entered Building Twelve together.
Room 204 was locked behind a newer door than the rest of the abandoned building.
That alone mattered.
Hale opened it with Noah's keycard.
The room looked empty.
Riley immediately saw a difference in the flooring.
One section had been replaced.
Underneath, they found a sealed cavity.
Inside were hard drives wrapped in plastic.
And a video camera.
The battery was dead.
The memory card wasn't.
Technicians recovered the footage.
The first recording showed Emma.
Alive.
She was sitting in Room 204.
Daniel Cross stood beside her.
Cole appeared too.
Riley glanced toward him.
Cole watched with his face in his hands.
On the video Emma said, "If something happens to me, it wasn't an accident."
Daniel answered, "Nothing's going to happen."
Emma laughed sadly.
"That's what everybody says right before something happens."
The video cut.
Another file.
Major Lawson entered Room 204.
Colonel Grant followed.
Daniel had hidden the camera.
Their conversation was clear.
Lawson wanted the evidence destroyed.
Grant wanted to know how many copies existed.
Daniel refused.
Then Grant said something that changed everything.
"This isn't about hazing anymore. It's about the contracts."
Riley looked at Hale.
"What contracts?"
The financial records provided the answer.
Barracks repair.
Equipment procurement.
Transportation.
Millions of dollars had been diverted through companies connected to Grant.
The hazing system wasn't the original crime.
It became the mechanism Grant used to control soldiers who noticed other things.
Anyone who complained could be discredited.
Anyone who threatened exposure could be threatened with photographs or video proving their own participation in misconduct.
Victims became witnesses.
Witnesses became accomplices.
Accomplices became silent.
Emma had discovered the financial records accidentally while working administrative duty.
That was why she died.
Not because she reported hazing.
Because she found where the money went.
Riley watched the final recovered recording.
Daniel confronted Grant.
Lawson stood nearby.
Grant ordered Daniel detained.
The video ended during a struggle.
There was no death on camera.
No proof Daniel died.
Only proof he disappeared.
Noah whispered, "My brother could still be alive."
Cole looked at him.
"I saw blood."
"That doesn't mean he died."
Riley thought of the phone call.
The distorted male voice knew things only someone close to Daniel might know.
Could it have been him?
Hale contacted federal investigators.
Grant was placed under temporary restriction pending questioning.
Lawson couldn't be located.
That was worse.
Riley returned to the barracks after midnight.
Her room had been searched.
Nothing obvious stolen.
Her duffel remained.
Her paperwork remained.
But her pillow sat differently.
She lifted it.
Underneath was a small pair of scissors.
Beside them, a note.
FINISH THE HAIRCUT.
Riley stared.
She almost laughed.
After everything that had happened, someone was still making jokes.
Then she turned the note over.
There was an address.
Civilian.
Twenty miles away.
And one sentence:
LAURA IS HERE.
Riley photographed the note and called Hale.
He told her not to move.
For once, she listened.
Five minutes later, Hale arrived with investigators.
Cole came too, though nobody had invited him.
Riley looked at him.
"Why are you here?"
"Because if Laura's alive, I owe her."
"You owe a lot of people."
"I know."
That stopped Riley.
Cole wasn't asking forgiveness.
That mattered.
The address led to an old storage facility.
Unit 317.
Of course.
Police surrounded it.
Riley entered with Hale and two investigators.
Inside, Laura Castillo sat tied to a chair.
Alive.
Uninjured.
She looked exhausted.
Riley rushed to her.
"Who brought you here?"
"I never saw his face."
"Lawson?"
"I don't think so."
"Why?"
Laura swallowed.
"Because Lawson was here too."
Everyone froze.
"What?"
"He was tied up beside me."
"Where is he?"
"They took him."
"Who?"
Laura's eyes filled with fear.
"The man Emma trusted."
Riley stared.
"Daniel?"
Laura shook her head.
"No."
She pointed toward a table.
A laptop sat open.
On screen was a live video feed.
Major Lawson sat in a chair somewhere dark.
Behind him stood a man whose face remained outside the camera frame.
Lawson looked terrified.
The man spoke.
"Riley Quinn."
The voice was the same distorted voice from the phone.
Riley stepped closer.
"What do you want?"
"Truth."
"Then stop hiding."
The camera angle changed.
The man's hand appeared.
He wore a military academy ring.
Hale inhaled sharply.
Riley looked at him.
"You recognize it."
Hale didn't answer fast enough.
The man on screen slowly lowered himself into view.
Hale went pale.
"No."
Riley stared at the face.
She had seen it in official photographs all week.
Colonel Stephen Grant smiled at the camera.
Then he stepped aside.
Someone else was sitting behind him.
A man with gray in his beard.
Noah Cross made a broken sound.
"Daniel?"
Daniel Cross opened his eyes.
May you like
And whispered:
"Don't trust Captain Hale."
