Chapter 6 - The Order From Washington
The name of Halcyon's founder was Charles Voss.
I'd never met him.
Daniel had.
"Seventy-one," he said as we sat inside a secure room at the airfield. "Former aerospace executive. Built Halcyon Meridian twenty-two years ago. Rarely appears publicly anymore."
"Does he still control it?"
"Through the board? Absolutely."
Sloan stood near the door.
"Voss has been interviewed twice."
"And?"
"No charges. No direct evidence."
Cole leaned against the far wall.
"Because Charles never touches anything directly."
Sloan looked at him.
"You know him?"
Cole laughed once.
"He hired me."
That changed the room.
"When?"
"Before I worked with Defense."
"You omitted that."
"You never asked."
Sloan looked ready to throw him through the wall.
I understood the feeling.
Daniel asked, "Voss knows about RAVEN?"
"He funded the architecture that became it."
"Why?"
"Speed. Efficiency. Money."
"Did he corrupt it?"
Cole shook his head.
"I don't know."
There was that phrase again.
But we were finally narrowing the circle.
The message telling us to bring Daniel alone was almost certainly bait.
Which meant we wouldn't do that.
Instead, federal investigators secured the property around Voss's Virginia estate while Sloan arranged transport.
I wasn't officially part of the investigation.
I reminded her of that.
She replied, "You can stay here."
I stood.
She sighed.
"That's what I thought."
Three hours later, we reached Virginia.
No tactical assault.
No dramatic raid.
Just warrants, investigators, attorneys, and a growing amount of paperwork.
Reality is less cinematic than people imagine.
It is also harder to escape.
Charles Voss wasn't home.
His attorney claimed he was in Europe.
Federal travel records suggested otherwise.
The property was searched.
The time capsule wasn't there.
Jake finally called.
"Ethan."
"Where are you?"
"Pentagon."
"You stopped answering."
"My phone was seized."
"By whom?"
"Internal security. Somebody used my credentials to access a restricted routing system."
That explained part of the spoof.
"Did you do it?"
"Seriously?"
"I've had a strange day."
"No."
"Where were you when it happened?"
"With Sloan."
"She confirms?"
"Yes."
I looked at her.
She nodded.
"Someone copied both your credentials."
"Looks that way."
"How?"
"We're checking."
I told him about the time capsule.
Jake went silent.
Then said, "Noah."
"Yeah."
"I forgot about that box."
"So did I."
"Remember what he put in it?"
"A photograph."
"No."
I frowned.
"What?"
"He changed it."
"When?"
"The night before we buried it."
"How do you know?"
"I caught him opening the box."
"What did he put inside?"
"I never saw. He told me it was something he'd want back someday."
That sounded like Noah.
"What happened to the box?"
"We don't know."
"I'll come."
"No. Stay where you are."
"Ethan—"
"For once in your life, follow an order."
"You aren't my commander anymore."
"Then consider it emotional manipulation."
He laughed quietly.
It was good to hear.
"Fine."
The search of Voss's estate found no box.
But investigators found something else.
A photograph.
Six men.
My team.
Same picture sent anonymously to my phone.
It was framed inside Voss's private study.
I stared at it through an evidence sleeve.
"Why would he have this?"
Daniel stood beside me.
"I don't know."
Cole looked less surprised.
"Charles collected leverage."
"People aren't leverage."
"To him, information was."
On the back of the photograph was a handwritten number.
June 14.
The time capsule date.
Beneath it:
N.M. KNOWS.
Noah knows.
My pulse quickened.
"Voss knew Noah discovered something."
Sloan nodded.
"Looks that way."
"But that doesn't prove Voss ordered anything."
"No."
Important distinction.
Evidence mattered.
Anger wasn't evidence.
Then an investigator entered.
"Admiral?"
He handed Sloan a tablet.
She read it.
"Where did you get this?"
"Security archive."
She passed it to me.
Video.
Nine years old.
Halcyon headquarters.
Noah Mercer entering a lobby.
I watched him approach reception.
Timestamp showed two days before we buried the time capsule.
"Why was Noah at Halcyon nine years ago?"
Nobody answered.
The video continued.
A man approached him.
Charles Voss.
They shook hands.
Then Noah handed him an envelope.
The clip ended.
Daniel looked stunned.
"Mercer knew Voss?"
I stared at the frozen image.
"Noah never mentioned him."
Cole moved closer.
"Play it again."
We did.
He pointed at the envelope.
"That's not something Noah is giving Voss."
"What?"
"Look at the first frame."
We rewound.
Voss was holding the envelope first.
Then Noah took it.
The camera angle created the opposite impression.
"Voss gave Noah something."
"Yes."
"What?"
We didn't know.
But Noah had put something into our time capsule two days later.
I suddenly understood.
"He hid whatever Voss gave him."
Sloan nodded.
"And years later, he discovered RAVEN was active again."
Daniel looked at me.
"Meaning the evidence may be nine years old."
"Or the key to understanding it."
My phone buzzed.
This time it was Jake.
Found something. Call.
I called.
"What?"
"I went through Noah's archived team messages."
"I thought I told you to stay put."
"I stayed at the Pentagon. Technically obedient."
"Jake."
"There's a voice memo."
"From Noah?"
"Yeah. Scheduled to send to all of us ten years after the time capsule."
"When?"
"Next June."
My throat tightened.
"What does it say?"
"I haven't played it."
"Why?"
"Because it's addressed to you."
He transferred the file.
I stared at the icon.
Nine years.
Noah had recorded this when we were younger.
Before Syria.
Before any of us knew how the story would end.
I pressed play.
His voice came through.
Younger.
Laughing.
"Hayes, if you're hearing this, congratulations. We're officially old."
My eyes closed.
Daniel looked away, giving me privacy.
Noah continued.
"Jake probably lost his hair. Luis probably owes somebody money. And you're probably still pretending you don't like people."
A laugh escaped me before I could stop it.
Then Noah's tone changed.
"But there's something serious in the box. Something I didn't know what to do with."
Everyone looked at the phone.
"A man named Charles Voss gave me evidence that somebody inside his company was manipulating military logistics. He was scared. Said he couldn't trust his own board."
Daniel whispered, "Voss was the whistleblower?"
The recording continued.
"I copied what he gave me and hid it with our junk. If this ever becomes important, there's one person you should find."
Static damaged the next second.
Then Noah's voice returned.
"Her name is—"
The audio cut out.
I stared at the screen.
File corrupted.
"Can you recover it?" I asked Jake.
"I'm trying."
Sloan's phone rang at the same moment.
She answered.
Listened.
Then looked at us.
"They found Charles Voss."
"Where?"
"Reagan National."
"Going where?"
"He wasn't leaving."
She paused.
"He just arrived."
Daniel frowned.
"From where?"
"San Diego."
The room went still.
Voss had been in the city where our flight originated.
Sloan continued.
"And there's something else."
"What?"
"He isn't alone."
The door behind us opened.
A federal investigator stepped inside.
Then another figure appeared behind him.
Captain Jake Morrison.
He looked at me.
Then at Cole.
Then at Daniel.
Finally at Sloan.
"I recovered the missing name," Jake said.
Nobody spoke.
He held up his phone.
"Noah said we needed to find a woman."
"Who?"
Jake looked toward the hallway.
Footsteps approached.
A woman stopped outside the open door.
May you like
Jake's face went pale.
Then he whispered her name...
