Chapter 4 - The Door Locked Behind Us
Nathan never reached for the handle.
He drew his sidearm instead.
"Everybody back."
The soldiers moved Margaret, Daniel, and Peter away from the entrance.
I stared through the glass panel beside the door.
The hallway looked empty.
Then a shadow crossed the staircase.
Fast.
Nathan radioed the team at the rear.
"Entry."
Three soldiers breached from the kitchen side.
Another team entered through the garage.
Within ninety seconds, the house was secure.
No suspect.
But the basement door was open.
I had closed it the night before.
Inside the basement, we found Richard Hayes.
He was tied to a chair.
Alive.
Barely.
Margaret screamed his name.
She tried to run toward him.
A medic stopped her.
Richard had a cut above one eye and bruising along his jaw.
His wrists were bound with plastic ties.
On the floor beside him was a burned phone.
Nathan crouched.
"Mr. Hayes, can you hear me?"
Richard opened his eyes.
He saw Margaret first.
Then Daniel.
Then me.
His expression changed.
"Lauren."
"Who did this?"
He swallowed painfully.
"They know."
"Who?"
"Armitage."
Nathan asked, "Charles Vane?"
Richard shut his eyes.
"No."
"Who?"
Richard's breathing became shallow.
"The person above him."
I felt frustration surge.
"Richard, did you clone my credentials?"
"No."
"Did you enter my study?"
"Yes."
Margaret stared at him.
"Richard."
He looked ashamed.
"I was trying to get the records before they did."
"What records?" I asked.
"Your investigation."
"You had no right."
"I know."
"How did you know about it?"
His eyes shifted toward Daniel.
Daniel looked away.
Richard gave a bitter laugh.
"My son talks when he's scared."
Daniel snapped, "You used me."
"I tried to keep you alive."
Peter said, "By involving him in fraud?"
Richard's gaze moved to Peter.
"You shouldn't be here."
"Neither should you."
Nathan stepped between them.
"Enough. Richard, start at the beginning."
The medic checked his vitals.
Richard spoke slowly.
He had been an investor in Armitage Systems for nine years.
Not publicly.
Through holding companies.
At first, he claimed, the investment had been legitimate.
Then he discovered inflated logistics invoices.
Ghost shipments.
Equipment routed through shell warehouses.
He tried to withdraw.
Charles Vane threatened to expose the hidden investment and implicate him.
Then Daniel wanted funding for a new business venture.
Richard saw an opportunity.
He introduced Daniel to Armitage hoping his son could quietly retrieve financial records.
Instead, Daniel became entangled.
"And Lauren?" I asked.
Richard looked at me.
"I didn't know your assignment."
"Until Daniel told you."
"Yes."
"And then?"
"I realized you were investigating the same discrepancies."
"So you used me too."
"I tried to protect you."
I laughed without humor.
"Everyone keeps using that word."
Richard lowered his head.
"I deserve that."
Nathan held up the evidence bag with the torn REED strip.
"Explain this."
Richard looked confused.
"That's not mine."
"It's mine," Nathan said.
Richard stared at him.
I did too.
Nathan's expression remained controlled.
"An old dress uniform disappeared from my office locker three weeks ago."
I felt something cold settle inside me.
"You didn't report it?"
"I thought supply had moved it."
"Your name strip ends up behind my house and you thought that wasn't worth mentioning?"
"I learned it was missing twenty minutes ago."
"How?"
"Security checked inventory after the credential breach."
Richard whispered, "They're framing him."
"For what?" I asked.
"For helping you."
Nathan's phone buzzed.
He read the screen.
"Lauren, your trust amendment just cleared."
"Beneficiary?"
He looked up.
"Daniel."
My husband went pale.
"No."
I stared at him.
"Did you do it?"
"No."
"Did you ask someone to?"
"No."
"Your forged signature already exists."
"I know how this looks."
"It looks like you tried to steal my house."
"I didn't."
Margaret suddenly spoke.
"He wouldn't."
I turned toward her.
She had thrown me out of that same house less than twelve hours earlier.
Now she was defending the son who might have stolen it from me.
"Margaret, you don't know what he would do."
Her face tightened with shame.
"I know."
The admission surprised me.
She looked at Daniel.
"Maybe I never did."
Daniel flinched.
Richard tried to stand.
The medic stopped him.
"You need transport."
Richard grabbed my sleeve.
"Lauren."
I looked down.
"There is something in your office."
"What?"
"Behind the vent."
"What did you put there?"
"Not me."
"Then who?"
"Your predecessor."
My predecessor at regional logistics command had been Brigadier General Evelyn Shaw.
She died eighteen months earlier.
Officially, a heart attack.
Richard saw recognition in my face.
"She contacted me before she died."
Nathan stepped closer.
"What did she say?"
"That Armitage had somebody inside the command."
"Name?"
"She didn't know."
"Then what did she hide?"
Richard's fingers tightened around my sleeve.
"A ledger."
I went upstairs with Nathan.
My study looked almost normal.
One chair slightly crooked.
Drawer open.
Cabinet intact.
The wall vent above the bookshelf had scratches around two screws.
Nathan removed it.
Inside was a narrow metal tube.
He pulled it free.
A USB drive.
And a folded piece of paper.
The note was written in Evelyn Shaw's handwriting.
I recognized it instantly.
Lauren—
If you are reading this, they eventually reached your home.
Do not trust the investigation they assign you.
The person protecting Armitage has authority over the investigators.
The ledger on this drive is incomplete.
The missing entries are identified by one number:
17-04.
I read it twice.
Nathan stared at the paper.
"Seventeen-zero-four again."
I inserted the drive into an isolated laptop.
Encrypted.
But one file opened automatically.
A list of shipment dates.
Payments.
Routing deviations.
Names.
Some civilian.
Some military.
Near the bottom was one entry.
N. REED.
I looked at Nathan.
He didn't move.
Amount: $240,000.
Date: eleven months earlier.
Purpose: ROUTE MODIFICATION 17-04.
Nathan's face emptied of color.
"I never received that money."
I wanted to believe him.
I had trusted him for twelve years.
He had pulled me from a damaged vehicle in Afghanistan.
He had stood beside my hospital bed after my first combat injury.
He had been the first person I called after Margaret burned me.
But Evelyn's note said not to trust the assigned investigation.
Nathan was leading it.
"Lauren."
"Don't."
"Check the account number."
I did.
The account wasn't personal.
It belonged to Reed Strategic Consulting.
Nathan stared.
"My brother."
I looked up.
"You have a brother?"
"Half brother."
"You never mentioned him."
"We haven't spoken in fifteen years."
"Name?"
"Marcus Reed."
Richard appeared in the doorway downstairs, supported by a medic.
He heard the name.
His expression changed instantly.
"Marcus?"
Nathan turned.
"You know him?"
Richard whispered:
"He's Armitage's general counsel."
Silence swallowed the room.
My phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
One photograph.
Taken minutes earlier.
It showed Margaret standing outside beside a military vehicle.
A red circle had been drawn around her head.
Underneath:
ONE HAYES ALREADY TALKED.
WE ONLY NEED ONE MORE.
May you like
I looked toward the window.
Margaret was gone.
