Chapter 4 - The Man Walter Buried
Walter stared at Raymond Sloan's face until the screen blurred.
Nathan took the phone.
"That's him?"
Walter nodded.
"My best friend."
"The man you thought died?"
"I didn't think it."
Walter's voice broke.
"I saw the building come down."
Nathan handed the phone back.
Walter looked at Ray again.
Eighty-six now.
Thin.
Fragile.
But unmistakable.
The crooked nose.
The scar beneath the left eye.
Walter had given him that scar accidentally during a training exercise when they were twenty.
Ray had laughed while the medic stitched it.
"You still punch like my sister," he'd said.
Walter sat.
For fifty-eight years, he had remembered Ray as a young man.
Now the young man was old.
Just like him.
Hale entered.
"We're not letting you go alone."
"They'll kill him."
"They may kill him anyway."
Walter looked at Hale.
"Then I'm going."
Nathan said, "So am I."
"The message says alone."
Nathan leaned toward him.
"You taught me something yesterday."
Walter raised an eyebrow.
"What?"
"Not every order deserves obedience."
Walter almost laughed.
Hale authorized a covert team.
The abandoned facility sat inland behind fences that hadn't protected anything in decades.
Official records called it empty.
Satellite imaging said otherwise.
Power consumption had begun three weeks earlier.
Walter rode with Nathan.
"You married?" Walter asked suddenly.
Nathan glanced at him.
"Divorced."
"Kids?"
"A daughter."
"How old?"
"Seven."
"She like you?"
Nathan smiled faintly.
"Depends on the day."
Walter looked forward.
"Then make sure you get home."
Nathan understood.
"So should you."
"Nobody's waiting for me."
"That's not true."
Walter looked at him.
Nathan continued.
"Admiral Hale is. Chief Reeves is. Apparently half the Navy knows your name now."
Walter grunted.
"Internet nonsense."
Nathan smiled.
"And me."
Walter turned toward the window.
He didn't answer.
They reached the facility after sunset.
Walter approached the entrance alone while Nathan's team remained hidden.
Captain Cross met him.
No weapon visible.
"You came."
"Where's Ray?"
"Inside."
"Why?"
Cross looked exhausted.
"You think I'm the villain."
"Stealing from an eighty-seven-year-old tends to hurt first impressions."
Cross almost smiled.
"Voss has my family."
Walter stopped.
Cross's expression cracked.
"My wife. My son. He gave me a choice."
"There's always a choice."
"Easy for you to say."
"No."
Walter stepped closer.
"It's never easy."
Cross looked away.
"Come inside."
They entered.
The underground corridor smelled of dust and cold metal.
At the end was a massive circular vault door.
Seven slots surrounded its center.
All contained pins.
Walter saw his own in slot 417.
Ray sat in a chair nearby.
"Walt."
Walter stopped.
Fifty-eight years vanished.
"Ray."
Ray smiled.
"You're uglier."
Walter laughed once.
Then crossed the room and embraced him.
Both men cried.
Neither apologized.
Walter pulled back.
"You were alive."
"So were the others."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"We couldn't."
"That's garbage."
"I know."
"You let me bury you."
Ray looked down.
"We were ordered to disappear. Voss's father said if we contacted you, you'd be killed."
Walter's anger weakened.
Ray continued.
"You were our insurance policy. The one man outside the network."
"And Ben?"
"Last of us besides you."
Walter closed his eyes.
"So they're all gone."
Ray nodded.
"Now they are."
Walter sat beside him.
"Why did Ben hide?"
"Because Andrew Voss started hunting the keys."
Captain Cross checked his watch.
"We don't have long."
Walter looked at the vault.
"What is inside?"
Ray answered.
"Proof."
"Of what?"
"That Charles Voss sold American operations to foreign buyers. Men died because of him. Andrew spent his career burying the evidence."
Walter's stomach turned.
"Operation Lantern?"
"We recovered the ledger."
Walter remembered men who never returned from missions.
Ambushes that had seemed impossible.
Routes the enemy somehow knew.
Ray whispered, "Voss's father betrayed them."
A voice came from behind.
"And now you're going to help me make sure nobody learns that."
Senator Andrew Voss entered.
He was seventy-one.
Silver hair.
Expensive coat.
Two armed men beside him.
Walter looked at Cross.
Cross's face showed shame.
Voss smiled.
"Walter Mercer."
Walter stood.
"Your father was a traitor."
Voss's smile disappeared.
"History is written by whoever survives."
Walter looked at Ray.
"Then you've got a problem."
Voss stepped toward the vault.
"The archive inside will be destroyed."
Nathan's team waited outside.
Walter needed time.
"So why bring me?"
"Biometric verification."
Walter frowned.
Ray explained.
"The pins open the first lock. The surviving custodian opens the second."
Voss smiled.
"You."
Walter stared at the scanner.
"Suppose I refuse."
Voss gestured toward Ray.
One armed man pressed a pistol against Ray's head.
Walter's face went still.
Voss said, "You spent fifty-eight years mourning him. I'd hate for you to lose him twice."
Walter approached the scanner.
He placed his palm on it.
A green light appeared.
The vault door unlocked.
Voss smiled.
Then Walter stepped backward.
"Open it yourself."
Voss ordered Cross forward.
Cross pulled the door.
Inside were shelves.
Boxes.
Film reels.
Documents.
And one sealed metal case.
Voss entered.
Walter looked toward Cross.
Cross looked back.
Something silent passed between them.
Then Cross moved.
He slammed his elbow into one gunman's throat.
Walter pulled Ray down.
Gunfire exploded.
Nathan's team breached the corridor.
Voss grabbed the metal case.
He ran through a secondary exit inside the vault.
Nathan chased him.
Walter helped Ray stand.
Cross was bleeding from his shoulder.
"Go," he said.
Walter followed Nathan.
They emerged into an underground service tunnel.
Voss was ahead.
He reached a vehicle.
Nathan raised his weapon.
"Stop!"
Voss turned.
He held the metal case.
"You have no idea what's in here."
Walter appeared behind Nathan.
"Yes, I do."
Voss smiled.
"No, Walter. You know what they told you."
He opened the case.
Inside wasn't a ledger.
It was a reel of film.
Voss held it up.
"Your team wasn't protecting evidence against my father."
Walter stared.
Voss's smile widened.
"They were protecting evidence against yours."
Walter stopped breathing.
Then Raymond Sloan emerged from the tunnel behind them.
"Walt," Ray shouted.
"Don't listen to him."
Voss raised the reel.
"Ask Ray who signed the original orders."
Walter slowly turned toward his oldest friend.
Ray's face had gone white.
Walter whispered, "Ray?"
May you like
Ray opened his mouth.
But before he could answer, a shot rang out.
