Chapter 5 - The Lie Beneath the Salute
Ray collapsed.
Walter shouted his name.
Nathan fired toward Voss's vehicle.
The senator disappeared behind it.
Cross's backup team rushed forward.
Walter dropped beside Ray.
Blood spread across his sleeve.
"Stay with me."
Ray grimaced.
"Shoulder."
Walter checked.
The bullet had passed through.
Painful.
Not fatal.
Walter exhaled.
"You always were dramatic."
Ray managed a weak smile.
Nathan returned.
"Voss escaped."
Walter looked at the film reel left behind on the ground.
"He dropped that."
Nathan picked it up.
Voss had abandoned the very evidence he claimed could destroy Walter's family.
Why?
Because perhaps the point wasn't the reel.
Perhaps it was the doubt.
Back at the secured facility, Evelyn examined the film.
It was authentic.
The footage had been recorded in 1968.
Walter watched his younger self appear on screen.
Then Ray.
Ben.
The others.
Finally another man entered.
Walter stopped breathing.
His father.
James Mercer.
Walter had been told his father died from a heart attack while Walter was overseas.
In the film, James sat across from Charles Voss.
Documents changed hands.
No audio.
Walter watched in silence.
Nathan stood behind him.
Ray, bandaged, sat nearby.
Walter turned.
"Tell me."
Ray looked miserable.
"Walt—"
"Tell me."
"Your father worked counterintelligence."
Walter stared.
"He was investigating Voss."
"So the film—"
"Was surveillance."
Walter understood.
Voss had shown him a fragment designed to look like betrayal.
Evelyn found the corresponding audio reel.
James Mercer's voice filled the room.
"You sold the coordinates of American patrols."
Charles Voss answered.
"You can't prove it."
"I already did."
Walter closed his eyes.
His father hadn't been a traitor.
He had died trying to expose one.
The next recording was worse.
Voss threatened James.
James refused.
Three days later, he died.
Not a heart attack.
Poison.
Walter sat without speaking for a long time.
Nathan finally said, "I'm sorry."
Walter nodded.
His grief had changed shape.
It wasn't lighter.
But it was finally true.
Hale arrived with federal investigators.
The archive contained enough evidence to reopen decades of classified cases.
Andrew Voss was now wanted for conspiracy, kidnapping, theft of classified materials, obstruction, and attempted murder.
But he was missing.
So was Michael Keller.
Walter remembered the phone call.
"Michael knew someone in the room was compromised."
Nathan nodded.
"He knew Cross was working for Voss."
"Or he knew something else."
They traced Michael's last call.
A motel outside San Diego.
The room was empty.
On the bed lay a handwritten notebook.
Michael had spent years documenting the descendants of Operation Lantern.
Walter read the final page.
VOSS DOESN'T WANT THE ARCHIVE DESTROYED.
HE WANTS ONE NAME REMOVED BEFORE IT BECOMES PUBLIC.
Walter frowned.
"What name?"
Nathan turned the page.
Blank.
Evelyn searched the recovered documents.
One file had been cut open.
A page removed.
Someone had physically sliced it out decades earlier.
Ray knew what it was.
"The final informant."
Walter looked at him.
"Who?"
"We never knew."
The informant had been inside Voss's network.
That person provided the evidence that allowed Operation Lantern to locate the ledger.
If the identity became public, it could connect Andrew Voss directly to his father's crimes.
Hale asked the obvious question.
"Where's the missing page?"
Ray looked at Walter.
"Ben had it."
Samuel Price was brought back.
He remembered his father giving him an old Bible.
Inside the cover was a sealed envelope.
Samuel had never opened it.
The Bible remained in his father's house.
They drove there under protection.
Walter, Nathan, Hale, and Samuel entered.
The house smelled of machine oil and old books.
Samuel found the Bible.
The envelope was still inside.
Walter opened it.
One photograph.
One name.
Elizabeth Voss.
Andrew Voss's mother.
Everyone stared.
Samuel whispered, "His own mother exposed Charles?"
Ray nodded slowly.
"That explains everything."
Elizabeth discovered her husband's betrayal.
She secretly helped Walter's team.
Andrew had spent his adult life protecting his father's reputation.
If the truth emerged, the Voss legacy collapsed.
Walter looked at the photograph.
A woman had risked everything to stop her husband.
Her son had spent decades undoing her courage.
Nathan's phone rang.
He answered.
His face changed.
"What?"
Walter immediately knew something was wrong.
Nathan turned away.
"Say that again."
His hand began trembling.
Walter stood.
"Nathan?"
Nathan ended the call.
"My daughter."
Walter's stomach dropped.
"What happened?"
"Her school says my ex-wife picked her up."
"Isn't that normal?"
Nathan stared at him.
"My ex-wife is in Boston."
Silence.
Nathan's phone buzzed.
A photograph appeared.
His seven-year-old daughter sat in the back seat of a car.
She looked frightened but unharmed.
A message followed.
BRING ELIZABETH VOSS'S FILE.
NO POLICE.
Nathan's face became something Walter recognized.
Not a SEAL.
Not an officer.
A father.
Walter put his hand on Nathan's shoulder.
"We'll get her back."
Nathan looked at him.
"How?"
Walter picked up the photograph.
In the corner was a reflection.
A faded sign.
Walter knew it.
The abandoned pier beside the old amphibious training grounds.
He had trained there before Nathan was born.
Walter said, "Because Voss just made the same mistake you made in the mess hall."
Nathan stared.
"He looked at an old man and assumed age meant useless."
They prepared to move.
Then Walter's phone rang.
He answered.
Andrew Voss spoke.
"Come alone."
Walter looked at Nathan.
Voss continued.
"And Walter?"
"Yes?"
"Bring your pin."
Walter's hand went to his empty lapel.
Voss laughed softly.
"You didn't think the one in the vault was the real 417, did you?"
Walter froze.
The line went dead.
Ray stared at him.
"Walt..."
Walter turned.
Ray reached beneath his shirt.
A tarnished pin hung from a chain around his neck.
The number on the back was 417.
Walter whispered, "Then whose pin have I been wearing for fifty-eight years?"
May you like
Ray's eyes filled with fear.
"That's what we never told you."
