Chapter 5 - The Secret Report From The Battlefield
The window shattered before anyone could move.
The sound echoed through the dining room.
Glass fell onto the floor.
Margaret screamed.
James immediately stepped in front of me.
For the first time that night, he didn't hesitate.
He didn't think.
He just moved.
Daniel pulled me away from the window while William reached toward the cabinet where he kept his old security equipment.
Everything happened in seconds.
The person outside disappeared.
No footsteps.
No voice.
Nothing.
Only the broken glass remained.
I stared at the empty space outside the window.
My mind was racing.
Someone had been watching us.
Someone knew Daniel was alive.
Someone knew I had found the device.
And they wanted me to know they were close.
William returned holding an old flashlight and looked outside.
"Everyone away from the windows."
His voice had changed.
The father who had criticized me earlier was gone.
The commander had returned.
James looked at him.
"Dad, what is happening?"
William didn't answer.
He moved carefully through the room, checking every entrance.
Daniel remained beside me.
"You need to leave."
I looked at him.
"No."
"Evelyn."
"No."
My voice was firm.
"I spent five years being told to stay away from the truth."
I held up the device.
"I am not walking away now."
Daniel studied my face.
Then he nodded.
Because he knew I meant it.
William returned a few minutes later.
"Nobody is outside."
I looked at him.
"That doesn't mean nobody was there."
He didn't argue.
Because he knew.
The person who sent the message wanted us to find them.
They wanted us afraid.
But fear was never what stopped me.
The unknown was.
And now I was finally getting closer.
We moved into William's private office.
It was the first time I entered that room.
The walls were covered with military photographs.
Awards.
Old documents.
A lifetime of service.
But something immediately caught my attention.
There was a picture frame turned face down on his desk.
I noticed.
William noticed that I noticed.
"What is that?"
He looked at the frame.
For a moment, he said nothing.
Then he picked it up.
The photograph inside showed three people.
William.
Daniel.
And me.
But I had never seen this photograph before.
I stepped closer.
"When was this taken?"
William looked uncomfortable.
"Before the mission."
I stared at the picture.
"We were never photographed together."
Daniel looked at it carefully.
Then his expression changed.
"Where did you get this?"
William didn't answer.
Daniel looked at him.
"William."
Finally, William sighed.
"From the same person who gave me the original mission file."
I turned.
"Who?"
William placed the picture down.
"The person who wanted the truth buried."
I felt frustration building.
"Everyone keeps saying that."
I looked between them.
"Someone wanted this. Someone changed that. Someone erased my name."
I pointed at the folder.
"But nobody tells me who."
Daniel stepped forward.
"Because knowing the name is dangerous."
I looked at him.
"Daniel, my entire life was changed because of this."
He stayed quiet.
"Someone erased years of my career."
I continued.
"Someone made you disappear."
My voice lowered.
"And someone convinced everyone that we were gone."
I looked at William.
"So tell me."
The room went silent.
"Who did it?"
William looked at Daniel.
Daniel looked back.
A silent conversation passed between them.
I noticed.
And I hated it.
"Stop doing that."
They both looked at me.
"Stop deciding what I can handle."
Nobody spoke.
Then William finally walked to his desk.
He opened a drawer.
Inside was another folder.
Different from the first.
Older.
More damaged.
He placed it in front of me.
"This is the original investigation."
I opened it.
The first page contained a familiar heading.
Operation Black Horizon.
My stomach tightened.
I remembered.
That mission was supposed to be a simple extraction.
It became something else.
Something nobody wanted to discuss.
The official report said our team was compromised.
The official report said Daniel disappeared during evacuation.
The official report said I was injured and removed from active duty afterward.
But the pages inside this folder said something completely different.
Names were crossed out.
Sections were rewritten.
Dates were changed.
Someone had physically altered the history.
I turned the pages.
Then I saw it.
A page missing from the file.
A large empty space where something had been removed.
"What was here?"
William didn't answer.
I looked at him.
"What was here?"
His expression changed.
"Your testimony."
I froze.
"My what?"
"After the mission, you gave a statement."
I stared at him.
"I don't remember."
Daniel looked away.
That scared me more than anything.
"Why don't I remember?"
Nobody answered.
My hands tightened around the folder.
"What happened to me?"
Daniel finally spoke.
"You were injured."
"I know that."
"No."
His voice became quieter.
"You weren't only injured physically."
I looked at him.
"What does that mean?"
Daniel took a breath.
"Your memory was affected."
I shook my head.
"No."
"It was."
"No."
I stepped back.
Because I remembered the mission.
I remembered the explosion.
I remembered the escape.
But there were moments missing.
Small moments.
Pieces of time I always blamed on trauma.
Daniel looked at me.
"There were six hours after the extraction that you don't remember."
The room became silent.
"Six hours?"
William nodded.
"Six hours where you discovered something."
"What?"
Daniel looked at the missing page.
"The reason someone inside our organization wanted the mission buried."
I stared at him.
"And I knew?"
Daniel nodded.
"You knew."
My phone suddenly vibrated.
Everyone froze.
Another message.
Unknown number.
I looked at the screen.
One sentence.
You are finally asking the right questions.
Then another message appeared.
A photograph.
Not from outside the house.
Not from tonight.
An old photograph.
My hands became cold.
Because I recognized the location.
It was the battlefield.
The night of the mission.
But there was something in the picture I had never seen before.
Someone standing behind me.
Someone who wasn't supposed to be there.
Someone who had been removed from every official record.
I looked at Daniel.
His face had lost all color.
"Who is that?"
Daniel stared at the screen.
Then he whispered:
"Evelyn..."
I waited.
His voice almost disappeared.
"That is the person who ordered us to erase your identity."
I looked back at the photograph.
Because the person standing behind me was not a stranger.
It was someone I had trusted.
Someone I had spent years believing was on my side.
May you like
And then the phone received one final message.
Ask your fiancé why he never told you about me.
