Chapter 5 - The Captain They Chose
Travis reached the parking lot and saw the black SUV accelerating toward the gate.
He also saw Mara's vehicle parked ten yards away.
He grabbed the keys from her open console.
"Sorry, Bell."
Then he drove.
The SUV crashed through a maintenance barrier.
Travis followed.
His shoulder screamed every time he turned the wheel.
He ignored it.
The chase lasted less than three minutes.
The SUV veered toward an unfinished service road.
Travis recognized the trap too late.
A second vehicle slammed into his side.
Glass exploded.
His car spun.
He woke upside down.
Smoke filled the cabin.
Someone opened the passenger door.
Boots appeared.
Travis tried to release his seat belt.
A voice said, "Don't bother."
He knew the voice.
Chief Harlan.
Travis looked at him through broken glass.
Harlan smiled.
"You were always the easiest part."
Then everything went black.
Back at the storage annex, Cole survived the gunshot.
The round had entered high in his shoulder and missed the artery.
Medics transported him.
Evelyn remained with the letter.
Robert trusted Isaiah Cole.
That sentence changed everything.
If Robert had entrusted Cole with evidence, why had Cole hidden the truth for twenty-seven years?
Because Cole had betrayed him?
Or because Robert's evidence never reached him?
Evelyn reviewed old dates.
At the time of Robert's crash, Cole had been deployed overseas.
He returned two weeks later.
The official investigation had already taken control.
Perhaps Robert intended to contact him but died first.
Then why had Cole known parts were missing?
When Cole became stable enough to speak, Evelyn visited him.
He looked embarrassed to be in a hospital bed.
"How bad?"
"Doctor says you'll live."
"That's inconvenient."
Evelyn almost smiled.
Then she placed Robert's letter beside him.
"Why did he trust you?"
Cole looked at it.
"Because I believed him."
"About the stolen parts?"
"Yes."
"You said you only knew there were questions."
"I lied."
Evelyn's face hardened.
Cole continued before she could speak.
"Robert came to me three days before he died."
Her eyes narrowed.
"He showed me photographs of certified components being removed from aircraft and replaced."
"You knew everything."
"No. I knew enough."
"Then why did you stay silent?"
"Because after he died, I reported it."
Evelyn froze.
"To whom?"
"Martin Vale."
Of course.
Cole closed his eyes.
"Vale told me the evidence had been examined and disproven. Then he showed me a signed statement from Thomas Price admitting he had falsified the photographs to cover his own maintenance errors."
"Owen says Thomas never confessed."
"I know that now."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I believed I was protecting you."
Evelyn laughed once.
There was no humor in it.
"You let me believe my husband died by accident."
"I thought he had died because he pushed a false accusation too far and distracted maintenance personnel. I thought telling you would destroy the memory you had of him."
"You didn't have the right."
"I know."
Twenty-seven years of friendship stood between them.
So did one unforgivable choice.
Evelyn picked up Robert's letter.
"You should have trusted me with the truth."
Cole looked at her.
"Yes."
She walked toward the door.
"Evelyn."
She stopped.
"I am sorry."
She did not turn around.
"Sorry is not the same as undone."
Outside the hospital room, Mara waited.
"Travis is missing."
Evelyn turned.
"What?"
"They found my vehicle wrecked near the north service road. Blood inside. No body."
Evelyn's anger sharpened into focus.
"Lock down every exit."
"Already done."
"Find Harlan."
"No badge activity."
"Owen?"
"With investigators."
Evelyn called him.
"Where would Harlan take Kincaid?"
Owen hesitated.
"Somewhere he could record him."
"Why?"
"Because they still need Kincaid to confess."
Evelyn understood immediately.
The synthetic audio would not survive forensic scrutiny forever.
A real confession would.
"They're going to force him."
"Probably."
"Where?"
Owen said, "Old communications bunker."
The bunker had been decommissioned eight years earlier.
Evelyn assembled a tactical team.
Mara insisted on joining the command vehicle.
They reached the bunker at 1915.
Thermal imaging showed three people inside.
One seated.
Two moving.
Travis was alive.
Evelyn listened through an intercepted microphone.
Harlan's voice:
"Read it."
Travis:
"Go to hell."
A strike.
Travis grunted.
Another voice spoke.
Calm.
Older.
"Captain Kincaid, you are going to admit that you ordered the unauthorized maintenance release."
Evelyn recognized the voice from archived hearings.
Martin Vale.
He was here.
At Falcon Ridge.
Travis laughed weakly.
"You forged my voice once. Do it again."
Vale said, "Technology creates questions. A signed confession creates closure."
"You murdered Mercer."
Silence.
Evelyn's blood froze.
Vale answered.
"I didn't kill anyone."
Travis said, "That's not what your files say."
Evelyn looked at the tactical commander.
"What files?"
They had not known Travis possessed anything.
Inside, Vale sounded unsettled.
"What files?"
Travis coughed.
"The ones Ruiz gave me before they put him in the ambulance."
Evelyn stared.
Ruiz had given her the flash drive.
Travis was bluffing.
And it was working.
Vale moved closer.
"What did he give you?"
Travis laughed again.
"Come find out."
Harlan hit him.
The tactical commander whispered, "We can breach."
Evelyn shook her head.
"Wait."
Vale was talking now.
"Harlan, stop."
Then to Travis:
"Where is it?"
"Safe."
"With Mercer?"
Travis said nothing.
Vale cursed.
That single word revealed something.
He feared Evelyn already had enough.
Evelyn signaled the breach.
The bunker door exploded inward.
Chaos.
Shouting.
Flashbang.
Harlan raised a weapon.
A tactical officer shot him in the leg.
Vale ran through a side corridor.
Travis was tied to a chair.
Blood covered one side of his face.
Mara reached him.
"Captain."
He squinted.
"You look terrible, Bell."
She nearly laughed from relief.
Evelyn pursued Vale.
The corridor descended.
He reached an emergency exit.
Locked.
He turned.
Evelyn stood twenty feet away.
No weapon raised.
Just watching him.
Vale smiled.
"Robert's widow."
"Major General Mercer."
"Still using rank as armor."
"No."
She stepped closer.
"Today it is just convenient."
Vale laughed softly.
"You think you've solved something."
"I think you're going to talk."
"About what?"
"Robert."
His expression changed.
Tiny.
But enough.
"You knew he discovered the theft."
Vale shrugged.
"Your husband was curious."
"You suppressed his report."
"I corrected an unsupported allegation."
"You forged Thomas Price's confession."
Vale said nothing.
Evelyn took another step.
"And when Robert's aircraft crashed, you removed evidence."
His smile faded.
"You cannot prove any of that."
"Not yet."
Vale almost relaxed.
Then Evelyn said:
"But you just confirmed Thomas Price's confession existed."
Vale froze.
"We never told you about it."
His eyes changed.
For the first time, fear.
Evelyn continued.
"Only the original investigators knew."
He moved suddenly.
Not toward her.
Toward the wall.
His hand hit a red emergency switch.
The corridor lights died.
A steel door slammed between them.
Vale escaped into the service tunnel.
By the time tactical officers opened the door, he was gone.
But he had left something behind.
His phone.
Evelyn picked it up.
One notification glowed on the screen.
A message from a saved contact.
T.P.
THOMAS PRICE: I DID WHAT YOU ASKED. NOW LEAVE MY SON ALONE.
Evelyn stared.
May you like
Thomas Price was not hiding from Martin Vale.
He was working with him.
