Chapter 4 - THE DELETED MINUTE

On the Resolute, Senior Chief Ortega opened the bridge's maintenance hatch with hands that did not shake.

He knew the difference between a record being missing and somebody ordering it to disappear.

One clean minute had been removed.

"You looking for something, Chief?" asked Ensign Finch from the doorway.

"A reason I should keep serving on this ship."

Finch closed the door. "I changed the coordinates. He made me."

"He threatened you?"

Finch nodded. "He knew my brother was helping review the Mercy Bell loss. He said people who ask questions get reassigned."

Ortega took Naomi's phone from his pocket. The recording was still running, nearly twenty minutes of frightened breathing and muffled commands. He stopped it, saved the file, and placed the phone inside a metal locker.

"The official camera feed is gone," he said. "This isn't."

Finch glanced at the sealed recorder mounted over the chart table. "The navigation safety recorder keeps an independent copy of the ship's course."

"Can Ward change it?"

"Not without leaving a maintenance event. But the recorder resets when we reach port."

Ortega pulled a notebook from his coveralls. "Write down every course change. Ink, not a computer."

The hatch behind Finch clicked.

Ward stood in the doorway with two security officers. "I had a feeling you might be here."

He looked at the open archive, then at the notebook.

"Senior Chief, surrender your access badge. You're being investigated for tampering with government equipment."

Ortega didn't move. "We left a woman in the water, Captain."

"A civilian contractor went overboard during an altercation," Ward replied. "The Navy will determine what happened."

"The Navy's going to hear what happened."

Ward smiled. "Not from your mouth."

One guard reached for Ortega's arm. Finch stepped forward before he could stop himself.

"Sir," the ensign said, "the deleted minute wasn't our first missing recording."

May you like

They Thought She Was “Just the Housekeeper”—Until She Exposed the Billio...

“LET HER GO!” Naomi Carter shouted, dropping the tray so hard the teacup shattered against the marble floor.Celeste Vale turned fr...

He Slapped the Woman Who Saved His Baby—Then His Daughter Said, “Dad, St...

He Slapped the Woman Who Saved His Baby—Then His Daughter Played a Video That Destroyed Everything!“SHE PUSHED THE STROLLER! SHE T...

**MY MOTHER-IN-LAW ATTACKED ME WITH A WOODEN STICK WHILE I WAS 31 WEEKS...

MY MOTHER-IN-LAW BEAT MY BED WITH A WOODEN STICK WHILE I WAS 31 WEEKS PREGNANT—BUT WHEN SHE PULLED BACK MY BLANKET, SHE SAW SOMETH...

Ward's expression changed.

Finch pointed at the archive list. "Someone erased the same minute from the Mercy Bell rescue, too."