Chapter 7 - A NAME ON THE RADIO
Captain Jo Park didn't answer the second voice.
She switched frequencies and asked the Coast Guard watch officer to confirm the order. Ten seconds passed. Then twenty.
"Blue Heron," the watch officer replied, "we have no detention instruction for your survivor. Cutter Alder will provide medical care and take your statement."
Mara sank against the seat. "Someone's using Navy authority without Navy authorization."
"Who?" Jo asked.
"That is what I came aboard the Resolute to find out."
Two hours later, wrapped in a thermal blanket on the Coast Guard cutter, Mara spoke over a secure satellite line with Rear Admiral Elise Rowan.
"Tell me the first thing you remember," Rowan said.
"His boot."
There was a silence. Then: "And before that?"
"Ward knew I'd requested the original rescue timestamps for the Mercy Bell. He asked if my brother was worth another eleven deaths. I told him Owen's life wasn't a bargaining chip. Then he pushed me toward the rail."
Rowan breathed out slowly. "You're certain he recognized the inquiry?"
"He said the archive had already been cleaned."
"The archive should be under preservation order."
"Then he's violating that order, Admiral."
"I can issue a lawful hold and convene an investigative team. I cannot undo what happened today."
"Don't try," Mara said. "Just keep another person from getting hurt."
Rowan paused. "We have a bigger problem. Ward didn't authorize the false detention broadcast. It came through a channel assigned to Rear Admiral Damon Kessler's staff."
Kessler had chaired the first inquiry into the Mercy Bell disaster. He'd called the deaths tragic but unavoidable.
"Are you bringing him in?" she asked.
"I'm bringing in everyone whose signature is on that report."
Mara glanced at her phone, finally returned in a waterproof packet by the cutter crew.
May you like
A new message glowed on the screen. No sender. Four words.
NAOMI BELL IS NEXT.
