Chapter 3 - Why She Came
Twenty minutes later, Olivia stood inside a secure briefing room wearing a borrowed field jacket over the torn shirt.
Hale placed the black token inside an evidence pouch.
"Tell me this isn't what I think it is."
"It's worse."
Olivia entered a code on the wall console. A sealed logistics report appeared.
Six months earlier, twelve navigation modules assigned to emergency-response drones had disappeared during a transfer through Fort Redstone. The missing components were not weapons. But in the wrong hands, they could blind rescue systems, alter coordinates, and turn routine missions into disasters.
Two months after the theft, a training convoy using replacement modules received false positioning data during a mountain exercise.
A vehicle went over an embankment.
Sergeant Noah Bell died before medics could reach him.
Hale stared at the screen. "That was ruled equipment failure."
"Because somebody altered the maintenance records."
Olivia changed the display.
Three names appeared.
Major Felix Ward.
Captain Douglas Reed, logistics operations.
Brigadier General Elias Voss, deputy commander of Fort Redstone.
Hale looked at her. "Those are not small names."
"That's why Ghost Division sent one person instead of a team. A team would have warned the mole."
"And you volunteered."
Olivia did not answer.
Hale knew why.
Noah Bell had served under her.
He had died while trying to save two younger soldiers after the convoy crash.
Olivia still heard his last radio transmission some nights.
Hale's expression softened. "This isn't about revenge."
"No."
"Say it like you believe it."
Olivia met his eyes. "It's about finding who turned a supply chain into a weapon."
A secure phone rang.
Hale answered.
His face changed.
"What?"
He listened for five seconds, then slowly looked at Olivia.
"Pike's holding room camera went dark."
Olivia was already moving.
They reached the detention wing in under two minutes.
The guard outside Pike's room was unconscious.
The door stood open.
Pike was gone.
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On the wall, written in black marker, were four words.
YOU SHOULD HAVE FOLDED.
