Chapter 5 - A Signature That Wasn't Hers
Olivia stared at the receipt.
"I wasn't even stationed here when those modules moved."
"I know."
Ortiz took a bite of bread as if they were discussing weather.
"That's why I printed the audit trail before someone cleaned it."
They met after midnight inside Warehouse C, where forklifts sat silent beneath security lights.
Ortiz opened a maintenance terminal disconnected from the base network.
"Three months ago, somebody created a shadow credential using your Ghost Division clearance prefix."
Olivia's face hardened.
"That prefix is classified."
"Then your leak isn't some bored clerk."
The fake credential had approved eleven transfers. Most looked ordinary: batteries, field radios, weather housings.
One transfer did not.
A sealed communications crate had been sent to Arden Tactical Systems, a civilian contractor with an office forty miles away.
"Why would a base send secure modules to a contractor without a repair order?" Olivia asked.
Ortiz clicked another file.
"It wouldn't."
The approval line carried Olivia's forged digital signature.
The secondary authorization belonged to Captain Douglas Reed.
Olivia looked up. "Where is Reed tonight?"
Ortiz checked the duty roster.
"Motor pool inspection."
They crossed the base in Hale's unmarked sedan.
The motor pool lights were on, but the building was empty.
A coffee cup sat warm on Reed's desk.
His computer monitor showed a half-written email.
I KNOW WHO BLACK LANTERN IS. IF SOMETHING HAPPENS TO ME—
The sentence stopped there.
Olivia heard a metallic sound behind the maintenance bay.
She drew her sidearm and moved toward it.
A service door slammed.
She ran outside just in time to see a dark utility vehicle disappearing around the corner.
On the ground beside the door lay Captain Reed's identification badge.
There was blood on the edge.
Then Olivia's phone buzzed.
Unknown sender.
One photograph.
Reed tied to a chair.
May you like
And beneath it:
STOP DIGGING, COMMANDER.
