Chapter 6: What Andrew Left Behind
Sarah crossed the room before anyone could stop her.
“Claire, are you hurt?”
“I’m fine.”
“Why did you come here?”
Claire looked at Voss.
“Because Colonel Voss sent officers to my apartment.”
Miller stepped beside her.
“They claimed she was required for questioning.
I offered to transport her so she wouldn’t be alone.”
Voss glared at him.
“You have no authority on this base.”
“I had enough authority to keep her out of your vehicle.”
Claire held up the key.
“Is this what you wanted?”
Voss’s gaze locked onto it.
“Where did you find that?”
“In my grandmother’s sewing box.”
Sarah touched Claire’s wrist.
“Your grandmother never mentioned it.”
“She tried.
You wouldn’t talk about Uncle Andrew.”
“I couldn’t.”
“No, Mom.
You wouldn’t.”
Voss smiled.
“This family conversation is touching, but the key is government property.”
Claire closed her fist.
“Then explain what it opens.”
“A secured evidence locker.”
“Andrew’s message called it Locker 214,” Sarah said.
“You knew that before tonight.”
Voss extended his hand.
“Give it to me, Claire.”
“Tell me what happened to my uncle.”
“He disobeyed orders.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“He chose his principles over his family.”
Sarah stepped between them.
“He chose to expose you.”
Voss’s voice sharpened.
“And you chose not to answer his call.”
Claire flinched.
Sarah turned toward her.
“He’s right about one thing,” Sarah said.
“Andrew called me, and I did not answer.”
“Why?”
“I was giving a briefing.
I saw his name and silenced the phone.”
Claire’s eyes filled.
“You told me the call never came through.”
“I lied because I was ashamed.”
“You shut me out for twelve years because you thought silence would protect you.”
“No,” Sarah said, her voice breaking.
“I shut you out because every time I looked at you, I remembered telling Andrew I would always answer.”
Claire’s anger held for another moment, then her shoulders dropped.
“You should have told me.”
“I should have.”
Claire took her mother’s hand.
Sarah bowed her head against Claire’s shoulder, and Claire held her while the tears finally came.
Miller turned toward Voss.
“Give them a minute.”
Voss snatched the key from Claire’s loosened fingers.
“No more minutes.”
He opened a cabinet built into the wall and removed a battered metal box marked 214.
Sarah lifted her head.
“You moved the locker here.”
“I moved the evidence.”
Voss inserted the key.
Inside lay a notebook and a sealed envelope bearing Andrew Hayes’s name.
He grabbed the notebook.
Lena stepped forward.
“Colonel, place that on the table.”
“You take orders from me.”
“Not orders to destroy evidence.”
Voss tore out the first page and held it over a desk lighter.
Sarah moved, but an officer caught her arm.
The flame touched the paper.
Claire did not look frightened.
She looked almost relieved.
Voss noticed.
“Why are you smiling?”
“Because that is a copy.”
His hand froze.
“Grandmother found the original years ago,” Claire said.
“She scanned every page and mailed copies to three people.”
“Who?”
“One went to my mother’s attorney.
One went to Inspector General Shaw.”
Voss dropped the burning paper and crushed it beneath his shoe.
“And the third?” he demanded.
Miller reached into his jacket and placed his phone on the table.
A live call timer glowed on the screen.
“To me,” said a woman’s voice through the speaker.
“This is Inspector General Rebecca Shaw.
Colonel Voss, step away from the evidence.”
Voss grabbed Miller’s phone and smashed it against the floor.
Lena slowly removed a pen from her pocket.
A blue light blinked beneath the clip.
“You should know,” she said, “mine is still recording.”
Voss stared at her.
“After everything I did for you?”
“You taught me to document disobedience.”
He shoved past her and struck the fire alarm.
Sirens filled the corridor as security doors began to close.
Voss slipped through the final opening and ran toward the command wing.
Lena looked at the screen above the door.
“He’s heading for the central server room,” she said.
Sarah grabbed the cracked secure device.
“What is stored there?”
May you like
Lena met her eyes.
“The original Black Sky accounts—and the order bearing Andrew’s name.”
