Chapter 9 - Aaron Sloan Recorded His Own Test
The package contained a video drive.
Nothing explosive.
Nothing chemical.
No trap except information.
That was enough.
Emily’s local police transferred it through proper evidence channels.
Rebecca Sloan had included a note.
SARAH MITCHELL DESERVES TO SEE WHAT THEY DID TO MY BROTHER.
No signature.
She didn’t need one.
The video was six years old.
Aaron Sloan sat in a small room.
Sweat soaked the collar of his uniform.
His hands trembled.
A monitor behind him displayed an image of a wrecked vehicle.
A woman’s purse lay on the pavement.
A child seat was visible through broken glass.
Aaron kept asking one question.
“Is my wife alive?”
No one answered.
An unseen evaluator said:
“Continue the task.”
Aaron stared at the screen.
“My family is in that car.”
“Continue the task.”
“I need confirmation.”
“Continue the task.”
He stood.
The video jumped.
Different angle.
Aaron shouting now.
Not because he was unstable.
Because someone was telling him his wife and child might be dead while demanding he complete a navigation exercise.
Then another cut.
Aaron pounding on a locked door.
“LET ME OUT.”
Laura turned away from the screen.
Mercer closed his eyes.
I watched everything.
The final segment showed Aaron sitting alone.
Broken.
A voice asked:
“What would you do to reach your family?”
Aaron whispered:
“Anything.”
The voice replied:
“Then the protocol works.”
Video ended.
No one moved.
“That wasn’t resilience research,” I said.
Laura’s voice was flat.
“No.”
“That was torture.”
“Yes.”
Mercer looked sick.
“I never saw this recording.”
Laura turned on him.
“You were control.”
“I was removed from that scenario before escalation.”
“Convenient.”
“I objected.”
“Did Aaron know?”
“No.”
“That’s what matters.”
My phone buzzed.
Another message from Rebecca.
NOW ASK MERCER WHO SIGNED THE EXTENSION.
I showed him.
His face emptied.
“You know.”
“Yes.”
“Name.”
He hesitated.
Laura slapped the table.
“Six years, Bill.”
Mercer looked at her.
“Adrian Cole submitted the extension request.”
“Who signed it?”
Mercer stared at the floor.
“Calvin Rhodes.”
The missing warrant officer.
“Rhodes had authority?”
“Temporary technical-safety authority.”
Ross frowned.
“A network warrant officer authorized psychological escalation?”
“He signed as Watchman Systems Oversight.”
There it was.
Watchman.
Not necessarily one person.
A role.
A system.
Maybe a cover name.
“Why would Rhodes approve it?”
Mercer shook his head.
“I never understood.”
“What happened after Aaron died?”
“Rhodes disappeared from the project.”
“He remained in the Navy.”
“Yes.”
“You remained too.”
“Yes.”
“Cole kept consulting.”
“Yes.”
“And Rebecca spent six years building Harbor.”
“Yes.”
The pattern was less revenge than resurrection.
Rebecca had rebuilt the machinery that harmed her brother.
Maybe to expose it.
Maybe to weaponize it.
Maybe both.
Ross’s phone rang.
He listened.
“Rhodes contacted us.”
“Where?”
“Unknown.”
“With Priya?”
“He says she’s alive.”
“What does he want?”
“To speak to Sarah.”
Of course.
The call came through thirty seconds later.
Rhodes’s voice was rough.
“You watched Aaron’s video.”
“Yes.”
“Then you know what they’re doing.”
“Where is Priya?”
“With me.”
“Is she safe?”
“Yes.”
“Put her on.”
A pause.
Then Priya.
“Sarah.”
“Are you hurt?”
“Cut on my hand. That’s the blood in the truck.”
“Why did you leave?”
“Rhodes showed me the real access logs.”
“Why not bring them to Ross?”
“Because Ross’s credentials are in them.”
Ross went motionless.
I kept my eyes on him.
“What do you mean?”
Priya continued.
“Someone used Commander Hale’s certificate to approve the Harbor test environment.”
Ross shook his head.
“Impossible.”
“Sarah, listen to me.”
“I am.”
“The breach in Barracks C wasn’t an attack on the Navy network.”
I frowned.
“What was it?”
“A controlled entry point.”
“Controlled by who?”
“The system expected Jake’s login.”
The alarm.
The staged breach.
The exact response timing.
Someone inside had constructed the whole event.
“What was the purpose?”
“To activate Watchman.”
My grip tightened around the phone.
“What is Watchman?”
Rhodes answered again.
“An adaptive testing system built from Compass.”
“Software?”
“Partly.”
“And partly?”
“People.”
“Who?”
Rhodes breathed out.
“Everyone who believes stress reveals whether someone is fit to lead.”
I looked at Ross.
“Why are his credentials in the logs?”
Rhodes went quiet.
Then:
“Because Ross Hale was one of Watchman’s original designers.”
The call disconnected.
May you like
Ross did not deny it.
📖 Find out what Ross Hale helped create inside Project Compass—and why he insisted Watchman had been hijacked long before Aaron Sloan died in CHAPTER 10. 👇
