Chapter 21 - THE ROAD TO BLACKSTONE RIDGE
The ambulance was found abandoned beneath an overpass.
The driver and medic were alive but unconscious. Ethan was gone.
A handwritten message had been taped to the steering wheel.
BRING THE ORIGINAL DRIVE. COME ALONE.
Miller didn’t know the drive had already been transferred to military custody.
That gave us one advantage.
Commander Keene created a replica containing a tracking transmitter and enough authentic files to survive a quick inspection.
“You are not going alone,” she said.
“That’s what Miller expects.”
“And I expect you to obey direct legal advice for once.”
Daniel drove while I sat in the passenger seat wearing a concealed transmitter. Keene and a small JAG tactical unit followed several miles behind without lights.
The storm intensified as we climbed toward Blackstone Ridge.
I called Amelia from the car.
She was being transported into federal custody.
“I need one answer,” I said.
Her voice was barely audible.
“Anything.”
“Did Vance ever mention a hangar number?”
There was a pause.
“Hangar Seven.”
The trident tattoo contained two sevens.
The number wasn’t only a unit symbol.
It was a location marker.
“Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”
“I didn’t understand.”
“You understood enough to hide it.”
She began crying.
“Logan, I’m sorry.”
“I believe you are sorry now.”
“That’s not the same as forgiveness, is it?”
“No.”
I ended the call.
Daniel kept his eyes on the mountain road.
“You did the right thing.”
“It doesn’t feel right.”
“It isn’t supposed to.”
We reached the edge of the airfield near midnight.
Hangar Seven stood beyond a chain-link fence, illuminated by a single yellow security lamp. A private jet waited on the runway.
Through my binoculars, I saw Miller near the aircraft.
Ethan was on his knees beside him, his hands bound behind his back.
Three armed contractors guarded the hangar.
Daniel checked his rifle.
“Keene’s team is ten minutes out.”
“The jet will be airborne in five.”
“Then we slow it down.”
We cut through the fence and moved along a drainage ditch.
At the edge of the hangar, Ethan lifted his head.
He saw me immediately.
So did Miller.
May you like
The general raised a pistol against Ethan’s temple.
“Come out, Logan,” he called. “Or your brother dies twice.”
