Chapter 2 - THE NAME THEY DIDN’T KNOW
Captain Daniel Mercer stared across the mess hall as the folder struck the tile.
Loose pages slid beneath the nearest table.
No one moved to retrieve them.
His attention remained fixed on Sarah.
For one fractured second, surprise crossed his face. Then discipline took over. His shoulders squared, and his hand rose in salute.
That gesture unsettled Jake more than all the others.
Mercer commanded Naval Support Activity Calder Point. His portrait hung near the main gate. Recruits lowered their voices when he entered a building.
Yet he was saluting the woman Jake had just drenched in front of the entire mess hall.
Sarah returned the salute.
“Carry on,” she said.
The words released the room without restoring it.
Hands lowered. Sailors sat slowly. Metal chairs scraped against the floor. Forks touched trays, but conversation did not resume.
Jake’s breathing had become shallow.
He rubbed the wrist Sarah had controlled. There was no injury, only a faint red mark and the humiliation of being folded over a table by someone he had dismissed as a clerk.
Captain Mercer crossed the room.
He stepped around the rolling apple, which had finally stopped near Noah’s boot.
“Commander Mitchell,” he said quietly.
The title moved through the nearby tables like an electric current.
Jake’s face changed.
Ethan stared at Sarah as if her features had rearranged themselves.
Marcus withdrew a full step.
Sarah’s expression remained unreadable.
“Captain.”
Mercer glanced at the water dripping from her uniform, then at Jake’s empty cup.
“What happened?”
Jake found his voice too quickly.
“Sir, it was a misunderstanding.”
Noah closed his eyes for half a second.
Sarah looked at Jake.
“A misunderstanding?”
Jake swallowed.
“We were joking around.”
Ethan nodded too eagerly. “Yes, sir. Just barracks humor.”
Marcus said nothing.
His gaze had dropped to the floor.
Mercer’s jaw tightened. “Commander Mitchell, do you require medical attention?”
“No.”
“Do you want security called?”
“Not yet.”
Those two words made Jake stop breathing.
Sarah picked up the empty cup from the table and placed it upright.
“Recruit Thompson,” she said, “why did you tell me to take it back?”
Jake glanced toward Ethan.
Sarah noticed.
“So did Captain Mercer.”
Jake’s mouth tightened. “You accused me of stealing.”
“I asked why six emergency filtration units listed as delivered never reached Storage Bay Four.”
“That’s basically the same thing.”
“No,” Sarah said. “It isn’t.”
The room was quiet enough to hear water striking the tile from the hem of her sleeve.
She continued.
“I also asked why your electronic access code appeared on the bay’s entry record at 0214 yesterday morning.”
Jake’s confidence flickered.
Ethan’s fingers flexed beside his thigh.
Marcus slowly raised his eyes.
Mercer looked from one recruit to another.
“You were in Storage Bay Four after midnight?”
Jake shook his head. “No, sir. The system must be wrong.”
Sarah reached for the folded cuff of her left sleeve and smoothed it back into place, concealing part of the gold-and-black insignia.
“The system may be wrong,” she said. “That is one possibility.”
“And the other?” Mercer asked.
“That someone wanted the record to show Jake entered the bay.”
Jake’s fear loosened into confusion.
Sarah had given him an opening. He seized it.
“Exactly. Someone set me up.”
“Perhaps.”
Mercer studied her face.
He knew Sarah well enough to recognize when she was withholding conclusions.
“Why were you working as a logistics specialist?” he asked.
Jake’s head snapped toward her.
Sarah did not answer immediately.
She looked over the room, noting who watched her openly and who avoided her eyes.
“My assignment remains compartmented,” she said.
Mercer accepted the boundary with a short nod.
Jake did not understand the word completely, but he understood the effect it had on the captain.
Sarah turned toward him.
“Your conduct in this mess hall will be documented separately from the missing equipment inquiry.”
“Commander, I swear—”
“Do not swear to me. Tell the truth to the investigating officer.”
Jake’s eyes moved toward the doors.
Two base security personnel had appeared there without anyone noticing.
His complexion faded.
Sarah looked at Ethan.
“Place the apple back on my tray.”
Ethan bent at once, retrieved it from the floor, and set it near the edge of the wet food.
His hand trembled.
Sarah turned to Marcus.
“Remove your hand from behind your back.”
Marcus hesitated.
“Now.”
His arm emerged slowly.
A black electronic access card rested in his palm.
Jake stared at it.
Ethan whispered, “What the hell is that?”
Marcus looked genuinely terrified.
“I don’t know.”
Sarah’s eyes narrowed.
May you like
Stamped across the card was a temporary clearance number assigned to Storage Bay Four.
And beneath it, written in blue marker, were the initials J.T.
