Chapter 3 - THE WRONG SUSPECT
Marcus held the access card as though it might burn through his skin.
“I’ve never seen this before.”
Jake stepped toward him. “Why does it have my initials?”
“I said I don’t know.”
“You had it behind your back.”
“Because I felt it in my pocket two seconds ago.”
Ethan’s eyes darted between them. “You expect us to believe somebody slipped it into your uniform?”
Marcus turned sharply. “You were touching my jacket before lunch.”
“I was messing with your collar.”
“Stop.”
Sarah’s voice cut through them.
The recruits fell silent.
Captain Mercer signaled to the security personnel, but Sarah raised one finger.
“Photograph the card where it is first.”
One of the officers approached with a base-issued device. He took images of Marcus’s open palm, then placed the card inside an evidence sleeve.
Sarah watched every movement.
Jake’s anger was shifting toward panic. He wanted Marcus blamed because Marcus was standing closest to the evidence. But Sarah could see his confusion was real.
Marcus’s fear was real too.
Ethan alone was performing emotion rather than experiencing it. His eyebrows rose half a second after each revelation. His outrage arrived too quickly. His breathing remained steady.
Sarah stored the observation without reacting.
Mercer lowered his voice.
“You expected something like this?”
“I expected interference.”
“You expected the recruits to assault you?”
“No.”
For the first time, Sarah looked down at her soaked uniform.
A thin line of water traveled along her cuff and fell from the insignia.
“I underestimated how desperate someone had become.”
Jake heard her.
“Someone? You think this is bigger than missing filters?”
Sarah met his gaze.
“Six military-grade filtration units disappear from a secured Navy warehouse during a regional wildfire emergency. Their serial numbers are removed from the inventory mirror. A recruit’s access code appears on the door log. Then evidence bearing that recruit’s initials is planted on another recruit.”
She paused.
“Yes. I think it is bigger.”
The fluorescent lights hummed overhead.
From the food counter came the muted clatter of a tray being set down too hard.
Sarah turned toward the sound.
A civilian kitchen worker had frozen beside the counter. He was perhaps fifty, heavyset, wearing a white apron over a gray shirt. His gaze was not on Sarah.
It was on the evidence sleeve.
When he noticed her looking, he turned away.
Sarah spoke quietly to Mercer.
“Who is that?”
“Leon Voss. Contract food-service supervisor.”
“How long has he worked here?”
“Four years.”
“Does he have warehouse access?”
“Not normally.”
“Normally?”
Mercer’s brow tightened.
“Food deliveries use the eastern loading corridor. It shares an outer checkpoint with Logistics Building C.”
Sarah watched Leon disappear through the kitchen doors.
“Have security hold him for routine questioning.”
One of the officers moved immediately.
Sarah faced the recruits again.
“You three will remain available on base. You will not contact one another about this investigation. You will not delete messages, alter devices, or discuss what happened here.”
Jake bristled. “We live in the same barracks.”
“Then learn silence.”
Noah’s mouth twitched, but he suppressed it.
Sarah looked at him.
“You recognized the insignia.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“From where?”
“The Advanced Readiness Center. There’s a photograph in a restricted-history display.”
“What did the caption say?”
Noah hesitated.
“It didn’t list names. It said the symbol belonged to the Joint Maritime Recovery Group.”
The captain glanced at Sarah.
Jake frowned. “What is that?”
Noah answered before Sarah could stop him.
“A unit that investigates compromised bases, stolen defense equipment, and internal sabotage.”
Ethan’s face lost its practiced expression.
Marcus looked at Sarah with dawning horror.
Jake took another step backward.
“You came here because of the filters.”
Sarah picked up her wet tray.
“I came here because the filters were not the first thing stolen.”
She carried the tray toward the disposal counter.
Mercer followed.
“What else is missing?” he asked.
Sarah stopped beneath a ceiling camera.
Her eyes lifted toward its dark glass dome.
“The recording from this camera between 0200 and 0230 yesterday.”
Mercer looked up.
The camera’s indicator light was off.
Before he could speak, an alarm sounded from the eastern side of the building.
Not a fire alarm.
A security breach tone.
One of the officers at the door pressed a hand to his earpiece.
“Captain, Leon Voss just ran through the kitchen loading exit.”
Sarah set down the tray.
May you like
The officer’s expression hardened as another transmission came through.
“He has Recruit Parker with him.”
