Chapter 15 - The Missing Recorder
Nash opened the cabinet again.
Empty.
Ben searched the cargo bay.
The flight recorder and documents were gone.
Grace looked toward Preston.
He remained beside Everett.
“Where is the case?”
“I don’t know.”
“You were the last person near the cabinet before landing.”
“I was with my father.”
“Not the entire time.”
Preston stood.
“You still think I would destroy it after what just happened?”
Grace did not answer.
Trust was not rebuilt by one rescue.
Ben checked the floor restraints.
One strap had been cut cleanly.
A crew member named Petty Officer Lewis stood near the forward bulkhead.
Grace noticed his wet gloves.
Everyone else’s gloves were coated in gray mud from the nursing facility.
Lewis’s were clean.
“Where were you during the extraction?”
“Securing medical supplies.”
“Which supplies?”
He hesitated.
Preston looked at him.
“Answer her.”
Lewis moved toward the cockpit.
Nash blocked him.
The aircraft hit turbulence again.
Lewis shoved Nash and ran toward the rear emergency hatch.
Grace caught his harness.
He twisted and struck her injured forearm.
She lost her grip.
Ben tackled him before he reached the hatch.
The missing case was strapped beneath Lewis’s flotation vest.
Preston stared.
“Who ordered you to take it?”
Lewis said nothing.
Grace pulled the case free.
A small transmitter had been attached to the side.
Someone planned to track its location.
Preston recognized the device.
“It belongs to Naval Intelligence.”
Grace looked at him.
“Did you contact them?”
“No.”
Lewis laughed bitterly.
“He didn’t have to.”
The old Night Harbor cover-up had involved more than Preston and Everett.
Senior officers who built careers after the accident still held influence.
One of them knew the recorder had resurfaced.
Lewis had been ordered to recover it before the aircraft landed.
“Who gave the order?” Grace demanded.
Lewis looked toward Everett.
“Admiral Warren.”
May you like
Everett’s face drained.
👉 Warren was the officer who originally commanded the Night Harbor rescue—and the man who ordered every record erased.
