Chapter 10 - The File Ethan Cole Left Behind
Jack entered the room.
Laura objected.
Anthony did not.
The two men looked at each other after more than thirty years.
Anthony stood.
"Sergeant."
"Don't call me that."
Anthony nodded.
"Jack."
"What is Final Phase?"
Anthony looked toward Laura.
She activated the recorder again.
Anthony sat.
"Mercer believes you have something Ethan Cole sent before he died."
"He's been dead fourteen years."
"That's what I thought too."
Jack frowned.
"What does that mean?"
Anthony ignored the question.
"Did Ethan ever send you a package?"
"No."
"Letter?"
"Maybe."
"What was in it?"
"Christmas card. Photos."
"Nothing else?"
"No."
Anthony looked disappointed.
Jack remembered something.
A storage box.
After Ethan's memorial, his widow had mailed Jack several personal effects.
A challenge coin.
A photograph.
Notebook.
Jack had never examined the notebook closely.
His stomach tightened.
"Maybe."
Anthony saw it.
"Jack."
"Stay here."
Laura said:
"Nobody is going anywhere."
Jack explained.
The notebook was still at his house.
Police recovered it.
Most pages contained training notes.
Deployment dates.
Names.
Then an envelope fell from the back cover.
Sealed.
Addressed to Jack.
He had never seen it.
Jack opened it in Laura's presence.
Inside was a memory chip and a note.
Sergeant,
If anything happens to me, this isn't about the war.
Follow Mercer.
E.C.
Laura looked up.
"Cole Mercer?"
Anthony whispered:
"No."
"What?"
"Different Mercer."
Jack frowned.
Anthony continued.
"Cole Mercer is the son."
"Whose?"
"Victor Mercer."
Jack remembered the name.
Private security contractor.
Accused years earlier of trafficking weapons through overseas security programs.
Never convicted.
Ethan had worked with one of his companies after leaving active service.
Laura inserted the chip into forensic equipment.
Files appeared.
Invoices.
Contracts.
Names.
Payments.
One document listed American combat training instructors whose methods had been repackaged and sold to private security groups.
Jack's name appeared.
He stared.
"I never authorized this."
Anthony nodded.
"Exactly."
Someone had used Jack's training curriculum.
Modified it.
Sold it.
Then adapted it for civilian coercion programs.
Laura looked sick.
"What kind of programs?"
Anthony answered:
"Behavioral pressure. Detention. Interrogation."
Jack's face hardened.
"You're saying Mercer made money using my name."
"Not publicly."
"Then why care whether I know?"
"Because Ethan discovered it."
Laura opened another folder.
Videos.
One showed Victor Mercer discussing training systems.
Another showed Rick Dalton.
Years younger.
Anthony whispered:
"There."
Rick had worked with Mercer after leaving the Marines.
The connection existed for decades.
Jack understood.
His testimony had not simply ended Rick's military career.
It had pushed Rick into Mercer's orbit.
Rick turned resentment into business.
Then revenge.
Hannah had become personal leverage and operational leverage simultaneously.
Laura opened one final document.
A list of instructors.
Most retired.
Some dead.
One highlighted.
JACK MILLER.
Status:
UNRESOLVED.
Jack laughed without humor.
"That's encouraging."
Anthony looked at him.
"Now you understand why I watched Hannah."
"No."
Jack's voice hardened.
"You let Dustin get close."
"I didn't know how far Rick would go."
"You knew enough to surveil her."
"Yes."
"You could have called me."
Anthony looked away.
"Why didn't you?"
Silence.
Jack stepped closer.
"Why?"
Anthony finally answered:
"Because Mercer has someone inside law enforcement."
Laura's expression changed.
"Who?"
"I don't know."
"Convenient."
Anthony looked at her.
"Rick knew about the Forge warrant before your team arrived."
Laura became still.
Jack remembered.
The warehouse had been emptied.
A leak.
Anthony continued:
"And he knew about Hannah's protected location."
Jack turned toward Laura.
The photo through the hospital window.
The gym bag.
Laura whispered:
"Only six people had that address."
May you like
Anthony nodded.
"One of them is working for Mercer."
