Chapter 2 - THE DEAD COLONEL
Colonel Marcus Hale had never died.
The Army had announced his death after Kandahar because he entered a classified weapons-interdiction program.
The program tracked stolen military ammunition through embedded transmitters.
The altered bullet in Tyler’s rifle was one of those trackers.
But the program had become compromised.
Some rounds were now being used to identify whistleblowers, auditors, and witnesses.
I had been sent to the range because ammunition from Tyler’s unit matched a shipment tied to my husband’s disappearance.
Tyler’s humiliation was not random cruelty.
It was behavioral pressure.
Hale wanted to know whether I would obey, break, or expose the round.
I exposed it.
That meant I still remembered the forensic signature my husband taught me.
Tyler received orders to detain me.
Nguyen refused to assist.
Blake sided with Tyler.
The range split in seconds.
Then the black vehicles reached the berm.
No unit markings.
Men in mixed uniforms stepped out.
Hale remained by the white truck.
He raised a radio.
“Emily, lower the rifle.”
“Where is my husband?”
“Alive.”
Everything inside me stopped.
“Prove it.”
Hale pointed toward the lead vehicle.
The rear door opened.
A man sat inside wearing a desert hood.
Same height as Daniel Reed.
Same scar across the left hand.
Then the door closed.
Hale said:
“Fire the rifle and I’ll release him.”
I looked at the target.
The transmitter round would reveal something when fired.
Maybe our position.
Maybe another hidden team.
Maybe Daniel’s location.
Tyler whispered:
“Take the shot.”
I looked at him.
“You just tried to stop me.”
“That was before Hale confirmed your husband.”
The contradiction exposed him.
Tyler did not care whether Daniel lived.
He cared which order protected him.
Then Nguyen saw something through his binoculars.
“The man in the vehicle has no shadow.”
The image was a projection.
Daniel was not there.
May you like
Hale had used grief as bait.
Read Chapter 3 to learn what really happened to Daniel Reed.
