Chapter 3 - THE KANDAHAR FILE
Daniel Reed had been a ballistics intelligence officer.
He discovered that Hale’s tracking-ammunition program had diverted live rounds into private operations.
The cartridges transmitted shooter location, biometric grip pressure, and weapon serial data.
Every shot created a profile.
The program could identify soldiers who fired outside orders.
Daniel believed it would be used to frame people.
He copied the files.
Then his convoy disappeared in Kandahar.
Officially, insurgents attacked.
Recovered drone footage showed U.S. vehicles blocking the road before the explosion.
Hale’s vehicles.
The range test was designed to see whether I possessed Daniel’s copy.
I did not.
But Hale believed Daniel hid the key in my memory.
Before deployment, Daniel taught me to recognize altered cartridge seals.
Not because he expected a hobby.
Because he expected someone to test me later.
Then Blake confessed he had been assigned to watch me for six months.
His mocking behavior created a predictable social role.
If I objected, I looked oversensitive.
If I stayed quiet, he gathered data.
Either response became evidence.
Nguyen recorded his confession on a body camera.
Tyler attempted to disable it.
That action turned the range into an active crime scene.
Then a hidden compartment opened inside the metal bucket Tyler kicked.
A flash drive fell into the dust.
Daniel’s initials were carved into it.
May you like
The bucket had been waiting for me before I arrived.
Read Chapter 4 to discover who placed Daniel’s drive at the range.
