Chapter 9

Fear is different when you are a soldier.

People imagine training eliminates it.

It does not.

Training teaches you how to behave while fear is inside you.

I knew exactly what to do under mortar fire.

I knew what to do when a convoy was hit.

I knew how to make decisions while exhausted, bleeding, or uncertain.

I did not know how to sit inside a secure operations center while federal agents tracked a car carrying my mother.

“I’m going.”

Vale didn’t look away from the map.

“No.”

“That was not a request.”

“It also wasn’t an option.”

“She’s my mother.”

“Which is why you are compromised.”

I stepped toward him.

“I am an Army officer.”

“Right now you are a target.”

“I know Fort Ashford.”

“So do thirty agents.”

“Hendricks knows me.”

“Exactly.”

Rainer stepped between us.

“Let her go.”

Vale turned.

“Absolutely not.”

“He took Evelyn because he wants Naomi.”

Hearing my mother’s name in Rainer’s mouth surprised me.

“You know my mother?”

He didn’t answer quickly enough.

I noticed.

“General.”

“Yes.”

“How well?”

Rainer looked away.

Vale said, “Not now.”

I stared at both men.

“What else are you hiding?”

Then the operations technician called out.

“Vehicle stopped.”

Everyone turned.

“Where?”

“Fort Ashford gate three.”

“Why?”

“Gate denied access.”

“Reason?”

The technician listened to his headset.

Then his face went pale.

“General Hendricks’ credentials were revoked thirty minutes ago.”

On the screen, the vehicle reversed.

Fast.

A gate camera showed a guard raising his weapon.

The car accelerated away.

Another camera picked it up heading east.

Toward the abandoned Meridian logistics facility.

Of course.

Everything led back there.

My father.

Rainer.

Voss.

Mercer.

Now Hendricks.

Vale finally looked at me.

“If you come, you do exactly what I tell you.”

“I can do that.”

“No heroics.”

“I’ve never liked heroes.”

Rainer almost smiled.

We left in three vehicles.

The Meridian facility had been closed for six years.

Officially.

Unofficially, federal satellite records showed intermittent power use.

When we arrived, tactical teams had already surrounded the property.

I saw my mother’s sedan near a loading bay.

Driver door open.

No movement.

Vale caught my arm.

“Stay behind cover.”

Then a loudspeaker inside the building activated.

Hendricks’ voice echoed across the empty yard.

“Captain Carter.”

My blood ran cold.

“Come inside.”

Vale shook his head.

Hendricks continued.

“Your mother is alive.”

Rainer moved toward the tactical commander.

They spoke urgently.

Then my mother’s voice came through the loudspeaker.

“Naomi, don’t!”

A sharp sound.

Then silence.

Every muscle in my body tightened.

Hendricks spoke again.

“You have five minutes.”

I whispered, “He wants my access.”

Vale nodded.

“He thinks it’s active.”

“It isn’t.”

“He may not know.”

Rainer said, “We can use that.”

I looked at him.

“How?”

He stared toward the warehouse.

“Give him what he thinks he wants.”