Chapter 37 - The Ghost's Protocol
We reached a secondary hunting cabin nestled high above Donner Pass by 0400. Chloe sat near the cast-iron woodstove, shivering uncontrollably as the heat slowly thawed her purple skin. I threw a wool blanket over her shoulders, then dropped an encrypted military tablet on the rough pine table.
"Dad sold Marcus out," I said bluntly, cutting through the silence.
Chloe’s head jerked up, her eyes wide with shock. "What? Marcus died in the Pacific! It was a training accident!"
"Marcus survived," I replied, pacing the cabin floor. "And he's been hiding in the shadow fleet for four years because Charles Hayes took forty million dollars from Chinese state contractors to supply naval logistics codes. Charles used my name, my military rank, and my signature to open those Tahoe front companies while I was deployed. You thought Dad was being generous by giving you the villa? He was transferring the liability to you so the federal warrants would land on your head instead of his."
Chloe buried her face in her hands, her sobs echoing in the drafty room. "He told me he loved me. He told me you were cold and heartless, that you didn't care about the family."
"I spent a hundred and ten thousand dollars keeping his business afloat while he was selling out the country," I spat, my voice laced with venom. "I took seven tours of duty so he could drink thirty-year-old scotch and parade around Lake Tahoe like a king. And he threw us both to the wolves the moment the Navy began closing the loop."
Suddenly, the screen on the military tablet flashed yellow.
A text transmission broke through the firewall:
*BEACON IDENTIFIED. EMERALD BAY SUBMERSIBLE STORAGE FACILITY. CODE: ORION-7. MEET ME AT THE WATER'S EDGE BEFORE DAWN. VANCE HAS AUTHORIZED AIR STRIKES ON THE RESORT AREA. DO NOT DELAY.*
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The signature at the bottom read: *COMMANDER HAYES.*
Marcus was here. On the lake.
