Chapter 2
Chapter 3
“And then?”
“I was transferred through channels I was never supposed to see.”
Hale’s voice was quieter now.
“You refused recovery status.”
Olivia looked at him.
“It wasn’t my decision.”
Hale’s eyes narrowed.
“What does that mean?”
For the first time, Olivia hesitated.
Then she said, “Someone inside the operation had compromised our extraction.”
Hale stopped breathing for a moment.
The commander stared.
“Are you saying Grey Lantern was betrayed?”
“Yes.”
“By whom?”
“I didn’t know.”
Hale understood before the commander did.
“That’s why they kept you dead.”
Olivia nodded.
“If the person responsible believed all twelve operators were gone, there was no reason to erase evidence connected to the surviving member.”
Hale stood and walked toward the window.
“All these years.”
“Counterintelligence kept the identity compartmented.”
“And now you are here.”
“Yes.”
“At bootcamp.”
Olivia almost smiled.
“Technically, this is not bootcamp. It is a reclassification accession course.”
The commander stared at her.
“You already served.”
“Under a service identity that legally no longer exists.”
Hale turned.
“You came back through normal accession?”
“As normal as possible.”
“Why?”
Olivia’s expression became unreadable again.
“To build a legitimate record under Olivia Mitchell.”
Hale studied her.
“That is not the whole reason.”
“No.”
“What is?”
She looked toward the door.
“Someone connected to Grey Lantern is here.”
Hale’s face changed.
“On this installation?”
“Yes.”
The commander stood.
“You should have told me immediately.”
Olivia’s eyes shifted to him.
“With respect, sir, I did not know whether you were part of the problem.”
He went silent.
Hale gave him a look that said not to argue.
Olivia continued.
“For eight years, the investigation found nothing conclusive. Then six months ago, an archived supply authorization resurfaced.”
She reached slowly into the old backpack she had carried onto the field.
From a hidden inner pocket, she removed a folded photocopy inside a plastic sleeve.
Hale took it.
The commander moved beside him.
It was a logistics transfer request dated three days before Grey Lantern’s final mission.
Hale frowned.
“What am I looking at?”
“The extraction route was altered at the last minute.”
“I remember.”
“The official change order was supposedly issued by Grey Lantern command.”
Hale looked closer.
Olivia pointed to the signature at the bottom.
“That authorization redirected our aircraft to the valley where it was hit.”
The commander read the name.
Then his face tightened.
“Colonel Nathan Voss.”
Hale looked at Olivia.
“Voss is here.”
“Yes.”
Nathan Voss was now the installation’s deputy commander.
He had welcomed the new class the previous evening.
He had shaken Olivia’s hand.
And when he did, Olivia had felt him pause.
Only for half a second.
But enough.
May you like
Hale slowly set the paper down.
“Why hasn’t this been investigated already?”
