Chapter 12 - DOCK THREE
The video lasted twelve seconds.
Abigail watched it once.
Caleb would not let her watch it again.
Ruiz sent it directly to forensics.
"Can they confirm location?" Abigail asked.
"They're working on it."
"We know the location."
"We suspect it."
"Aaron heard Warren say Iron Harbor."
"And I'm using that."
"Then go."
Ruiz looked at the ambulance clock.
11:04.
"I need judicial authorization."
Caleb stepped close to him.
"And at noon?"
"Don't."
"At noon, if you still don't have paper, what happens?"
Ruiz stared back.
"I do my job."
"Good answer."
Ruiz's phone rang.
He answered.
"Ruiz."
He listened.
"Say that again."
His eyes sharpened.
"Send it now."
He hung up.
"The video bounced through a transmitter at Iron Harbor."
Abigail exhaled.
"Enough?"
"Enough."
Ruiz called the federal magistrate handling the emergency warrant.
Nine minutes later, authorization arrived.
The tactical convoy rolled toward Iron Harbor at 11:21.
Caleb, Abigail, and Pike followed in a medical support vehicle.
Ruiz had argued against bringing Pike.
Pike had pointed out that no one else knew the tunnel route.
That ended the argument.
Iron Harbor rose beside the gray water like the skeleton of a dead industry.
Rusting cranes towered over abandoned warehouses.
Weeds split old pavement.
Dock Three extended into the river beneath a massive steel gantry.
No workers were visible.
No vehicles moved.
Ruiz's team stopped outside the property gate.
A Navy security vehicle blocked the entrance.
Two armed sailors stood beside it.
Rear Admiral Thomas Keene waited between them.
He wore a dark uniform beneath a raincoat.
Silver stars glinted at his collar.
Ruiz got out first.
"Rear Admiral."
Keene held out a folder.
"This site is under temporary federal classification review."
Ruiz held up the warrant.
"And I have authority to search for a kidnapped service member."
Keene did not take it.
"You were instructed to stand down."
"I was instructed not to search classified archives."
"Same difference."
"Not today."
Keene's eyes moved past him.
They landed on Caleb.
The old officer's expression changed subtly.
"Preston."
Caleb stepped out of the support vehicle.
"Admiral."
"You should not be here."
"People keep telling me that."
Keene's gaze shifted to Abigail.
"Mrs. Preston, your involvement has already caused substantial damage."
Abigail felt something cold settle inside her.
"My involvement started when a nineteen-year-old patient begged me not to send him back to the people who hurt him."
Keene's jaw tightened.
"You do not understand the context."
"I understand bruises."
"Training injuries happen."
"So do crimes."
Ruiz stepped between them.
"We're entering."
Keene looked at the warrant at last.
"You may search for Lucas Bell."
"Thank you for repeating what the judge already authorized."
"You may not access any sealed archival areas."
Caleb smiled faintly.
"Afraid of old paper?"
Keene looked at him.
"You were always arrogant."
"And you were always standing behind glass when things got ugly."
One of the sailors shifted uncomfortably.
Keene's face reddened.
"Get off this property."
Ruiz stepped in again.
"Caleb stays with medical support."
Keene looked at him in disbelief.
"You are allowing a civilian into an active federal operation?"
"I'm allowing a witness to remain at staging."
"This will end your career."
Ruiz smiled without warmth.
"Take a number."
The NCIS convoy entered.
Pike guided agents toward the south side of Dock Three.
The tunnel entrance was hidden beneath a collapsed maintenance platform.
Two agents removed a steel panel.
Behind it was a narrow passage descending below the dock.
The air smelled of saltwater and rust.
Ruiz turned to Pike.
"You stay here."
Pike shook his head.
"I know the turns."
"Draw them."
"There are no straight lines to draw."
"Try."
Pike crouched on the pavement and sketched the route on a notepad.
Three stairs.
Two junctions.
One ladder.
A sealed bulkhead.
"The vault is past this point."
Ruiz pointed.
"And Lucas?"
"Likely before it."
"Likely?"
"I never reached the lower chamber."
Caleb looked at the drawing.
"I did."
Everyone turned toward him.
Pike stared.
"What?"
Caleb's face had gone distant.
"I remember this."
"You said you didn't know the tunnel."
"I didn't."
He touched the first junction on the paper.
"Not consciously."
Abigail looked at him.
"What does that mean?"
Caleb closed his eyes.
"During Redwater, they transported us hooded."
He traced the turns with one finger.
"I thought we were still inside the training building."
Pike whispered, "They brought you here."
Caleb nodded.
"At least once."
Ruiz looked at the map.
"Can you guide us?"
Abigail grabbed Caleb's arm.
"No."
Everyone looked at her.
"He is not going underground with armed men who have already threatened us."
Caleb spoke gently.
"Abby."
"No."
"Lucas is down there."
"Your memory could be wrong."
"It could."
"Then let the agents use the map."
"If the map is wrong, they lose time."
Abigail looked at the clock.
11:37.
Twenty-three minutes.
She hated him for being right.
Not really.
But enough to make her eyes burn.
"You come back."
Caleb's face softened.
"I plan to."
"That's not good enough."
He touched her cheek.
"I come back."
Ruiz handed Caleb a protective vest.
No weapon.
Caleb did not ask for one.
He entered the tunnel behind the lead agents.
Abigail watched until darkness swallowed him.
Then she stood beside Pike at the entrance with the medical team.
Minutes crawled.
11:42.
11:46.
11:49.
Radio traffic echoed from below.
"First junction clear."
"Moving east."
"Found restraints."
Abigail's stomach tightened.
11:51.
"Contact!"
Gunfire erupted underground.
Abigail flinched.
Ruiz's voice shouted over the radio.
"One suspect moving north!"
More gunfire.
Then silence.
"Agent hit!"
The medical team moved toward the tunnel.
Abigail grabbed her bag.
A radio call stopped her.
"We found Bell!"
Her eyes closed in relief.
"Condition?"
Static.
Then Ruiz answered.
"Alive."
Abigail almost collapsed.
"Need medic now."
She ran into the tunnel.
No one tried to stop her this time.
The passage was narrower than she expected.
Water dripped from overhead pipes.
Spent shell casings glittered on the floor.
An agent with a shoulder wound leaned against the wall while another applied pressure.
"Keep going," he told her.
She reached the lower chamber.
Lucas lay on the floor beside the steel chair from the video.
His wrists were bound.
Blood ran from a cut above his eye.
Abigail dropped beside him.
"Lucas."
His eyelids fluttered.
"Abigail?"
"I'm here."
He made a broken sound halfway between a laugh and a sob.
"I knew you'd come."
"You made it very difficult."
"Sorry."
"We'll discuss your manners later."
She checked his pupils.
Pulse fast.
Breathing shallow but stable.
"Where's Caleb?"
Ruiz looked toward the next tunnel.
"He went after Warren."
Abigail's head snapped up.
"What?"
"Warren ran toward the vault."
"And Caleb followed him?"
Ruiz's expression said he knew exactly how bad that sounded.
"Yes."
Abigail stood.
"Stay with Lucas."
"Abigail—"
"Stay with my patient."
She ran toward the next tunnel.
At the end was a circular steel door.
The vault.
Caleb stood in front of it.
Warren stood ten feet away with a gun pointed at Caleb's chest.
Rear Admiral Keene stood beside Warren.
Abigail stopped.
Keene smiled.
"Mrs. Preston."
He raised a second pistol.
May you like
"Right on time."
