Chapter 11 - Major Vance’s Confession
Daniel came to Elena's office without an attorney, though I told him he could bring one.
He sat opposite Jonah and studied the credential-renewal record.
“I signed this,” he said.
My stomach tightened.
“Why?”
“Cross said it was necessary to keep your cover intact.”
“You knew my identity was being used.”
“I knew the credential remained active. I did not know the purpose.”
Elena asked him to explain the process under oath.
Daniel described a sealed administrative order that he had never been permitted to copy.
He had signed a certification without verifying the attached authority.
“What happened when Rebecca became ill?” I asked.
Daniel swallowed.
“Cross ordered me not to contact you.”
“Did you question him?”
“Once.”
“And?”
“He threatened to reveal your operational history publicly.”
For years I had regarded Daniel as the one man who knew where the bodies were buried.
Now I realized he had also helped bury questions.
“You were supposed to be my brother,” I said.
He did not defend himself.
“I was a coward when it counted.”
Elena explained that his voluntary statement might expose him to professional consequences and that she would seek independent oversight.
He nodded.
“I'll testify.”
I did not forgive him.
But I believed him enough to keep listening.
He provided a contact for a retired inspector general named Louise Grant, who had attempted to audit Cross's office years earlier.
Grant had kept correspondence proving her requests were repeatedly blocked.
Her files pointed to Holbrook Dynamics and a maritime subsidiary named North Channel.
North Channel owned the autonomous vessels.
Kensington Development owned the piers.
Senator Sterling had sponsored the appropriations language.
The three families formed a closed circle around Blue Tide.
Jonah found evidence that the system was scheduled for a live demonstration at the annual Harbor Security Summit.
The date was six days away.
“If the demo succeeds, they can claim the system is safe,” he said.
“And Chloe's findings become easier to dismiss.”
Elena filed an emergency preservation motion and a request to suspend the test pending safety review.
By evening, someone had obtained a copy of the motion.
A private jet filed a flight plan for a country without an easy extradition treaty.
Its listed passenger was Wyatt Holbrook.
At the hospital, Chloe tapped my hand and pointed to the letters on her board.
WYATT DID NOT LEAD THEM.
Then she spelled another name.
May you like
HAYES.
