CHAPTER 2 — THE REAL REASON CAPTAIN BROOKS WAS THERE
Elena stepped closer.
Mason could still hear the soldiers breathing behind him.
Nobody moved.
Nobody dared interrupt.
Then Elena leaned toward his ear.
Her voice was almost too quiet to hear.
“I’m here to decide whether this unit should still exist.”
Mason stopped breathing.
For a moment, he thought he had misunderstood her.
Then he slowly looked at the gray-haired officer.
The older man did not correct her.
That was when Mason realized she was telling the truth.
“What does that mean?” he asked.
Elena stepped back.
“It means this wasn’t your evaluation.”
She looked around the training room.
“It was mine.”
The soldiers exchanged confused glances.
Mason’s face tightened.
“You’re evaluating us?”
“No.”
Elena’s eyes returned to him.
“I’m investigating you.”
The room became completely silent.
Mason glanced toward the others.
A few of them immediately looked away.
That told Elena something.
The gray-haired officer moved forward.
“Captain Brooks was assigned here by Army Inspector General Command.”
Mason stared at him.
“Inspector General?”
“Yes.”
The words landed like a hammer.
Elena walked toward a table at the side of the room.
On it sat a plain black folder.
She opened it.
Inside were photographs.
Incident reports.
Medical records.
And handwritten statements.
Mason’s expression hardened.
“What is all that?”
Elena picked up the first photograph.
A young private stood in a military hospital.
His right eye was swollen shut.
A deep bruise covered half his face.
“Private Daniel Kerr,” Elena said.
Mason said nothing.
“Official report says he fell during night training.”
She placed the photograph down.
Then she picked up another.
A soldier with a fractured wrist.
“Specialist Aaron Blake.”
Another.
A woman with stitches above her eyebrow.
“Corporal Nina Hayes.”
Elena continued.
“Seven soldiers injured in eight months.”
She looked directly at Mason.
“Every one of them assigned to training under you.”
Mason scoffed.
“Training is dangerous.”
“It can be.”
Elena closed the folder halfway.
“But people usually don’t fall with fist-shaped bruises.”
Several soldiers shifted nervously.
Mason noticed.
His voice became sharper.
“You accusing me of something?”
Elena calmly replied,
“I’m waiting to see how much you accuse yourself.”
Mason stepped toward her.
The gray-haired officer immediately spoke.
“Careful, Sergeant.”
Mason stopped.
Elena smiled faintly again.
That same smile.
The one that had already made him lose control once.
“You planned this,” he said.
“No.”
“You wanted me angry.”
“I wanted to see what you do when someone refuses to fear you.”
Mason’s jaw tightened.
Elena tapped the folder.
“The answer was useful.”
Mason laughed bitterly.
“You’ve got nothing.”
Elena looked toward the soldiers.
“Is that true?”
Nobody answered.
Mason turned toward them.
His stare moved from face to face.
Suddenly they looked more afraid of him than they did of Elena.
She noticed immediately.
So did the gray-haired officer.
Elena walked toward a young soldier near the back.
Private Lucas Reed.
Twenty-two years old.
Barely six months into the unit.
“You were present when Specialist Blake broke his wrist.”
Lucas looked at Mason.
Then at Elena.
“I…”
His voice disappeared.
Mason interrupted.
“He already submitted a statement.”
Elena turned.
“I wasn’t asking you.”
Mason fell silent.
Lucas swallowed.
“He fell, ma’am.”
Elena studied him.
“Did he?”
Lucas nodded quickly.
“Yes, ma’am.”
Elena reached into the folder.
Then placed a small audio recorder on the table.
She pressed play.
A shaky male voice filled the room.
It was Lucas.
“I saw Sergeant Cole grab Blake’s arm.”
Lucas’s face went white.
The recording continued.
“He twisted it until Blake went down.”
Mason turned slowly toward him.
Lucas took a step backward.
The voice continued.
“Then Sergeant Cole told us if anyone talked, he would make sure we never advanced.”
Elena stopped the recording.
Nobody spoke.
Mason stared at Lucas with raw anger.
“You recorded me?”
Lucas shook his head.
“I didn’t know she was recording.”
Mason stepped toward him.
Elena moved between them.
“Do it.”
Mason stopped.
Her voice was quiet.
“Go ahead.”
She pointed toward Lucas.
“Threaten him in front of two commissioned officers.”
Mason clenched his fists.
Elena leaned closer.
“Make my investigation easier.”
For several seconds, Mason looked as if he might explode.
Then he stepped back.
“You think you’re smart.”
“No.”
Elena closed the folder.
“I think you’re predictable.”
Mason laughed.
But this time the sound was forced.
“You came all the way here for bruises?”
Elena’s expression changed.
“That’s the interesting part.”
She reached beneath the folder.
There was another envelope underneath.
Red markings covered the front.
CLASSIFIED.
The soldiers immediately became still.
Mason’s face changed.
Only slightly.
But Elena caught it.
She placed the envelope on the table.
“You recognize this?”
“No.”
His answer came too quickly.
Elena noticed that too.
“Three weeks ago,” she said, “a weapons inventory audit discovered something missing.”
Mason shrugged.
“Not my department.”
“Twelve M18 sidearms.”
The soldiers looked at one another.
“Two suppressed rifles.”
Mason stopped smiling.
“And six hundred rounds of ammunition.”
The gray-haired officer watched him carefully.
Elena continued.
“The paperwork was altered so the missing weapons appeared to have been transferred to another installation.”
She stepped closer.
“But that installation never received them.”
Mason’s breathing slowed.
His expression became unreadable.
Elena watched him.
“Whoever changed those records had access to internal logistics systems.”
Mason said nothing.
“And whoever did it knew exactly when scheduled audits were supposed to happen.”
Still nothing.
Then Elena removed one final piece of paper.
A printed access log.
She placed it in front of him.
Mason looked down.
His name was on it.
SERGEANT MASON COLE.
02:14 HOURS.
SECURE ARMORY TERMINAL.
Mason stared at the paper.
“That’s fake.”
“Is it?”
“I wasn’t there.”
“The system says you were.”
“Then the system is wrong.”
Elena looked toward the older officer.
He spoke for the first time in several minutes.
“We checked camera footage.”
Mason’s eyes shifted toward him.
“There was no footage.”
“Exactly.”
The officer’s expression darkened.
“The cameras were disabled eleven minutes before Sergeant Cole’s credentials accessed the terminal.”
Mason exhaled slowly.
For the first time, he no longer looked angry.
He looked cautious.
Elena noticed the transformation.
The bully had disappeared.
Something colder had replaced him.
“You should have stayed away from this,” Mason said.
The gray-haired officer frowned.
“What did you say?”
Mason looked at Elena.
“I said you should have stayed away.”
Two soldiers near the door instinctively moved closer.
Mason saw them.
Then smiled.
“This investigation is bigger than you think.”
Elena crossed her arms.
“Then explain it.”
Mason shook his head.
“You still don’t understand.”
“What?”
He glanced toward the soldiers.
“The weapons weren’t stolen.”
Elena’s eyes narrowed.
“Then where are they?”
Mason looked directly at her.
“They were issued.”
“To who?”
Mason remained silent.
Elena stepped closer.
“To who, Sergeant?”
Before he could answer—
the training room lights went out.
Everything went black.
Someone shouted.
Then came the metallic sound of the doors locking.
CLANK.
Elena immediately reached for her sidearm.
Emergency red lights flickered on.
Mason was gone.
“Where is he?” the older officer demanded.
The soldiers turned.
The spot where Mason had been standing was empty.
Then a scream came from the hallway.
Elena ran toward the door.
Locked.
She slammed her shoulder against it.
Nothing.
A voice crackled through the ceiling speakers.
Mason.
“Captain Brooks.”
Elena froze.
His voice echoed across the room.
“You wanted to know where the weapons went.”
A pause.
“I’ll show you.”
The large observation window overlooking the training yard suddenly illuminated.
Everyone turned.
Outside stood twelve soldiers.
All wearing black tactical equipment.
No unit patches.
No visible names.
And every one of them carried weapons.
Elena immediately recognized the missing rifles.
The older officer’s face went pale.
“What the hell is this?”
Mason’s voice returned through the speakers.
“You thought I was abusing soldiers.”
He laughed softly.
“You were investigating the wrong crime.”
Elena scanned the armed group.
Then she noticed one man in the center.
He wasn’t wearing a helmet.
He slowly lifted his head.
Elena’s face changed.
She knew him.
Impossible.
Colonel David Brooks.
Her father.
The decorated officer who had supposedly died in a helicopter crash seven years earlier.
Elena stepped toward the glass.
“Dad?”
The gray-haired officer grabbed her arm.
“Elena, don’t.”
Her father looked directly through the window.
Directly at her.
Then he raised his hand.
Not to wave.
To signal the armed men around him.
They immediately raised their rifles.
All twelve weapons pointed toward the training room.
Mason’s voice came one final time through the speakers.
“Captain Brooks…”
“You weren’t sent here to investigate me.”
A red laser appeared on Elena’s chest.
Then another.
Then six more.
“You were sent here because your father wanted to know whose side you were really on.”
Elena stared through the glass at the man she had buried seven years ago.
And then her father silently mouthed three words.
DON’T TRUST THEM.
