Chapter 7 - The Man Who Couldn't Run
Mara and Turner drove in an unmarked sedan with approval documented through the duty officer. Neither wanted anyone later calling the trip a secret operation.
Luis Ortega met them in a narrow living room, leaning on a cane. His wife, Dani, stood by the curtain, watching an empty street.
"The truck turned," Luis said, "and the steering wheel didn't. The report said driver error. I know what driver error feels like."
He showed Mara photographs of the damaged linkage, taken before the wreckage disappeared. Part numbers matched the suspicious plate at Bay 6.
"Adam was trying to get the same parts pulled from service," Luis said. "He wasn't trying to be a hero. He was trying to keep my accident from happening twice."
Dani handed Mara a yellowed envelope. "He mailed this two days before he died."
Inside was an ordinary birthday card for Luis. Beneath the greeting Adam had written: IF THEY CALL IT AN ACCIDENT, FIND EVELYN. SHE KNOWS WHO PAID.
"Why didn't you show investigators?" Turner asked.
Luis looked down. "A man came here with my disability forms. Said an investigation could reopen my benefits. I had bills, a wife, a kid. I was scared."
"You were threatened," Mara said. "That's different from being wrong."
When they left, a dark SUV began following them. Turner took a turn, then another. The SUV followed both.
"Should I call dispatch?" Mara asked.
"Already did."
Two patrol cars appeared ahead. The SUV peeled away before reaching the intersection. Turner read aloud the plate she'd noted, but dispatch reported it unregistered.
Back at the base, Rourke summoned Mara to his office. Major Victor Harlan stood beside the desk holding an official suspension notice.
"Your access is revoked pending investigation of equipment tampering and assault," Harlan said.
Mara read the document. The approving signature belonged to Colonel Rourke.
May you like
Rourke would not meet her eyes.
