Chapter 12 - No Action Required
Back at the federal field office, technicians copied the drive under controlled conditions. Maya documented every transfer while Nina explained the service menu. June's brass token gave access to a protected maintenance partition.
0210: Encryption unit failure.
0214: Route changed from East Spur to Kharif Pass.
0216: Automated threat alert received.
0217: Threat alert acknowledged. No action required.
0219: Convoy transmission lost.
The authorization field beside the route change read V. SLOANE / COMMAND OVERRIDE. Rourke leaned against the wall as if his legs had gone weak.
"He signed it himself," he said.
Nina nodded. "The ordinary report replaced that field with Nora's credentials. The mirror stores both the original and the revised entry."
Maya reminded us that investigators would need to authenticate the equipment and the logs. But her voice was steady. She had seen enough to request warrants and independent technical analysis.
Then another file appeared: a short diagnostic recording made automatically when the unit failed.
Eli's voice crackled through the room.
"Nora's handset is dead. Atlas is alerting on something ahead. Abort the turn. Tell command we're holding."
A second voice answered, clipped and impatient. "Continue on assigned route. Do not report a delay."
I gripped the edge of the desk. For eleven months I had carried Eli's last words as broken pieces in my skull. Hearing him whole nearly brought me to my knees.
"That's Sloane," Rourke whispered.
"The voice still needs verification," Maya said, already flagging the recording.
The audio continued. Eli shouted, "They know where we are!" A violent crash followed, then static.
Nina shut her eyes. "There was also a failed distress alert. The system sent it directly to the command console."
"Can we tell who saw it?" I asked.
She opened the record. A username flashed onscreen: D.ROURKE.
May you like
Rourke took one step backward.
Every person in that room turned toward him.
