Chapter 12 - What We Refused to Trade
They expected me to become desperate. They expected a wife carrying a child to hand over evidence, endanger other soldiers, and call it love.
For a moment, I wanted to do exactly that.
"We can't trade the files," I said, hating every word.
Ellis sat opposite me. "We won't abandon your husband. But we're not putting you in an uncontrolled meeting with people who have already lied to us."
Ortiz checked my blood pressure while the investigative team planned. "Your body doesn't know which crisis is classified," she told me. "Eat the sandwich."
I ate three bites. It felt like treason against my fear.
There was an old recording in the drive's recovered metadata, too small to have registered as a separate audio file. A technician had almost discarded it as corrupted. When he cleaned the noise, Marcus's voice came through.
"If anyone asks Claire to come alone, it isn't me. We made a rule. We'd rather be found slowly than lose each other quickly."
I pressed my palm to the table. The rule was ours. After an earlier mission went wrong, we had promised never to make a panicked sacrifice the other would spend a lifetime regretting.
Price nodded. "Then we keep finding him the right way."
The federal team traced the satellite phone to a logistics coordinator who was already cooperating in the fraud inquiry. Through lawful interviews and records, they found a coastal building used to hold people off the books. International partners verified activity and began coordinating a rescue operation.
I was not part of the assault team. I was pregnant, grieving, and under a separate protective order. The hardest mission of my life was staying in a chair while other people did their jobs.
Near dawn, an officer called. They'd located the building. A rescue team had entered and secured three rooms.
"Did they find Marcus?" I asked.
The officer paused.
May you like
"We found his wedding ring," she said. "But he's gone."
