Chapter 8 - A Father's Debt

Dad didn't deny visiting the unit. He denied taking the drive.

"Kessler called me," he said when Torres brought him in. "He said Harper would go there. He told me to find it before she did."

"So you broke into her property?" Torres asked.

"I was trying to protect her."

I let out a laugh that felt like broken glass. "You've been protecting yourself for five years."

He looked at my bandaged shoulder, where Chloe's attack had reopened an old seam of scar tissue. "You don't know what he threatened."

"Tell me."

"He said he'd release a file proving I accepted money. He said Chloe would lose her career."

Chloe had built a glossy business organizing military charity events. Her company lived on my father's contacts. The thought of scandal terrified him more than the thought of another dead daughter.

"He threatened my reputation too," I said. "You didn't seem concerned about that."

Dad lowered his head.

Torres showed him images from the camera. A second figure entered after he'd left. Hood up, face covered. The figure carried the metal case Kessler had brought to the gala.

"Someone beat us to it," Torres said.

I studied the figure's stride. A slight hitch in the right knee, followed by two fast steps. I knew that walk.

"Ben," I whispered.

Vale turned. "Ben Ortiz was declared killed in action."

"I know what the paperwork said."

The figure paused beneath a light. A necklace swung outside the collar: a plain silver compass, its face cracked at the edge. I'd given Ben that compass on his twenty-sixth birthday.

My stomach tightened. Was this a second ghost, or somebody dressed to make me chase one?

Torres enlarged the last frame. The person had written something in the dust on the window before leaving.

Three letters: PIER.

Then a number: 17.

"Pier Seventeen," I said. "That's where Ben told me we'd meet if the convoy split up."

Vale studied me. "And did you?"

"No," I answered. "I was in surgery when he called."

My phone rang from a blocked number.

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A man's voice, scraped raw but unmistakable, said, "Harper, if you want the truth about that night, come alone."

THE SCARS THE ADMIRAL REMEMBERED