Chapter 6 - The General's Invitation
"Bell gave me my command," Rourke said after the call ended. "He carried Thomas's flag to our mother."
Mara didn't soften her answer. "Then he had years to learn how to lie to your face."
They moved through the kennel passage while Torres held Ranger on a short leash. Above them, boots hammered on concrete. An automated announcement ordered every unit to assemble in the north yard for an inspection that hadn't been scheduled.
"That's Bell's favorite move," Mara said. "Separate people, then issue a clean story about what happened."
Cole bristled. "We're not a spreadsheet he can edit."
"To him you are."
A door opened ahead. Captain Elena Finch, the base communications officer, stepped into their path holding a flashlight and a battered metal lockbox.
"Before anybody reaches for a weapon," she said, "I disconnected the tower. Your PA's now just a very expensive speaker."
Rourke stared. "Finch, how did you know to come here?"
"Thomas Rourke came to my father's garage nine years ago. He left this box and said one day a woman wearing gray would ask for it."
Mara looked at the lockbox like it might bite her. "Your father was Eddie Finch?"
"He died last winter. He never opened it."
The box held a hand-drawn map, a scorched ID card and a cassette tape wrapped in a child's birthday napkin. On the napkin, in crooked purple letters, were the words FOR MOM. LOVE, LILY.
Mara pressed it against her lips. She had to close her eyes before she could speak.
"That came from Lily's eighth birthday party. Thomas was there. He brought the cake."
Finch showed Rourke the map. A maintenance tunnel extended from the base to an abandoned water-treatment building near the reservoir.
"The dedication site," he said.
"A perfect place for cameras," Mara replied. "And a perfect place to stage a crisis."
Finch held up a portable cassette player. "Want to hear why Thomas hid this?"
Before she could press Play, a warning light blinked on her disconnected field tablet. Somehow, it still had a message.
MERIDIAN ACCESS: APPROVED.
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The next line read: CAPTAIN ELENA FINCH — DECEASED.
THE RED LIGHT PROTOCOL
