Chapter 9 - Room Twelve
We went to the old courthouse annex with a small team and no lights.
The building had been closed for renovation. Dust covered the front desk, and plastic sheeting hung over the hallway doors. Room twelve was at the end of a narrow corridor.
The door stood open.
Inside, Dwyer sat on the floor with his back against a filing cabinet. His lip was split. His hands were tied, but he was alive.
“Don't move,” Ruiz said.
Dwyer looked at me. “You came.”
“Who did this?”
He swallowed. “Two men. One in uniform. One civilian.”
“Where's the server key?”
He nodded toward a ceiling tile.
An officer retrieved a small metal device wrapped in tape.
“That's it,” Dwyer said. “But you need the second list. Hayes kept it separate.”
“Where?”
“In a private storage unit. He said it was insurance.”
“Which unit?”
Dwyer gave us the number and the address.
Ruiz looked at him. “Why are you helping us now?”
He looked down at his tied hands.
“Because I signed the summary. I told myself it was paperwork. Then I saw the names of the dead soldiers on the investigation memo, and I realized I had helped turn their deaths into a line on a spreadsheet.”
He lifted his eyes.
“I was afraid of Hayes.”
“So were the soldiers who came to you,” I said.
He flinched.
“I know.”
A crash sounded outside. The lights went out.
“Down!” Ruiz shouted.
A flash of light cut across the doorway. Someone had thrown a smoke canister into the corridor.
The officers moved Dwyer behind the cabinet. I dropped beside the wall and covered my face. Footsteps pounded past the room.
“Back exit!” someone yelled.
The emergency lights flickered on.
One of our officers was down, conscious but holding his shoulder. The second door at the end of the hall slammed shut.
Ruiz checked the injured officer.
I ran to the rear stairwell and looked through the narrow window.
A dark sedan was pulling away.
The driver looked up.
For one clear second, I saw his face.
Colonel Peter Lang.
Then the car disappeared around the corner.
Ruiz came up behind me.
“Tell me that wasn't him.”
I couldn't.
She looked back at Dwyer.
“Secure him. We're going to that storage unit.”
Dwyer shook his head.
“You don't understand. The list isn't just payments.”
“What is it?”
“It's the names of every officer who knew the vehicles were unsafe.”
May you like
He swallowed.
“And the names of the people who made sure the reports never reached the families.”
