Chapter 12 - The Warehouse Called Sunrise
Sunrise wasn't a place on any Army map. It was Northline's internal name for shipments that disappeared from official records after dark.
Grant's forensic accountant explained the scheme to us on a whiteboard. Medical kits bought with public money went onto trucks marked for humanitarian clinics. Northline employees changed the shipping labels at a staging yard. Some crates were sold through private brokers. Others were quietly returned to inventory and billed a second time.
"Price signed the exceptions," the accountant said. "Shaw approved the buyers. Quinn was supposed to make the numbers look clean."
"And Liam caught them," I said.
"He caught enough to scare them."
Quinn's envelope contained photographs of seals, vendor names, and a ledger showing payments to consulting companies connected to Price. It also contained a short letter.
I DID NOT UNDERSTAND WHAT THEY WERE DOING UNTIL THE CONVOY. I HEARD THE REQUEST FOR EVACUATION. I SIGNED THE CARGO PRIORITY CHANGE. I AM READY TO TESTIFY.
I read that line twice. "She was there?"
"At the Northline dispatch center," Grant said. "She could have heard the order that held your brother's rescue."
A warrant led Grant's team to Quinn's storage unit. It held two suitcases, invoices, and a sealed laptop—but not Quinn.
Back at my apartment, I listened to an old voicemail from Liam. He'd called the week before the mission and complained that Ava had covered his boots in glitter.
"If I come home sparkling, tell everybody it's tactical camouflage," he'd laughed.
I played it three times. He sounded so alive that for a moment I forgot what year it was.
Then Lena called. Her voice was shaking. "Nora, Ava's school says a woman came to pick her up. She knew Liam's name."
"Did they release her?"
May you like
"No. The office stopped her. But she left something for Ava."
It was a photograph of our entire family at Liam's last birthday. Across the picture somebody had drawn a thick black line through each face, leaving only Ava untouched.
