Chapter 7 - The Medic Who Wasn't Dead

Owen Finch met us at a twenty-four-hour laundromat, not the warehouse. He had chosen a place with cameras, bright lights, and three exits. That alone told me how frightened he was.

He looked forty instead of thirty. His hair had gone thin, and the paper-airplane tattoo on his wrist had faded into a blue blur.

"Nora," he said. "I should've come sooner."

I wanted to grab him. I wanted to hug him. Instead I asked, "Why is there a death flag in your Army record?"

"Because I refused to sign the corrected medical log. They discharged me and told everyone I was unstable. When I tried to speak to investigators, my benefits stopped and my service file showed me dead. I couldn't get a job that required a background check."

Addie set her phone on the table to record, with Owen's permission. "Tell us about Liam."

He closed his eyes. "The blast hit at four in the morning. Liam was trapped, but he was conscious. I reached him at 4:17. He could speak. He knew his name. He asked whether you were alive."

My throat tightened. "And the rescue?"

"I called at 4:21. At 4:31 we got a direct order not to approach the last truck until a Northline team arrived. I argued. They threatened to arrest me for disobeying."

"Who gave the order?"

"Price, over a command relay."

Owen's hands shook so badly he had to hold his coffee cup with both palms. "Liam died at 4:46. I was still with him. He made me promise to tell you he didn't leave anyone behind."

I turned away, breathing through the pain. Liam had been alive. Somebody had spent twenty-nine minutes deciding that cargo mattered more than my brother.

Owen pushed a small brass key across the table. "He copied a shipping record onto a memory card. I put it somewhere Price would never search. Lockbox 214 at the Fairhaven bus station."

"Come with us to Bell," I said.

"I will. But first get that card. If Price knows I'm alive, he'll—"

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The laundromat's lights went out. Through the front window, a dark SUV stopped at the curb. Owen stared at it, horrified.

"That's the truck that followed me from Darrah," he whispered. "They finally found me."