Chapter 4 - THE MAN WHO DIED TWICEBriggs led us through maintenance corridors.
Every camera seemed to be pointed somewhere else.
It took me several minutes to realize he knew exactly which ones were active.
“Where is Ward?”
“Below the engine section.”
“How is he alive?”
“Because Kane doesn't know everything.”
We reached a sealed maintenance room.
Briggs entered a six-digit code.
The door opened.
Captain Ward sat inside.
His left arm was in a sling.
His face was bruised.
But he was alive.
He looked at me.
“I told you to leave.”
“I was thrown overboard.”
He nodded.
“Then Kane knows you're not ordinary.”
“Who are you?”
He looked confused.
“You know who I am.”
“No.”
I pulled the NCIS packet from my jacket.
Ward's expression changed.
“You kept it?”
“It was beneath my bunk.”
He stared at the red seal.
“Then you've seen the second file.”
“What second file?”
He looked at Briggs.
Briggs went pale.
“What?”
Ward stood slowly.
“The packet wasn't just evidence.”
“Then what is it?”
“A key.”
“To what?”
Ward walked toward a metal cabinet.
Inside was a photograph.
A man.
Civilian clothes.
Gray hair.
Dark eyes.
I didn't recognize him.
Briggs did.
“That can't be possible.”
“Who is he?”
Ward answered:
“Adrian Vale.”
“Who?”
“Former director of Black Meridian.”
I looked between them.
“Why does that matter?”
Ward turned the photograph over.
There was a handwritten note.
HE BUILT THE PROGRAM.
“The shortages began two years ago,” Ward said. “Long before Kane arrived.”
“So Kane isn't the mastermind?”
“Kane is a manager.”
I frowned.
“That sounds impossible.”
Ward shook his head.
“Kane is ambitious. He wants power. Vale wants control.”
Briggs stepped closer.
“Vale is dead.”
Ward looked at him.
“Officially.”
Briggs stared at the photograph.
“His plane crashed over the Atlantic.”
“Two bodies were recovered.”
“And?”
“Neither had teeth.”
I felt a chill.
Ward continued.
“Dental records were fabricated.”
I looked at the NCIS packet.
“Why was it stamped DECK FOUR?”
“Because this ship isn't storing supplies.”
He opened another compartment.
Inside were hard drives.
Dozens.
Every drive had a date.
Ward pointed to the oldest.
“Two years ago.”
Then the next.
“One year.”
The next.
“Six months.”
Then another.
“Last week.”
“What is on them?”
“Shipwide surveillance.”
I stared.
“You've been recording everyone?”
“No.”
Ward's voice hardened.
“They've been recording us.”
He connected one drive.
A video appeared.
The footage showed the same warehouse.
But it wasn't the Resolute.
It was another ship.
A sailor collapsed.
Medical personnel walked past him.
A supervisor unlocked a storage compartment.
Then removed water cartridges.
The date stamp was two years earlier.
Another video.
Different ship.
Same procedure.
Another.
Different country.
Same procedure.
Another.
Civilian facility.
Same supplies.
Same shortages.
Briggs whispered:
“This is global.”
Ward nodded.
“The Resolute is only one piece.”
I looked at the screen.
Then I saw something.
A familiar face.
Kane.
Standing inside that other warehouse.
Two years ago.
He was younger.
But it was him.
“He's been involved from the beginning.”
“Not alone.”
Ward froze the image.
Beside Kane stood a second man.
I stared.
I knew that face.
Everyone aboard knew it.
Briggs whispered:
“Chief Medical Officer Grant.”
I shook my head.
“That's impossible.”
Ward looked at us.
“That's the problem.”
He opened another file.
The doctor's financial records.
Shell companies.
Offshore accounts.
Payments from Black Meridian.
Then he opened a final folder.
Inside was a passenger manifest.
One name had been circled.
Hannah Mercer Cole.
My blood went cold.
“That ship manifest is dated three years ago.”
Briggs stared at me.
“You were supposed to be here.”
I looked at Ward.
“What do you mean?”
He answered quietly.
“Your NCIS assignment wasn't created eight days ago.”
He placed the manifest in my hand.
“You were selected three years ago.”
I stared at the page.
My name was there.
Below it was a note.
ASSET TYPE: OBSERVER.
At the bottom:
ACTIVATION CONDITION: DISCOVER DECK FOUR.
My hands started shaking.
“This wasn't an investigation.”
Ward nodded.
“No.”
“It was a test.”
Before anyone could answer, the lights went out.
A voice came through the intercom.
“Captain Ward.”
Kane.
“You've been hiding for a long time.”
Then came a second voice.
This one was quieter.
Older.
Almost amused.
“Bring Hannah to me.”
Ward looked at me.
“Adrian Vale.”
The intercom clicked off.
Then the ship began changing course.
Straight toward the nearest port.
Without authorization.
Briggs looked at the navigation monitor.
“Whoever controls the bridge has just overridden the captain.”
May you like
Ward's face hardened.
“And they are taking us somewhere we're not supposed to go.”
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