Chapter 4 - The Order That Never ExistedThe screen went black.
Nobody moved.
I looked at Chase.
“What did he mean?”
He said nothing.
General Hale's eyes never left him.
“Chase.”
“Sir…”
“Explain.”
“I can't.”
The general stepped forward.
“You just heard your own name on a classified combat recording.”
Chase shook his head.
“You don't understand.”
“Then make me understand.”
Chase looked at me.
“I thought everyone was dead.”
My stomach tightened.
“Who?”
“The extraction team.”
“That doesn't answer the question.”
He rubbed both hands over his face.
“That night…”
His voice broke.
“We lost communication.”
General Hale interrupted.
“With whom?”
“Command.”
I stared at him.
“You were supposed to report to me.”
“I know.”
“You vanished.”
“I know.”
“And I found you.”
“No.”
I frowned.
Chase swallowed.
“You didn't find me.”
“What?”
“I found you.”
The room became silent.
He continued.
“You were moving through the corridor with twenty-two men.”
My memory shifted.
A corridor.
Smoke.
Fire.
A helicopter burning.
Twenty-three names.
One voice missing.
Chase.
I had searched for him.
But perhaps…
Perhaps I had found him earlier than I remembered.
I closed my eyes.
Images returned.
“Tell me what happened,” I whispered.
Chase looked away.
“You ordered us to move toward the eastern ridge.”
“Yes.”
“Then the enemy blocked it.”
“Yes.”
“You told me to take six men around the south side.”
I nodded slowly.
“And?”
“I did.”
“You were supposed to signal.”
“I couldn't.”
“You had a radio.”
“It was destroyed.”
“No.”
He looked at me.
“You took it.”
I froze.
“What?”
“I saw you break my radio.”
My pulse accelerated.
“I wouldn't do that.”
“You did.”
“Why?”
“You said it was compromised.”
General Hale stared at him.
“And was it?”
Chase looked down.
“Yes.”
“How?”
“I don't know.”
The general stepped toward him.
“You knew the signal was compromised?”
“I suspected.”
“Based on what?”
Chase hesitated.
Then he whispered,
“The enemy was reacting before we transmitted.”
Nobody spoke.
That meant there had been a leak.
Someone on the inside.
Someone knew where we were moving before we moved.
I looked at the photograph.
Seven soldiers.
A burning helicopter.
One of them had been turned away from the camera.
“Who else had our route?”
Chase didn't answer.
I already knew the answer.
“The command post.”
General Hale nodded.
“That's why Night Lantern was sealed.”
My father, who had been standing near the door, whispered,
“Why didn't anyone tell us?”
General Hale looked at him.
“Because twenty-three Americans went in.”
He pointed at the photograph.
“Twenty-two came back.”
“And?”
“One of those twenty-three had been carrying something.”
“What?”
“A data drive.”
Chase went pale.
I remembered it.
Evan had shown it to me three hours before the operation.
He had whispered,
“Captain, this proves the breach.”
“What breach?”
“Someone inside our command structure is selling convoy routes.”
I remembered laughing.
I had thought he was exhausted.
Then he showed me files.
Movement logs.
Encrypted schedules.
Names.
Payments.
And one name circled twice.
I opened my eyes.
“Evan knew.”
General Hale nodded.
“My son had discovered the leak.”
“And Night Lantern was not just a rescue mission.”
“No.”
“It was also an extraction of the evidence.”
“Yes.”
My father looked horrified.
“You sent your daughter into that?”
“She volunteered.”
I looked at General Hale.
“You knew about the drive.”
“Yes.”
“Did Evan tell you?”
“He sent me a message.”
“What did it say?”
The general's expression hardened.
“He said, ‘Trust Mara. Not Chase.’”
The room went still.
Chase's face crumpled.
“No.”
General Hale looked at him.
“Those were his last words to me.”
Chase stepped backward.
“You're lying.”
“I have the recording.”
“Then play it.”
General Hale turned to the terminal.
Another file appeared.
The date was the same.
The audio began.
Static.
Then Evan's voice.
“Dad…”
A burst of gunfire.
Then:
“If anything happens…”
His breathing was ragged.
“Trust Mara.”
A pause.
“Not Chase.”
Chase sank into a chair.
My hands were shaking.
For ten years, I had believed my silence protected a man who had made one terrible mistake in a war zone.
Now I wasn't sure anymore.
Because Evan had not sounded afraid of Chase.
He had sounded afraid of what Chase knew.
The general closed the file.
“We have thirty-six hours.”
“For what?”
“To find the person who reopened Night Lantern.”
“Why thirty-six?”
He looked at me.
“Because the stolen folder contains one thing that could destroy several careers.”
“What?”
“The identity of the officer who betrayed the operation.”
A cold sensation ran through me.
“Someone inside the command structure.”
General Hale nodded.
“And that person knows the archive was opened.”
He looked toward the door.
“So now they know we know.”
The lights suddenly went out.
Emergency alarms screamed.
May you like
Then every locked archive cabinet slammed open at once.
And from the hallway came a single gunshot.
Related Stories
