Chương 14
Harold’s expression changed slightly.
For perhaps the first time, he was hearing something about me that he could not reduce to social class or family suitability.
I did not find that satisfying.
Shaw’s phone vibrated.
“Facial match is inconclusive.”
“Of course it is.”
“However, gait comparison against archived Ward footage gives eighty-seven percent consistency.”
Mercer exhaled.
“Enough to act on.”
“Not enough to identify publicly.”
“Then don’t.”
The investigator at the door received a radio call and stepped inside.
“Major, Peter Laird’s contractor badge was issued eleven months ago.”
Shaw frowned.
“Background?”
“Clean on first review.”
“Real person?”
“Yes.”
“Where is he?”
The investigator hesitated.
“Actual Peter Laird died fourteen months ago.”
Harold stared.
“How does a dead man get a base badge?”
“Identity substitution during subcontractor onboarding, most likely.”
Mercer looked furious now, but not at Harold.
“Eleven months.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Someone had persistent physical access to this installation for eleven months and nobody noticed.”
The investigator said nothing.
There was nothing useful to say.
I looked at the corridor.
Ward had not broken into Fort Bellamy this morning.
He had belonged here on paper.
He had waited.
That was worse.
“What work orders did Laird receive?”
Shaw was already typing the request.
“Facilities access could put him almost anywhere.”
“Communications rooms?”
“Possibly.”
“Command offices?”
“Yes.”
“Residences?”
“Depending on contract scope.”
Michael’s eyes sharpened.
“My parents’ house?”
Harold stiffened.
Mercer turned toward him.
“Any facilities maintenance in the last year?”
Harold started to answer, then stopped.
“The air conditioner.”
“When?”
“Spring.”
Diane’s earlier words came back to me.
March.
The same month Kessler approached Lauren.
“What else?”
“Plumbing in February.”
“Who came?”
“I don’t remember.”
Harold looked suddenly older.
“I didn’t check their faces.”
“No one does,” I said.
He met my eyes.
There was no accusation in my voice.
That seemed to trouble him more.
Shaw’s phone rang.
She listened.
“We have the work-order history.”
Her eyes moved quickly.
“Laird serviced the Wade residence three times.”
Harold closed his eyes.
“Dates?”
“February eleventh, March seventh, May twenty-second.”
Michael looked at me.
“March seventh was Mom’s birthday dinner.”
I remembered.
I had not attended.
I had been in Denver on legitimate consulting work and called Diane from the airport.
Harold had accused me of avoiding the family.
“He knew the house would be busy.”
Shaw nodded.
“And May twenty-second?”
Harold frowned.
Then his face emptied.
“Our anniversary.”
“You were away?”
“Savannah.”
“Lauren?”
“Atlanta.”
“House empty?”
“Yes.”
Mercer looked at Shaw.
“Search warrant.”
“Already moving.”
Harold’s voice came out rough.
“For my house?”
“For devices, surveillance equipment, altered infrastructure, or anything connected to Ward.”
Harold stared at the table.
“My wife lives there.”
Michael’s jaw flexed.
“So did your suspicion.”
Harold looked at his son.
This time he did not fight back.
The silence lasted long enough for anger to become something else.
Regret, perhaps.
Or merely exhaustion.
I stood.
“Ward wants me to follow Prague.”
Mercer looked at me.
“We are not giving him what he wants.”
“We don’t know what he wants.”
“Exactly.”
“That is why I need the Collins box.”
“You are not going to Richmond.”
“I said I wasn’t.”
“Then what?”
“Bring the box here.”
Shaw looked at Mercer.
“It can be transported under federal custody.”
“How long?”
“Two hours, maybe less with escort.”
I shook my head.
“Too long.”
Michael gave me a tired look.
“You’re not very good at being retired.”
“I never technically finished.”
“That is not comforting.”
Something in his tone almost resembled the man I knew.
I held onto it without showing how much I needed to.
Shaw said, “Richmond can inventory it by secure video under Collins’s consent if he’s conscious.”
“Is he?”
“Last update says intermittent.”
Mercer considered.
“Get hospital security and an agent in the room first.”
Shaw left to arrange it.
Harold watched me.
“What happens to Voss?”
“If we find him, investigators will ask him why he accessed the system.”
“And if he ran?”
“That usually makes the conversation longer.”
Harold rubbed both hands over his face.
“I thought he was helping me.”
Lauren’s exact sentence.
I looked at him.
“You wanted him to be helping you.”
He lowered his hands.
“Is there a difference?”
“Yes.”
He accepted that more quietly than I expected.
“I owe you an apology.”
Michael looked at him.
Harold did not look away from me.
“I’m not asking you to accept it.”
“Good.”
He nodded.
“I humiliated you publicly.”
“Yes.”
“I used soldiers to settle something personal.”
“Yes.”
“I put people at risk.”
“We don’t know the full extent yet.”
His mouth tightened.
“You still do that.”
“What?”
“Refuse to make things worse just because you dislike someone.”
I almost laughed.
“You spent six years mistaking restraint for weakness.”
He looked down.
“I did.”
Michael shifted beside the wall.
The admission did not repair anything.
It did, however, remove one lie from the room.
Sometimes that is the only beginning available.
Shaw returned carrying a secure tablet.
“Collins is conscious.”
My heart kicked hard.
“Can he speak?”
“Briefly.”
“Put him through.”
She set the tablet on the table.
The screen connected after several seconds.
Collins appeared against a hospital pillow with bruising along one side of his face and a bandage above his eyebrow.
He looked terrible.
He also looked annoyed.
That was reassuring.
“You look awful,” I said.
His swollen mouth moved.
“You always were sentimental.”
My eyes burned unexpectedly.
I looked down until it passed.
Mercer leaned toward the screen.
“Collins, can you authorize access to the document box recovered at your residence?”
“Yes.”
“Anything we need to know before opening it?”
Collins looked at me.
“Depends which disaster finally caught up.”
“Prague.”
His expression changed.
The humor vanished.
“Ward?”
“Yes.”
Collins closed his eyes.
“Damn.”
Michael stepped closer to the screen.
Collins noticed him.
“That the husband?”
“Yes.”
“Poor bastard.”
Michael almost smiled.
“I’m starting to hear that a lot.”
Collins coughed and winced.
“Box has a blue folder.”
Mercer spoke.
“What’s in it?”
May you like
“Prague debrief copies.”
“Why did you keep them?”
