Chapter 6 - the woman on atlas
Major Ortiz ordered the operations room sealed.
General Voss did not resist.
He simply watched as investigators photographed the coordinates inside the ring.
“This proves nothing,” he said. “The ring was stolen.”
“Chloe saw someone wearing it inside the garage,” Adrian replied.
“A child saw a hand during a stressful event.”
Ortiz examined the ring through a magnifying lens. “The engraving is recent.”
Voss turned toward her. “Major, remember who approves your assignments.”
Ortiz met his gaze. “Tonight, I remember who approved my oath.”
The investigators separated Voss from Adrian.
Voss was taken to a secure office, but his rank prevented formal detention without authorization from a higher command.
Adrian’s suspension remained in effect.
“You cannot return to Atlas,” Ortiz explained after Voss had been removed. “Not until we know whether your credentials were used willingly or stolen.”
“Who is aboard the flight?”
Ortiz hesitated.
Adrian understood her reluctance.
“If the mission is already compromised, withholding the truth may protect the people who compromised it.”
Ortiz locked the door.
“The Atlas passenger is Dr. Elara Vale.”
Adrian knew the name.
Vale had been a senior engineer for Northstar Aeronautics, a defense contractor responsible for advanced navigation systems. Six months earlier, she disappeared after claiming that Northstar had embedded hidden control functions inside military aircraft.
The company denied everything.
Three journalists investigating her claims suffered sudden professional scandals. One lost access to every source. Another vanished during a trip overseas.
“Vale is alive?” Adrian asked.
“She contacted federal investigators through an intermediary. She has evidence connecting Northstar executives to senior military officials.”
“Voss.”
“Possibly.”
“What is the second flight?”
“Transport from a temporary location to a secure hearing facility. The route changes automatically. Only the pilot receives the final coordinates.”
“Then why engrave coordinates on the ring?”
Ortiz opened a digital map.
The numbers pointed to an abandoned airfield outside the official transport corridor.
“A trap,” Adrian said.
“Or an extraction point.”
Adrian examined the map.
“If someone replaced my flight instructions with those coordinates, the aircraft would land where a retrieval team was waiting.”
Ortiz nodded.
“And I would appear responsible.”
The door opened.
An investigator entered with urgent news.
General Voss had disappeared.
The secure office was empty. A ceiling panel had been removed, and a service corridor led toward the building’s underground parking area.
Ortiz ordered the base locked down.
Adrian moved toward the door.
“You are still suspended,” she warned.
“My daughter’s name was on a threat inside my home.”
“You cannot conduct your own operation.”
“I am not asking permission to protect my daughter.”
“Adrian.”
He stopped.
Ortiz lowered her voice. “There is something else.”
She opened a recovered file from the transmitter hidden behind his garage.
The file contained surveillance logs dating back nearly four years.
Four years meant the operation had begun before Voss became Adrian’s commanding officer.
Ortiz selected one recording.
The camera showed Chloe at age four playing on the garage floor while Samantha organized storage boxes.
A man entered through the kitchen.
His face remained outside the frame, but his voice was clear.
“She has his eyes,” he said.
Samantha’s response was nearly inaudible.
“You promised never to come here.”
“I promised to stay away if Samson followed the correct path.”
“What path?”
“The one that ends with him flying Atlas.”
The recording ended.
Adrian stared at the frozen image of his younger daughter.
“Samantha knew about Atlas four years ago?”
“Operation Atlas was created eight months ago,” Ortiz said.
Adrian looked at her.
“Then someone planned the operation before the government did.”
His phone rang.
The call came from Detective Bell.
“Colonel, Samantha has agreed to cooperate,” Bell said. “But she will only speak to you.”
“Why?”
“Because the man who recruited her was not General Voss.”
Adrian’s grip tightened around the phone.
“Who was he?”
May you like
Samantha’s voice came through the line.
“I never saw his real face, Adrian. But I heard Voss call him sir.”
