Chapter 20 - THE ADMIRAL EVERYONE TRUSTEDAdmiral Keene did not run.
He appeared on national television.
He condemned the blackout.
Praised emergency crews.
Promised a full investigation.
Then he announced that Commander Mara Vance was under investigation for unauthorized operations involving classified naval assets.
Nathan threw the remote across the room.
“He's framing you.”
Mara shook her head.
“No.”
“What do you call that?”
“A distraction.”
Keene already knew another framing attempt would not survive scrutiny after Rourke.
He wanted everyone watching Mara.
Which meant something important was happening elsewhere.
Mara examined the seven founders.
One detail bothered her.
Every Black Tide operation involved logistics.
Ships.
Warehouses.
Convoys.
Procurement.
Yet NIGHTGLASS had targeted civilian navigation.
That was not smuggling.
It was leverage.
Reyes understood first.
“They're demonstrating capability.”
“To whom?”
Mara looked at international shipping data.
Thirty-eight percent of military components entering the country passed through four commercial ports.
If Black Tide could shut those ports without firing a conventional weapon, it could cripple naval readiness.
Not for a day.
For months.
Nathan found a financial clue.
A private security company had purchased emergency operating rights at three ports immediately before the blackout.
The company belonged to a holding corporation.
The corporation belonged to another corporation.
Seven layers later, they reached one name.
Meridian Global Recovery.
The chairman was Admiral Keene's daughter.
Mara finally understood the plan.
Black Tide was not trying to hide anymore.
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It intended to create disasters.
Then sell governments the solution.
