Chapter 2 - The Dead Colonel Logged In
Rachel crossed the ballroom without changing pace.
Inside, every operational instinct she possessed had awakened.
She did not look toward Daniel.
She did not look toward Victoria.
She moved toward the powder room, passed it, and continued into a narrow service corridor.
Her phone unlocked with facial recognition.
A secure interface replaced the ordinary screen.
The system displayed the Fort Alden archive breach.
User: WHITMORE, FREDERICK J.
Status: deceased.
Credential state: revoked 11 years earlier.
Access request: GRAYHAVEN DIRECTIVE ARCHIVE.
Location: Internal Node 4B.
Fort Alden.
Rachel typed one command.
TRACE PHYSICAL TERMINAL.
The answer appeared.
BUILDING 19.
She knew Building 19.
Old records annex.
Officially closed for electrical renovation.
Twenty yards beyond the ballroom complex.
Rachel called one number.
"Monroe."
A man's voice answered.
"Thomas Reed."
Thomas had been her operations chief before Sentinel was buried.
He was now officially her executive assistant.
Nobody who knew him believed the title.
"I have a dead credential on Grayhaven."
Silence.
"Whose?"
"Frederick Whitmore."
Thomas cursed softly.
"Daniel's father?"
"Yes."
"You're at Fort Alden."
"Yes."
"And this happens tonight."
"Yes."
"Coincidence?"
"No."
"Extraction?"
"Not yet."
"Rachel."
"Someone wants me to see this."
"Or wants you close enough to kill."
"Probably both."
She ended the call.
When she returned to the ballroom, Daniel was speaking with Caroline.
Victoria stood between them.
Rachel watched from a distance.
Caroline touched Daniel's sleeve while laughing.
Victoria looked delighted.
Daniel looked uncomfortable.
Rachel did not feel jealous.
That bothered her.
She felt something worse.
Recognition.
Victoria was staging something.
Rachel approached.
"Rachel," Caroline said warmly. "Daniel was telling me you work in consulting."
Rachel looked at Daniel.
"Was he?"
Daniel's eyes flashed apology.
Caroline continued.
"My father says you looked familiar."
Rachel glanced toward General Hayes.
"He has a good memory."
Victoria sipped champagne.
"Rachel's work is very administrative."
Daniel stared at his mother.
Rachel smiled.
"Mostly paperwork."
"Exactly," Victoria said.
"Classified paperwork."
Victoria's smile tightened.
Caroline laughed uncertainly.
Before anyone could answer, Colonel Marcus Vale appeared beside them.
"Mrs. Whitmore."
Rachel turned.
Vale looked older than eight years earlier.
Thinner.
Silver at the temples.
But his eyes had not changed.
"You seem familiar," he said.
"I hear that frequently tonight."
"Perhaps we crossed paths."
"Perhaps you signed something."
Vale went very still.
Victoria frowned.
"Do you know Rachel?"
Vale looked at her.
"No."
Rachel said, "That's disappointing."
Daniel looked from Rachel to Vale.
"What are you two talking about?"
Vale raised his glass.
"Ancient history."
Rachel's voice softened.
"The problem with ancient history is that people keep digging."
Vale's hand tightened.
He walked away.
Daniel stared at Rachel.
"Who was that?"
"Ask your mother."
Daniel turned.
Victoria's face changed too late.
Rachel saw it.
"You know him," Daniel said.
"Everyone knows Colonel Vale."
"No. You know him."
Victoria looked offended.
"He served with your father."
Daniel froze.
"My father?"
Rachel watched Victoria carefully.
Victoria realized she had said too much.
"He was at headquarters occasionally."
Rachel's secure phone vibrated again.
ACCESS COMPLETE.
One file downloaded from Building 19.
Then the connection disappeared.
Rachel knew whoever had been using Frederick's credentials had obtained something.
A Grayhaven file.
She excused herself again.
This time Daniel followed.
"Rachel."
She continued toward the hallway.
"Rachel."
She stopped.
"What is going on?"
"I could ask you the same question."
"You're interrogating people."
"I'm talking."
"You don't talk like that unless you're working."
Rachel turned toward him.
"You know how I talk when I'm working?"
Daniel's frustration flared.
"I know when you disappear behind that expression."
"What did your mother tell you about Caroline?"
Daniel looked away.
There it was.
Rachel waited.
"She thinks my career has stalled."
"Has it?"
"You know it has."
Daniel was a capable officer.
He had been passed over for a coveted staff assignment twice.
He believed politics was responsible.
Rachel had quietly suspected something else.
"Your mother thinks being seen with General Hayes's family could help."
Rachel nodded slowly.
"Being seen with Caroline."
Daniel said nothing.
"Did she ask you to leave me?"
"No."
"Did she ask you to embarrass me?"
"No."
"Did she suggest our marriage was a mistake?"
Daniel's silence answered.
Rachel looked at him for several seconds.
"You should have told me."
"I didn't agree with her."
"That isn't the same thing."
"Rachel, what do you want me to say?"
"The truth would be refreshing."
Daniel looked hurt.
Then angry.
"What about your truth?"
Rachel stared at him.
He continued.
"Seven years, Rachel. I know almost nothing about your work."
"Because you can't."
"Convenient."
Her expression changed.
Daniel saw it and immediately regretted the word.
"I'm sorry."
"Don't apologize unless you mean something specific."
"I'm sorry I said that."
Rachel's phone vibrated.
Thomas.
One message.
DO NOT LEAVE BALLROOM. BUILDING 19 TERMINAL USER IDENTIFIED.
Rachel opened the attached still image.
Security camera.
A person entering Building 19 forty minutes earlier.
Emerald gown.
Pearl necklace.
Victoria.
Rachel slowly lifted her eyes.
Daniel's mother stood across the ballroom smiling beside General Hayes.
Rachel showed Daniel the photograph.
"What is that?" he asked.
"Your mother."
"So?"
"She entered a restricted records annex less than an hour ago."
Daniel frowned.
"Why would she do that?"
Rachel looked at him.
"That's what I'm going to find out."
Before she could move, a ballroom staff member approached Victoria and whispered something.
Victoria looked directly at Rachel.
Then at the military police near the entrance.
Her face hardened.
May you like
She raised one hand.
And pointed.
