Chapter 2 - Building Twelve
At 5:42 the next morning, Ryan Cole stood outside Building Twelve wearing a perfectly pressed uniform and carrying the worst headache of his life.
Jake arrived first.
Chris came two minutes later.
Matt appeared last, clutching his phone.
Nobody had slept.
"You still have it?" Ryan asked.
Matt nodded.
"The whole recording?"
"Everything."
Jake rubbed both hands across his face.
"This is insane."
Ryan stared at the entrance.
"Nobody says anything stupid."
Chris laughed bitterly.
"Little late for that."
At precisely 0555, the doors unlocked.
A master sergeant appeared.
"Cole. Miller. Dalton. Brooks."
The four men stepped forward.
"Phones."
Matt hesitated.
"All phones."
They surrendered them.
The master sergeant placed the devices inside individual evidence bags.
Ryan noticed the labels had already been printed.
Their names were already on them.
That bothered him.
They were escorted downstairs.
Not upstairs.
Ryan had been inside Building Twelve twice before, but he had never seen the basement.
At the bottom of the stairs was a secure corridor.
Colonel Mercer waited beside a steel door.
"Inside."
They entered.
Elena Graves was already seated at the far end of a conference table.
No red dress.
No beer-soaked hair.
She wore a perfectly fitted service uniform.
Her expression was unreadable.
Beside her sat a civilian woman in a gray suit and a military investigator Ryan recognized immediately.
Major Allison Price.
That changed everything.
Price didn't handle bar fights.
She handled corruption investigations.
Elena gestured toward four chairs.
"Sit."
They obeyed.
A large screen illuminated behind her.
Matt's recording appeared.
Ryan watched himself approach Elena.
He watched the beer pour.
He heard himself laughing.
Then Jake dumped the fries.
Chris laughed.
Matt zoomed in.
Ryan felt sick.
Elena paused the recording.
"Embarrassing?"
Nobody answered.
"I asked a question."
"Yes, ma'am," Ryan said.
Elena nodded.
"Good."
She switched the screen.
A personnel file appeared.
Ryan Cole.
Decorated Marine.
Two commendations.
One deployment.
Excellent physical scores.
Strong leadership evaluations.
Then another document appeared.
COMPLAINT 17-441.
Ryan frowned.
He had never seen it.
Elena watched his face.
"Recognize that number?"
"No, ma'am."
She opened the document.
The name of the complainant had been redacted.
The accusation had not.
Harassment.
Intimidation.
Retaliation.
Ryan leaned forward.
"That's not mine."
"It was filed against your unit."
Ryan looked toward Jake.
Jake appeared equally confused.
Elena opened another.
COMPLAINT 18-092.
Then another.
COMPLAINT 18-311.
Another.
COMPLAINT 19-004.
Chris whispered, "What the hell?"
Elena folded her hands.
"Twenty-three complaints in fourteen months."
Ryan shook his head.
"I've never seen these."
"Neither have I," Jake said.
Elena looked toward Major Price.
Price placed a thick folder on the table.
"That's the problem."
Ryan stared at her.
Elena continued.
"Three weeks ago, I was selected to assume command of this installation."
Ryan nodded slowly.
"Before accepting, I requested the disciplinary records."
She tapped the folder.
"What I received looked remarkably clean."
The screen changed again.
This time it showed a photograph.
A young Marine stood beside a hospital bed.
His face was badly bruised.
Ryan recognized him.
Private Evan Shaw.
Ryan immediately straightened.
"Shaw transferred."
"No," Elena said.
Ryan stared at her.
"He resigned."
"No."
Elena's voice remained calm.
"Evan Shaw disappeared."
Nobody spoke.
Elena changed the image.
A surveillance photograph appeared.
It showed Shaw entering the same dive bar.
Timestamped eleven months earlier.
Elena zoomed in.
Ryan's stomach tightened.
Standing behind Shaw was Staff Sergeant Daniel Voss.
Ryan's former platoon leader.
Voss had been transferred six months ago.
At least, that was what everyone had been told.
Elena leaned back.
"Last night wasn't primarily a test of you."
Ryan looked at her.
"It was a test of the system."
She pressed another button.
Security footage appeared.
Ryan watched himself pour the beer.
But the camera angle wasn't Matt's.
It came from the bar's ceiling.
Then another angle appeared.
Then another.
The entire room had been under surveillance.
Elena looked directly at Ryan.
"Within seven minutes of your assault on me, three people attempted to delete the bar's security footage remotely."
Ryan's headache vanished.
"Who?"
Elena didn't answer.
Instead she placed a photograph in front of him.
It showed Evan Shaw.
Alive.
The photograph had been taken four days earlier.
Ryan stared.
"Where is he?"
May you like
Elena's expression hardened.
"That's what you're going to help me find out."
