Chapter 3 - THE DEAD MAN’S FILEEmergency lights washed the radiology floor in red.
Emma could hear people screaming from the hallway.
Mason kept one arm across her shoulders as he watched the corridor.
“You carry a gun into hospitals often?” Emma whispered.
“Only bad ones.”
“This is not funny.”
“I wasn’t joking.”
The red lights painted half his face in shadow.
Emma looked at the weapon.
“You were searched.”
“Badly.”
Four months earlier, Emma would have reported him immediately.
Now someone had shot through reinforced hospital glass toward her head.
Rules suddenly felt less sacred.
“What do we do?”
Mason glanced at her.
“You listen.”
“I’m not one of your soldiers.”
“That’s why I’m worried.”
A security officer appeared at the corner.
Mason raised the weapon.
Emma caught his wrist.
“Wait.”
The officer held both hands above his shoulders.
It was Marcus Dunn.
“Easy!” Marcus called. “It’s me.”
Mason lowered the pistol slightly.
Marcus approached.
“Shooter’s gone. Stairwell camera cut before the shots.”
“Hospital-wide outage?” Mason asked.
“Only this building.”
“Backup?”
“Someone disabled automatic transfer.”
Mason’s mouth hardened.
Marcus looked at Emma.
“You okay?”
“I think so.”
“You were the target.”
Emma didn’t answer.
Marcus glanced toward Mason.
“Who the hell are you?”
“Someone who wants to keep her alive.”
“Funny. Ten minutes ago you wanted to leave.”
“Things changed.”
Marcus looked unconvinced.
A voice came over the emergency radio clipped to his vest.
“Security to west entrance. Suspicious vehicle leaving garage.”
Mason grabbed the radio.
“Description?”
Marcus tried to take it back.
Mason held up one finger.
The dispatcher responded through static.
“Black SUV. Temporary tags.”
Mason handed the radio back.
“They’re gone.”
Emma rose slowly.
Her legs felt weak.
“We need police.”
“No.”
She stared at him.
“Someone tried to kill me.”
“And you want to announce where you are to an organization that survived eight years by hiding inside institutions?”
Emma’s mouth went dry.
“What organization?”
Mason looked toward Marcus.
“How much do you trust him?”
Emma frowned.
“Marcus?”
“How much?”
“He’s worked here eleven years.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
Marcus took offense.
“You think I had something to do with this?”
“I think I don’t know you.”
Marcus stepped closer.
“Mason, right? You threw me into a desk twenty minutes ago. Don’t make me regret not handcuffing you while you’re half dead.”
Mason almost smiled.
“I already like him.”
Emma rubbed her forehead.
“This is insane.”
Dr. Lawson arrived with two nurses.
“What happened?”
Mason hid the gun behind his back.
Emma saw it.
Dr. Lawson did not.
“There was a shooter,” Marcus said.
Dr. Lawson stared at the broken glass.
“You two need to move. Now. Surgical consult says he has a grade-two splenic injury.”
Mason shook his head.
“Not staying.”
“Then you may die.”
“Better odds outside.”
Emma turned on him.
“You are not leaving.”
“You’re coming.”
“What?”
Everyone spoke at once.
Emma raised her voice.
“No.”
Mason looked at her.
“They came for you.”
“Because of you.”
“Yes.”
His willingness to admit it stunned her.
“So if you leave—”
“They may still come.”
“Why?”
“Because they know Owen left something behind.”
“What?”
Mason said nothing.
Emma remembered her mother’s terrified voice.
If Mason Reed ever comes looking for you, take Emma and run.
“You need to start explaining.”
“Not here.”
Emma laughed bitterly.
“That phrase is becoming annoying.”
Mason looked toward the cameras.
“Your brother and I were part of a medical support detachment assigned to Task Unit Echo Seven.”
Marcus frowned.
“Never heard of it.”
“You weren’t supposed to.”
Mason continued.
“Officially, we supported counterterror operations. Unofficially, some missions never entered regular command databases.”
Emma crossed her arms.
“Owen was a corpsman.”
“Yes.”
“He treated wounded sailors.”
“He also kept people alive during missions nobody admitted happened.”
Emma knew Owen had been talented.
She had never imagined that.
“What happened to him?”
Mason’s jaw worked.
“Our team discovered that humanitarian medical shipments were being used to move stolen military intelligence.”
Emma stared.
“By who?”
“Americans.”
Dr. Lawson shifted nervously.
“Maybe this conversation should not happen in radiology.”
Mason nodded.
“She’s right.”
Marcus said, “There’s an old consultation room behind imaging. No cameras.”
They moved quickly.
Mason leaned on the gurney while walking, refusing to ride it.
Inside the consultation room, Marcus locked the door.
Dr. Lawson checked Mason again.
“Your blood pressure is dropping.”
“I’ve got time.”
“No, you really don’t.”
Emma sat across from him.
“Finish the story.”
Mason looked at her.
“Echo Seven found evidence that classified biometric records, extraction routes, informant identities, and weapons manifests were being sold through a contractor network.”
“Who ran it?”
“We never knew the top.”
“Who did you know?”
“Colonel Warren Voss.”
Marcus swore quietly.
Emma recognized the name.
“Voss Strategic?”
Mason looked surprised.
“You’ve heard of it?”
“Everyone in Norfolk has.”
Voss Strategic Solutions provided private security for shipping ports, government buildings, hospitals, military subcontractors.
Harborview had signed a cybersecurity agreement with them three months earlier.
Emma felt sick.
“They work here.”
Mason’s eyes sharpened.
“What?”
“Voss Strategic upgraded our security network.”
Marcus looked at her.
“That’s true.”
Mason stood despite Dr. Lawson’s protest.
“We leave now.”
Emma stopped him.
“Why did my brother die?”
Mason turned.
“Because we found a ledger.”
“What ledger?”
“A file identifying everyone connected to the network.”
“And Owen had it?”
Mason hesitated.
“He had part.”
Emma leaned forward.
“What does that mean?”
“The ledger was encrypted. Owen divided the decryption key.”
“Between who?”
“Three people.”
“Who?”
“Me.”
Mason looked down.
“Owen.”
Then back up.
“And somebody whose identity he never told me.”
Emma’s stomach tightened.
“Why not?”
“Compartmentalization. If we were captured, no single person could unlock the file.”
“What happened?”
“Three days later, our convoy was ambushed.”
Emma forced herself to stay still.
“How many survived?”
“Two.”
“You?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
Mason’s expression became unreadable.
“We thought the other survivor died later.”
“Who?”
Before Mason could answer, someone knocked.
Three sharp taps.
Marcus raised his hand.
“Who is it?”
“Dr. Hale.”
Emma exchanged a look with Mason.
Dr. Hale’s voice came through the door.
“We need to evacuate Mr. Reed. Police are here.”
Mason leaned close to Emma.
“Do not open that door.”
Marcus whispered, “Police might actually help.”
Mason shook his head.
“Ask which department.”
Marcus called, “Which officers?”
A pause.
Then Hale replied.
“Norfolk Police.”
Mason whispered, “Badge numbers.”
Marcus asked.
No response.
Emma’s skin prickled.
Mason pulled his pistol.
Another voice came through the door.
Male.
Calm.
“Chief Reed.”
Mason went still.
Emma watched recognition cross his face.
The voice continued.
“We don’t want the nurse.”
Mason’s grip tightened.
“Then leave.”
“Give us what you took from the warehouse.”
Emma looked at him.
Warehouse?
Mason whispered, “Back door?”
Marcus pointed to another interior door.
“Supply corridor.”
The man outside spoke again.
“You have thirty seconds.”
Mason looked at Emma.
“They weren’t following me because of Owen.”
Emma stared.
“What did you take?”
Mason reached inside his jacket.
He removed a waterproof plastic pouch soaked in blood.
Inside was an old military flash drive.
A label was taped around it.
Emma saw faded handwriting.
She knew it immediately.
Owen’s handwriting.
Three words.
FOR EMMA ONLY.
Her knees nearly gave out.
Mason held the drive out.
“I found it tonight.”
Emma looked at him.
“Where?”
“In a warehouse that supposedly burned down eight years ago.”
Something slammed against the consultation-room door.
Marcus drew his sidearm.
Dr. Lawson pulled two nurses behind a cabinet.
Mason shoved the flash drive into Emma’s hand.
“If I go down, you keep that.”
Another impact shook the frame.
Emma looked at Owen’s handwriting.
“What’s on it?”
“I don’t know.”
“You haven’t opened it?”
“Couldn’t.”
“Why?”
The door cracked.
Mason looked at her.
“Because your brother encrypted it with your voice.”
May you like
Emma barely had time to understand.
The door exploded inward.
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