Chapter 5 - THE MAN IN THE HOSPITAL
Samuel Pierce never reached the base.
His vehicle was found overturned three miles from the main road.
The driver was dead.
The passenger door was open.
There was blood on the seat, but no body.
Hayes sent search teams into the surrounding forest. Kane refused to wait.
“He’s alive,” Kane said.
“You don’t know that,” Elena replied.
“I know Voss. If Pierce were dead, the body would be displayed as a warning.”
They found him beneath a collapsed hunting cabin just before sunrise.
Pierce was barely conscious, with a deep wound along his side. Kane carried him through the snow while Elena applied pressure to the wound.
At the base clinic, the medical team worked for nearly an hour.
When Pierce finally opened his eyes, he looked at Elena.
For a moment, fear crossed his face.
“You have her eyes,” he whispered.
“Where is my mother?”
Pierce gripped her wrist.
“She survived.”
Elena’s breath stopped.
“Where is she?”
“I don’t know.”
“Tell me everything.”
Pierce glanced toward the door.
“Voss had people everywhere. Captain Ward discovered that Black Hawk was not a single betrayal. It was a network. Officers were selling classified routes to private contractors and foreign buyers.”
“Who else was involved?”
Pierce shook his head.
“I only saw the records. Your mother knew the names.”
“Where did she go?”
“She planned to expose them. But someone warned Voss.”
“Kane?”
Pierce looked toward the sergeant.
“No. Kane was loyal.”
The answer seemed to surprise him.
“Then who betrayed her?”
Pierce reached beneath his hospital gown and pulled out a small brass key.
“She gave me this.”
Elena took it.
“What does it open?”
“A safety deposit box.”
“Where?”
“St. Gabriel’s Church in Fairmont.”
Hayes’s face changed.
“What is inside?”
“The original recordings from the night of the convoy.”
Kane stepped forward.
“What recordings?”
“Your mother had placed a hidden microphone inside Voss’s command vehicle. She recorded him ordering the ambush.”
The room fell silent.
Elena closed her fingers around the key.
“Why didn’t you bring this to the authorities?”
Pierce gave a weak laugh.
“Because Voss became the authorities.”
A noise came from the corridor.
Kane turned toward the door.
The lights above them flickered.
Someone screamed from the nurses’ station.
Kane drew his weapon and pushed Elena behind the bed.
Two men entered the clinic wearing medical masks.
The first raised a pistol.
Kane fired once.
The man dropped.
The second reached for Pierce.
Elena grabbed a metal tray and struck his wrist. The gun fell. Kane crossed the room and forced him to the floor.
Before Hayes could question him, the attacker bit down hard.
A moment later, his body went limp.
Poison.
Kane searched the man’s jacket and found a small photograph.
It showed St. Gabriel’s Church.
On the back were six words:
SHE NEVER LEFT THE BASE ALIVE.
Elena stared at the message.
Pierce’s eyes widened.
“That is impossible.”
“Why?” Hayes asked.
May you like
Pierce pointed at the photograph.
“Because that church burned down eight years ago.”
