Chapter 6 - THE BURNED CHURCH
St. Gabriel’s Church stood at the edge of Fairmont, abandoned behind a rusted iron fence.
The roof had collapsed. Blackened beams reached toward the sky like broken fingers. Ivy covered the stone walls, and snow filled the empty windows.
Kane, Elena, and Hayes entered just after sunset.
The brass key opened a narrow box hidden beneath the altar.
Inside was a cassette tape, a handwritten notebook, and a photograph of Mara Ward holding a newborn baby.
Elena froze.
She had seen the photograph before.
It had been taken the day she was born.
On the back, her mother had written:
FOR THE DAY SHE IS OLD ENOUGH TO KNOW THE TRUTH.
Elena pressed the tape into her palm.
Hayes found an old recorder in the sacristy. The machine still worked after Kane repaired the damaged wire.
The tape began with static.
Then Mara Ward’s voice filled the ruined church.
“If you are hearing this, I am either dead or being hunted. The people responsible for Operation Night Glass are protected by men who believe rank makes them untouchable.”
Elena closed her eyes.
Her mother sounded calm.
Too calm.
“Adrian Voss arranged the ambush. He sold the convoy route and ordered the deaths of everyone who could identify the buyers. But he did not act alone.”
A second voice interrupted.
Elena recognized it.
Lieutenant Brooks.
“You said nobody else knew.”
Mara replied, “Everyone who received payment knew enough.”
Brooks had been involved.
Elena opened her eyes.
Kane stared at Hayes.
The recording continued.
“I have placed the complete list in a location Voss will never search. Not the memorial. Not the church. The evidence is with the person he believes died with the convoy.”
The tape clicked.
A violent sound followed.
Mara shouted.
Then Voss’s voice came through clearly.
“You should have accepted the money.”
Mara replied, “You should have learned to be afraid.”
A gunshot exploded on the recording.
The tape ended.
Elena could barely breathe.
“She was alive after the convoy,” Kane said.
Hayes nodded.
“And she was taken somewhere.”
A floorboard creaked behind them.
Kane turned.
Lieutenant Brooks stood at the entrance with a pistol aimed at Elena.
“You should have stayed in the gym,” he said.
Hayes slowly moved his hand toward his weapon.
“Drop it, Brooks.”
Brooks laughed.
“You still think rank matters?”
Kane stepped between him and Elena.
“You were working for Voss.”
“I was working for survival.”
“You killed the driver.”
“He knew too much.”
Elena held up the photograph of her mother and baby.
“Where is she?”
Brooks’s eyes flicked to the photograph.
For the first time, uncertainty crossed his face.
“I never saw Captain Ward after the church.”
“Who did?”
Brooks’s gun hand trembled.
“Voss.”
A distant siren echoed outside.
Brooks glanced toward the broken windows.
Hayes had called reinforcements.
Brooks backed away.
“You have no idea what you’re touching. Voss owns judges, generals, contractors. He owns this base.”
“Not forever,” Elena said.
Brooks aimed at her.
Kane moved first.
He tackled Brooks into the wall. The gun fired, shattering a window. Elena ran toward the altar as the two men struggled.
The notebook had fallen open.
One page contained a single location:
NORTHSTAR TRAINING FACILITY.
Below it was written:
THE CHILD WAS NEVER SUPPOSED TO SURVIVE.
Elena stared at the words.
She suddenly understood.
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The evidence was not hidden in a building.
It was hidden in a person.
