HE GRABBED A STRANGER IN THE DESERT, NEVER REALIZING WHO WAS WATCHING HIM
Chapter 5
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Three days later, Daniel received permission to examine the recovered files.The review took place in a secure office at the military base. Thomas waited outside, sitting in a chair beneath a fluorescent light that buzzed intermittently.Daniel had told him to go home.Thomas had refused.“My son waited for answers,” he had said. “I can wait for them too.”Inside the office, Daniel opened the first file.The report described the operation as a tragic failure caused by rapidly changing conditions. Several communications had been lost. The convoy had taken a route that was believed to be safe. The surviving soldiers had acted courageously under extreme pressure.Nothing in the report directly accused anyone of wrongdoing.But Daniel remembered Michael's notebook.He remembered the dates.He began comparing the original communications with the official report.Within an hour, he found the first discrepancy.A warning had been received before the convoy departed.The warning indicated that the planned route might be compromised.The official report stated that no such warning had been received.Daniel checked the timestamp.Then he checked it again.The warning had been acknowledged by an officer responsible for approving the route.That officer had signed the final mission authorization.Daniel sat back.His heart began to pound.He opened another document.The same officer had reviewed the investigation after the operation and approved the conclusion that no procedural failures had occurred.The name appeared on both documents.Colonel Richard Hayes.Daniel knew him.Hayes was now a senior military administrator. He had built a reputation for discipline, efficiency, and unwavering loyalty to the institution.He had also been the officer who visited Thomas after Michael's death.Daniel stared at the screen.The young officer Thomas remembered had grown into a powerful man.And the more Daniel examined the records, the more troubling the pattern became.There were missing attachments.Conflicting timestamps.References to conversations that had not been included in the official archive.The discrepancies did not prove deliberate wrongdoing, but they justified a deeper investigation.Daniel copied the relevant records into the authorized review system and requested an independent examination.Then he noticed a final entry in the archive.It was a scanned page from Michael's notebook.The handwriting was unmistakable.Near the bottom of the page, Michael had written a single sentence:IF ANYTHING HAPPENS TO ME, CHECK WHO APPROVED THE ROUTE.Daniel stared at the words.He had read the notebook before.He had remembered the dates and the names, but he had never connected the note to the final authorization.Now the pieces were beginning to fit together.Daniel printed the page and walked outside.Thomas stood immediately.“What did you find?”Daniel handed him the copy.Thomas read the sentence once.Then again.His face became very still.“Hayes,” he whispered.Daniel nodded.“You know him?”Thomas folded the page carefully.“He came to my house after Michael died. He told me my son had made everyone proud.”He looked up.“He sat at my kitchen table and drank coffee from Michael's favorite cup.”Daniel felt sick.“I'm sorry.”Thomas shook his head.“Don't apologize for what someone else may have done. Find out whether it is true.”Daniel nodded.“We will.”Thomas studied the page again.Then he looked at Daniel.“Your brother left a trail.”“Yes.”“Then follow it.”
The investigation moved slowly.Official reviews required documentation, interviews, and verification. Daniel could not simply accuse a senior officer because a record looked suspicious.