CHARLES BENNETT: "I can't say what he intended. But I can tell you he was not surprised when you refused to approve the equipment. He seemed to expect it."
Victoria considered the statement.
VICTORIA HAYES: "Do you still have the email?"
CHARLES BENNETT: "Yes. I kept the original."
VICTORIA HAYES: "Do not forward it or alter it. Provide the original message and its full metadata to the investigators."
CHARLES BENNETT: "I will."
He hesitated, then lowered his voice.
CHARLES BENNETT: "There is one more thing. Before the ceremony, I heard Grant speaking to someone on the telephone. He said the report had to remain unchanged until the meeting was finished."
VICTORIA HAYES: "Which report?"
CHARLES BENNETT: "I don't know. But when he ended the call, he looked toward the stage and said something about making sure the problem was dealt with today."
Mitchell and Victoria exchanged another glance.
GENERAL ROBERT MITCHELL: "Did you see who he was speaking to?"
CHARLES BENNETT: "No. He walked away from the table. But I noticed Peter Lawson standing near the entrance afterward."
VICTORIA HAYES: "Was Lawson speaking to him?"
CHARLES BENNETT: "Not at that moment. But they left the seating area together shortly before the presentation began."
The room became quiet again.
Victoria had entered the ceremony expecting to receive an award for her service. She had not expected to uncover a possible connection between a wealthy contractor, a former technical officer, a revised equipment assessment, and a senior procurement official.
Yet the pieces were beginning to form a pattern.
She looked at the three anonymous messages on her phone. The final one had told her to ask who signed the final report.
Now she knew the name.
Colonel Stephen Ward.
But knowing who signed the report was only the beginning. She still needed to know who had changed it, who had authorized the change, and whether the equipment had ever passed the tests claimed in the revised assessment.
Her phone vibrated again.
A new message appeared from the same unknown number.
This time, there were no warnings about the contract and no vague references to the investigation.
There was only one sentence.
"YOU ARE LOOKING AT THE WRONG SIGNATURE. WARD DID NOT WRITE THE REPORT."
Victoria read it twice.
Then a second message arrived.
"CHECK THE ORIGINAL TESTING FILE. LOOK AT THE DATE IT WAS REPLACED."
She immediately turned toward the security commander.
VICTORIA HAYES: "I need the original testing file for the Grant Defense Solutions communications system. Not the revised report. The original file, including every version and its modification history."
SECURITY COMMANDER: "We'll request it from the procurement archive."
VICTORIA HAYES: "Don't request a copy from the office that approved the report. Obtain it directly from the central records system and preserve the access history."
GENERAL ROBERT MITCHELL: "Why the modification history?"
VICTORIA HAYES: "Because someone is telling us that Ward's signature is not the real starting point. If the report was replaced, the system should show when it happened and which account made the change."
Mitchell nodded slowly.
GENERAL ROBERT MITCHELL: "Then we follow the records."
The security commander began making arrangements.
Victoria returned to the tablet and opened the document's digital reference number. The system showed that the revised report had been uploaded several weeks after the original evaluation was completed. However, the archive displayed only the final version, with no visible record of the earlier file.
She tried to open the document history.
ACCESS RESTRICTED.
A second window appeared, requesting authorization from the procurement archive administrator.
Victoria stared at the screen.
VICTORIA HAYES: "Why would a technical evaluation report be restricted from the officer responsible for reviewing its operational approval?"
SECURITY COMMANDER: "It may have been assigned a higher classification after the contract review."
VICTORIA HAYES: "Who assigned it?"
SECURITY COMMANDER: "The system lists an authorization from the procurement oversight office."
VICTORIA HAYES: "Under whose name?"
The commander checked the record.
SECURITY COMMANDER: "The authorization is associated with Colonel Stephen Ward."
Victoria leaned closer to the screen.
VICTORIA HAYES: "And the date?"
SECURITY COMMANDER: "The same day the revised report was uploaded."
Mitchell stepped beside her.
GENERAL ROBERT MITCHELL: "Ward restricted the document after the new version was submitted?"
SECURITY COMMANDER: "That's what the system indicates, sir."
VICTORIA HAYES: "Then I want the authorization record preserved as well."
The commander made another note.
A moment later, an investigator entered with a printed statement from one of the ceremony's security officers.
INVESTIGATOR: "General Mitchell, we have identified the person who entered the administration office shortly before the attempted footage export."
GENERAL ROBERT MITCHELL: "Who?"
INVESTIGATOR: "An event administration assistant named Laura Simmons. She says she was instructed to use the department account to prepare a backup of the ceremony recording."
VICTORIA HAYES: "Who gave her the instruction?"
INVESTIGATOR: "She says it came from Mr. Richard Cole."
Victoria's eyes narrowed.
VICTORIA HAYES: "Did she know the footage included the confrontation?"
INVESTIGATOR: "She claims she was told to make a backup of the entire event recording. She says she did not know that the security system would interpret the request as an external transfer."