Mercer looked at the image.
It showed his hand gripping Walter's jacket.
MERCER: "He wasn't cooperating."
TESSA VANCE: "He asked you to check his authorization."
MERCER: "He was being evasive."
TESSA VANCE: "He was following the instructions he had been given."
Mercer said nothing.
Hale opened another page.
COMMANDER HALE: "Your initial report states that Mr. Hayes entered the corridor without authorization and became physically aggressive when instructed to leave."
MERCER: "That's what happened."
COMMANDER HALE: "The footage shows otherwise."
MERCER: "The footage doesn't show everything."
COMMANDER HALE: "Then tell us what it doesn't show."
Mercer hesitated.
For several seconds, he looked as if he might offer an explanation.
Instead, he leaned forward.
MERCER: "You people are making this about one old man. I was protecting the building. That's my job."
Tessa's voice remained steady.
TESSA VANCE: "Your job is to protect people and enforce security procedures. It is not to decide that someone deserves to be humiliated because you don't like the way he looks."
MERCER: "I didn't humiliate him."
TESSA VANCE: "You injured him."
MERCER: "I never intended to hurt him."
TESSA VANCE: "Intent does not erase what happened."
Hale closed the folder.
COMMANDER HALE: "Your statement will be compared against the recordings and access logs. Until the review is complete, you will remain suspended from security duties."
Mercer's face tightened.
MERCER: "You're taking my job away because of a misunderstanding?"
COMMANDER HALE: "No. We're investigating an incident involving the use of force, a potentially inaccurate report, and the apparent disregard of an official authorization."
MERCER: "This is because of his daughter."
Tessa looked directly at him.
TESSA VANCE: "No. This is because of what you did to my father."
Mercer looked away.
Tessa picked up the tablet.
TESSA VANCE: "And there is another matter we need to discuss."
Mercer looked back.
MERCER: "What matter?"
Tessa paused.
TESSA VANCE: "The document my father delivered."
Mercer's expression became difficult to read.
MERCER: "I don't know anything about a document."
TESSA VANCE: "You knew he was authorized to enter. You knew he had been directed to the eastern corridor. Yet you approached him anyway."
MERCER: "I already explained that."
TESSA VANCE: "Then perhaps you can explain why you accessed the authorization record three times before he arrived."
Mercer stared at her.
For the first time, he seemed unable to produce an immediate answer.
Hale noticed.
COMMANDER HALE: "Officer Mercer?"
Mercer slowly sat down.
MERCER: "I need to speak to my supervisor."
COMMANDER HALE: "You can provide your statement through the proper process."
MERCER: "I want legal representation."
Tessa nodded.
TESSA VANCE: "You are entitled to follow the procedures available to you."
She turned toward the door.
Before leaving, she looked back once.
TESSA VANCE: "But I want you to understand something. My father did not come here to demand respect. He came here because he made a promise to men who could no longer deliver that envelope themselves."
Mercer did not respond.
Tessa left with Hale.
The door closed behind them.
For several seconds, Mercer remained motionless.
Then he looked at the printed photograph on the table.
It showed Walter Hayes standing with a group of sailors.
Mercer stared at the image.
He had not recognized the older man when he first saw him in the corridor.
But now the name beneath the photograph was beginning to mean something.
Walter Hayes had not simply been a retired sailor.
He had been listed as a witness in a naval inquiry that Mercer had once heard discussed by a former supervisor.
An inquiry involving missing records, a disputed command decision, and a mission that had officially ended in tragedy.
Mercer slowly looked toward the closed door.
He finally understood why Commander Vance had arrived so quickly.
And why the envelope had been treated as something that could not be lost.
Meanwhile, Walter was preparing to leave the medical unit.
The nurse had advised him to remain for further observation, but he insisted on waiting until Tessa returned. He wanted to know whether the document had reached the correct office.
When Tessa finally came back, she found him standing beside the examination bed.
TESSA VANCE: "What are you doing?"
WALTER HAYES: "Getting ready."
TESSA VANCE: "You were told to sit down."
WALTER HAYES: "I have been sitting for nearly an hour."
TESSA VANCE: "Then sit for another ten minutes."
Walter smiled.
WALTER HAYES: "You really have become your mother's daughter."
Tessa shook her head, but she smiled too.
She helped him return to the chair.
TESSA VANCE: "The envelope is secure."
WALTER HAYES: "Did you open it?"
TESSA VANCE: "Yes."
Walter looked at her.
WALTER HAYES: "And?"
Tessa took a breath.
TESSA VANCE: "It contains the original witness statement, a photograph, and a storage device that may hold evidence from the North Atlantic incident."
Walter's expression grew serious.
WALTER HAYES: "So he finally sent it."
TESSA VANCE: "You knew what was inside?"
WALTER HAYES: "I knew what it was connected to. I didn't know exactly what he had included."
Tessa sat beside him.
TESSA VANCE: "Why didn't you tell me?"
WALTER HAYES: "Because the instructions were clear. The envelope had to reach the command office unopened."