Cross's jaw tightened.
Mercer lowered his eyes toward the folder in front of him.
The military official looked toward the guards.
GENERAL STERLING: "Captain Harrington, this hearing will not continue if you persist in making unsubstantiated claims."
EMILY HARRINGTON: "Then bring in the communications logs."
GENERAL STERLING: "They are classified."
EMILY HARRINGTON: "The operation was classified. The order that abandoned us was classified. The names of the people who died were classified. Everything that could prove what happened has been hidden behind the same word."
GENERAL CROSS: "You are accusing the entire command structure of a conspiracy."
EMILY HARRINGTON: "I am asking why the truth is more dangerous to you than the people who died."
For the first time, General Mercer shifted uncomfortably in his chair.
It lasted only a second.
Emily saw it.
So did Sterling.
GENERAL STERLING: "We will take a short recess."
The official immediately began gathering the documents.
The audience started whispering.
The guards remained behind Emily, their attention fixed on her hands.
She looked down at the ruined glove again.
The marks inside it were almost invisible from the outside. The burned fabric covered most of the engraving, and the remaining symbols were hidden against the dark lining.
No one in the tribunal had asked about it.
No one except the person who had given it to her had known what it contained.
And Emily had promised that she would not reveal the code unless the situation became impossible to escape.
She had hoped that day would never come.
Three days earlier, she had walked out of the mountains with blood on her face, smoke in her lungs, and the weight of forty lives pressing against her memory.
The official military statement described the operation as an unsuccessful attempt to gather intelligence near a hostile installation.
It said the team had encountered unexpected resistance.
It said the commanding officer had made several tactical errors.
It said the mission had been compromised by poor judgment.
It did not mention the underground facility.
It did not mention the hostages.
It did not mention the evacuation order that had been canceled while soldiers were still trapped inside.
And it certainly did not mention the person who had remained behind after the others were told to withdraw.
Emily remembered every second of that night.
The operation had begun before sunrise.
Her team had moved through a narrow mountain pass under heavy cloud cover. Their objective was to reach a remote compound and retrieve classified intelligence believed to be connected to a network of illegal detention sites.
The mission briefing had been brief.
The intelligence had been incomplete.
But the team had been assured that the extraction route was secure.
Emily had questioned the lack of aerial support.
She had questioned why the secondary team had not been listed on the deployment sheet.
She had even questioned why the operation had been assigned a designation that did not appear in the normal military archive.
Her commander had dismissed each concern.
COMMANDER ON RADIO: "Captain Harrington, your job is to complete the assignment. The planning has already been approved."
EMILY HARRINGTON: "Understood. I am requesting confirmation of the secondary extraction team."
COMMANDER ON RADIO: "There is no need for a secondary team."
EMILY HARRINGTON: "Then why does the briefing reference a second transport window?"
COMMANDER ON RADIO: "That information is not relevant to your objective."
Emily had looked toward Sergeant Daniel Foster, who was walking beside her.
Foster had served with her long enough to recognize when she was uncomfortable with an order.
SERGEANT DANIEL FOSTER: "Something wrong, Captain?"
EMILY HARRINGTON: "The briefing does not match the deployment instructions."
SERGEANT FOSTER: "It rarely does when the people upstairs are involved."
EMILY HARRINGTON: "This is different."
Foster looked toward the distant compound.
SERGEANT FOSTER: "Then we keep our eyes open."
The team continued forward.
By the time they reached the outer perimeter, Emily had already noticed signs that the intelligence report was outdated. The security patrols were more numerous than expected. Several surveillance cameras had been installed along the western wall, and the main access road had been reinforced with barriers.
The facility was not abandoned.
It was operational.
More importantly, it was prepared for an attack.
Emily ordered the team to stop.
She raised one hand, signaling the soldiers behind her to remain low.
The compound stood in the distance, partially concealed by the rocky terrain. Its concrete walls were surrounded by fencing, and a series of industrial buildings extended toward the mountainside.
A second structure appeared to have been built directly into the rock.
EMILY HARRINGTON: "This is not the location shown in our briefing."
SERGEANT FOSTER: "The coordinates are correct."
EMILY HARRINGTON: "The layout is not."
SERGEANT FOSTER: "What do you want to do?"
Emily studied the perimeter.
She could hear machinery operating somewhere beyond the walls.
Then she noticed a vehicle moving toward an underground entrance.
A second vehicle followed.
Both were transporting people.