MICHAEL HARRIS: "I thought this unit had been permanently deactivated."
Emily looked at him.
EMILY HARRINGTON: "What unit?"
Harris did not answer immediately.
The screen brightened.
A digital eagle appeared against a dark blue background.
Several lines of classified information began loading beneath it.
The technician entered the first sequence from the glove.
The system rejected it.
He tried again, checking the symbols carefully.
A second warning appeared.
TECHNICIAN: "Sir, the sequence is recognized, but the authorization signature is incomplete."
Harris looked at Emily.
MICHAEL HARRIS: "There should be another marking."
Emily examined the damaged lining.
She turned the glove slightly, revealing a second group of symbols hidden beneath a folded section of burned fabric.
The technician entered them.
The display flickered.
For a moment, the screen went completely dark.
Then a red symbol appeared in the center.
The technician stepped back.
TECHNICIAN: "Mr. Secretary..."
Harris did not look away.
MICHAEL HARRIS: "Continue."
A series of encrypted files began opening.
The first displayed a classified operation designation.
The second showed an authorization record.
The third contained a list of personnel names, most of which had been partially redacted.
Emily recognized one of the names.
Sergeant Daniel Foster.
But the next line was what made her stop breathing for a moment.
A different name appeared beneath it.
NOAH REEVES.
The soldier who had supposedly died two years earlier.
The system was not showing an archived memorial record.
It was showing an active authentication entry.
Emily looked at the screen.
Then she looked at Harris.
EMILY HARRINGTON: "Why is his name there?"
Harris remained silent.
GENERAL STERLING: "Shut the system down."
The technician froze.
Harris slowly turned toward the general.
MICHAEL HARRIS: "Do not touch that console."
GENERAL STERLING: "This information is classified beyond the authority of this hearing."
MICHAEL HARRIS: "I know exactly how classified it is."
GENERAL CROSS: "Then you understand why this display cannot remain active."
MICHAEL HARRIS: "I understand that someone has been trying to keep it buried."
The screen flickered again.
A new message began to appear.
The first line loaded.
Then the second.
Emily stared at the display as the words formed one letter at a time.
The technician backed away from the console.
The generals stopped speaking.
And Michael Harris, the man who had entered the tribunal with complete control over the room, suddenly looked as though he had just discovered that the danger was much closer than he had believed.
The final warning began to appear.
No one moved.
No one spoke.
Emily's damaged glove remained in her hand.
And the secret hidden inside it was finally about to reveal why an entire military operation had been erased.
The image of Sergeant Daniel Foster remained frozen on the military display.
Emily could hardly believe what she was seeing.
For three days, she had carried the memory of the last moment she saw Foster in the collapsing tunnel. She had imagined him trapped beneath the debris, wounded and unable to reach the extraction point. She had wondered whether he had survived long enough for someone to find him.
Now she knew he was alive.
But the message beneath his image was more disturbing than the confirmation itself.
THE THIRD PERSON HAS ACCESS TO THE ORIGINAL COMMAND AUTHORIZATION.
Someone else was inside the facility.
Someone with enough authority to control the operation, access the restricted archive, and potentially destroy the evidence before anyone could reach it.
MICHAEL HARRIS: "Technician, restore the camera feed. I want to know whether Foster is still there."
TECHNICIAN: "The connection has been interrupted, sir."
MICHAEL HARRIS: "Reestablish it."
TECHNICIAN: "I'm trying. The facility has entered a security lockdown."
Emily stepped toward the screen.
EMILY HARRINGTON: "There must be another entrance."
MICHAEL HARRIS: "Captain, we cannot send a team into an unknown facility without understanding what is inside."
EMILY HARRINGTON: "Foster has been missing for days. Noah Reeves is transmitting from that location. If we wait, whoever is controlling the facility may move them again."
MICHAEL HARRIS: "I understand."
EMILY HARRINGTON: "Then let me go."
The Secretary looked at her damaged uniform.
MICHAEL HARRIS: "You are injured, Captain."
EMILY HARRINGTON: "I've been injured before."
MICHAEL HARRIS: "You have also just survived a military tribunal and exposed a classified command breach. I am not sending you into another operation without a plan."
EMILY HARRINGTON: "I know the terrain. I know the original mission route. And Foster knows me. If he's still inside, I may be the only person he trusts enough to approach."
General Sterling finally spoke.
GENERAL STERLING: "This is precisely why Captain Harrington should not be involved. She has a personal connection to the missing personnel and cannot be considered an impartial operative."
Emily turned toward him.
EMILY HARRINGTON: "You had no problem calling me responsible for their disappearance."
Sterling's jaw tightened.
EMILY HARRINGTON: "Now that there is a chance to find them, suddenly I'm too personally involved?"
GENERAL CROSS: "You will not be permitted to direct another operation."