TECHNICIAN: "The location is restricted."
DAVID BROOKS: "Use my authorization."
The technician entered another command.
A map appeared on the display.
Several military locations were listed, but most were hidden behind restricted access markers.
One location remained visible.
It was a remote communications facility in a mountainous region.
Its official status was inactive.
Yet the system showed a valid authentication signal transmitted from the location six days earlier.
DAVID BROOKS: "That facility was decommissioned."
GENERAL CROSS: "It was removed from active service."
DAVID BROOKS: "Then why is it transmitting?"
Cross did not respond.
Marcus studied the location.
He remembered seeing the facility name in the original mission briefing. It had been listed as an abandoned communications site, but the reference had been removed from the final deployment package.
MARCUS REED: "That location was mentioned before we deployed."
Brooks turned toward him.
DAVID BROOKS: "What do you know about it?"
MARCUS REED: "It appeared in an earlier briefing document. My team was told not to include it in the operational route."
DAVID BROOKS: "Did you visit it?"
MARCUS REED: "No. But Sergeant Reeves mentioned it before the mission."
DAVID BROOKS: "What did he say?"
Marcus thought carefully.
MARCUS REED: "He said the first team had been moved through a location that did not appear on any official map. He told me that if we found evidence of a hidden facility, we should preserve everything."
General Hayes slowly stood.
GENERAL HAYES: "Mr. Secretary, this information is becoming increasingly sensitive. I recommend that the terminal be disconnected and the investigation transferred to a secure intelligence facility."
Brooks turned toward him.
DAVID BROOKS: "Why are you so anxious to disconnect it?"
GENERAL HAYES: "Because this chamber is not designed to handle information of this classification."
DAVID BROOKS: "You had no objection when the tribunal was preparing to strip Captain Reed of his rank."
Hayes's expression tightened.
GENERAL HAYES: "That was a disciplinary matter."
DAVID BROOKS: "And now we have evidence that the disciplinary investigation may have been based on a falsified mission report."
GENERAL CROSS: "There is no proof that the report was falsified."
MARCUS REED: "Then let the records speak."
Brooks nodded toward the technician.
DAVID BROOKS: "Continue."
The technician opened another file.
It contained an audio recording dated two years earlier.
The sound was distorted, but the voices were clear enough to understand.
UNKNOWN MALE VOICE: "Field unit seven, confirm your position."
SECOND MALE VOICE: "We have reached the lower facility. There are civilians inside. Multiple detention rooms have been identified."
UNKNOWN MALE VOICE: "Your assignment is to secure the archive and withdraw."
SECOND MALE VOICE: "We cannot leave these people here."
UNKNOWN MALE VOICE: "You are not authorized to conduct a rescue operation."
SECOND MALE VOICE: "We have children inside. Some of them are injured."
A pause followed.
UNKNOWN MALE VOICE: "Terminate the transmission."
The recording ended.
Marcus stared at the screen.
The conversation was almost identical to the one he had experienced during Silent Horizon.
The same refusal.
The same instruction to withdraw.
The same disregard for the people trapped inside.
MARCUS REED: "They did this before."
DAVID BROOKS: "It appears so."
MARCUS REED: "The first team found the facility, reported the civilians, and was told to leave."
Brooks examined the timestamp.
DAVID BROOKS: "This recording is two years old."
MARCUS REED: "Then the operation was never an accident."
General Cross stood abruptly.
GENERAL CROSS: "This recording cannot be treated as authenticated evidence."
DAVID BROOKS: "Sit down, General."
GENERAL CROSS: "Mr. Secretary, I am warning you that the information being displayed may compromise national security."
DAVID BROOKS: "And I am telling you that national security cannot be used as an excuse to conceal unlawful conduct."
Cross slowly returned to his chair.
The technician opened the personnel archive again.
A list of names appeared.
Several soldiers had been declared deceased.
Others had been marked as missing.
A number of records had been modified after their official status had been finalized.
Marcus recognized one of the names.
SERGEANT DANIEL FOSTER.
Foster had been the most experienced soldier in Marcus's unit. He had helped organize the evacuation, carried wounded personnel, and stayed behind during the final movement through the underground tunnel.
Marcus had last seen him near the eastern passage.
An explosion had separated them.
The official report later listed Foster as missing.
No search team had been authorized.
No recovery mission had been recorded.
MARCUS REED: "Open Foster's file."
The technician did so.
A personnel record appeared.
SERGEANT DANIEL FOSTER — STATUS: MISSING.