Chapter 3 - Suite 1417
Briggs snatched the purse from Vivian and carried it toward the reinforced service corridor.
"Nobody move!"
The ringing stopped.
A red light blinked inside the open bag.
I recognized the device immediately.
"It is not a bomb trigger," I said.
"Then what is it?" Vivian demanded.
"A locator beacon."
Walter stared at her.
"Why is it in your purse?"
"I have no idea."
"You brought Vale into this building," I said.
"I did not!"
Her anger sounded real.
So did her fear.
Security cleared the ballroom while Briggs, two military investigators, and I took the private elevator to the fourteenth floor.
Vivian followed because the suite was registered in her name.
Walter insisted on coming.
"You are a senator, not an investigator," I told him.
"I am also your uncle."
"You remembered that late."
The elevator doors opened.
The hallway was empty.
Suite 1417 stood at the far end with the door slightly open.
I raised one hand.
Everyone stopped.
There was no sound inside.
No television.
No running water.
No breathing.
I pushed the door with my shoe.
The suite smelled like bleach and hot electronics.
Every lamp was on.
The walls were covered with photographs of me.
Hospital photographs.
Rehabilitation photographs.
Images taken outside my apartment, my grocery store, and the veterans' clinic where I volunteered.
Vivian staggered backward.
"Oh my God."
At the center of the room stood a metal chair facing a large monitor.
The monitor flickered to life.
Vale appeared on-screen.
"Good evening, Commander."
His calm voice made my stomach turn.
"You were always difficult to kill."
"You failed once," I said. "You will fail again."
Vale smiled.
"I did not fail. I created a hero."
The screen changed.
Footage showed the Resolute moments before the explosion.
A young officer entered the engine control room carrying a locked case.
I knew that officer.
Lieutenant Noah Pierce.
My second-in-command.
My closest friend.
The man whose body had never been recovered.
Vale's voice continued.
"You have spent four years blaming me."
The footage froze as Noah looked directly into the security camera.
"But I did not plant the charge."
The bedroom door clicked shut behind us.
May you like
Gas hissed from the ceiling vents.
And Walter collapsed first.
