Chapter 4 - The Name I Refused to Believe
I caught Walter before his head hit the floor.
"Masks!" Briggs shouted.
One investigator smashed the window with a chair.
Cold night air rushed into the suite.
I dragged Walter toward it while Briggs pulled Vivian by the arm.
The gas burned my eyes.
My lungs tightened around an old injury.
For one terrible second, I was back aboard the Resolute.
Fire above me.
Water below me.
Men trapped behind steel.
"Claire!"
Briggs's voice pulled me back.
We reached the broken window.
Fresh air filled my chest.
Walter coughed and opened his eyes.
"Noah?" he rasped. "That cannot be Noah."
I wanted to agree.
Noah Pierce had carried injured sailors through smoke until his uniform melted against his arms.
He had given me his oxygen mask.
He had saved my life.
At least, that was what I remembered.
But memory inside a burning ship was not evidence.
The monitor restarted.
Vale appeared again.
"The gas is harmless," he said. "A little theater for the woman in red."
Vivian lunged at the screen.
"You planted that device in my purse!"
"Of course. You made an excellent distraction."
Her face twisted.
"I do not know you."
"No, Ms. Cross. But your father did."
Vivian froze.
Senator Walter Mason looked at her.
"Your father worked for Vale?"
"My father died when I was sixteen."
Vale laughed softly.
"That is what Walter told you."
The screen displayed an old personnel file.
Name: Colonel Marcus Cross.
Status: Classified.
Assignment: Project Nightglass.
Walter stood too quickly and almost fell.
I caught his arm.
"You know that name," I said.
He pulled away.
"Claire, this is not the place."
"You said the same thing downstairs."
Vale leaned closer to the camera.
"Ask your uncle why the Resolute was carrying a prototype surveillance core without congressional authorization."
Briggs's expression changed.
I looked from him to Walter.
"What was on my ship?"
Nobody answered.
Then the bedroom closet door swung open.
Inside sat a bloodied hotel security guard.
His wrists were bound.
A military identification card had been pinned to his jacket.
May you like
Lieutenant Noah Pierce.
Expiration date: next year.
