Chapter 8 - THE SOLDIER THEY TOOKSpecialist Evan Cole had made one mistake.
He had seen Rourke leaving Fort Grafton.
Cole later told Avery he had recognized the truck and followed because he believed Rourke might lead investigators to Keller.
Instead, Rourke noticed him.
Cole woke tied to a chair inside an abandoned maintenance building near the old ammunition depot.
Rourke wasn't alone.
Chief Warrant Officer Keller was there too.
Alive.
The warehouse fire had never been intended to hide Keller's death.
It had hidden his escape.
Avery learned that only after tracing the ransom message through three relay points.
The final location wasn't accidental.
The abandoned depot sat on military property scheduled for demolition.
No civilians.
Limited cameras.
Dozens of concrete structures.
Perfect terrain for an ambush.
Colonel Vale wanted a tactical team.
Avery agreed.
Briggs objected to being excluded.
“You have one useful arm,” Avery told him.
“I have two useful legs.”
“You're not going through the door.”
“I can coordinate outside.”
“Can you follow orders?”
He stared at her.
“Probably.”
“Wrong answer.”
“Yes.”
At midnight, teams surrounded the depot.
Avery entered through a maintenance tunnel with three operators.
The ransom demand had required the Hamilton files.
They brought a drive.
It contained nothing useful.
Avery moved through the dark tunnel.
Water dripped from overhead pipes.
Her headset crackled.
Briggs's voice.
“Heat signature, structure seven. At least four.”
Avery signaled her team.
They approached.
Inside, Cole sat tied to the chair.
Keller stood beside him.
Rourke waited near the opposite wall.
“Commander Mitchell,” he said.
Avery emerged into the light.
“Let him go.”
Rourke smiled.
“You always go straight to the obvious demand.”
“Because he's twenty-three and has nothing to do with your mess.”
“He followed me.”
“That's called initiative.”
Cole managed a weak grin.
“Thank you, ma'am.”
Keller struck him.
Avery's eyes changed.
“Do that again.”
Keller smirked.
“What?”
“You heard me.”
Rourke raised a hand.
“Enough.”
He wanted the drive.
Avery held it up.
“First tell me why.”
“Why what?”
“Why sabotage training?”
Rourke laughed.
“You think this was about hurting soldiers?”
“You did hurt soldiers.”
“Collateral consequences.”
Avery hated the phrase immediately.
Rourke explained.
General Thane had been building a private procurement network.
Training accidents created emergency equipment reviews.
Emergency reviews generated contracts.
Contracts went to specific companies.
Companies paid consultants.
Consultants returned money through shell firms.
Millions of dollars moved while injuries were blamed on ordinary equipment failure.
Keller controlled logistics.
Rourke created failures.
Thane protected the network.
Danner nearly exposed it.
Pierce unknowingly received his report.
Vale buried it under direct pressure from Thane.
“And Briggs?” Avery asked.
Rourke smiled.
“Useful idiot.”
Avery's jaw tightened.
“He was aggressive. Arrogant. Had a temper. Perfect person to blame if we ever needed one.”
Through her earpiece, Briggs heard everything.
He said nothing.
Avery kept Rourke talking.
“And me?”
“Unexpected.”
“That's flattering.”
“The moment Vale brought you in, we knew he was reopening Hamilton.”
“How?”
Rourke glanced at Keller.
Keller smiled.
“Vale's assistant.”
Avery understood.
The leak had been inside the colonel's office.
Not Vale.
Not Pierce.
An administrative aide who had access to schedules and travel orders.
“Where is the aide?”
“Gone.”
“Dead?”
Rourke shrugged.
Avery's expression hardened further.
“Cole leaves now.”
“Drive first.”
She tossed it halfway across the floor.
Rourke looked down.
That was the opening.
Cole threw himself sideways.
Avery moved.
The tactical team breached simultaneously.
Keller reached for a weapon.
Avery slammed into him.
Rourke fired toward the doorway.
A round struck concrete.
Officers returned controlled fire.
Rourke disappeared into a rear corridor.
Avery secured Keller.
Cole shouted, “He has explosives!”
Avery ran.
Briggs tracked Rourke from outside.
“North corridor. He's moving toward the fuel storage!”
“Can you cut him off?”
A pause.
Then Briggs said, “Already moving.”
“Briggs, no.”
Silence.
“Briggs!”
Avery reached the exterior yard.
Rourke sprinted toward a parked truck.
Briggs stepped from behind a barrier.
One arm still in a sling.
Rourke stopped.
“You?”
Briggs smiled without humor.
“Useful idiot, right?”
Rourke raised his weapon.
Briggs didn't have time to draw.
Avery did.
“DROP IT!”
Rourke turned toward her.
For one second, he seemed to consider fighting.
Then he looked around.
Lights.
Operators.
Weapons trained on him.
No exit.
His pistol fell to the ground.
Briggs stepped forward.
“You framed me.”
Rourke smiled.
“You made it easy.”
Briggs clenched his jaw.
Avery watched him carefully.
This was the moment the old Briggs might have attacked.
Instead, he stepped back.
“No.”
Rourke looked confused.
Briggs glanced at Avery.
“I think I'm finally learning controlled demonstration.”
Avery almost smiled.
Rourke was handcuffed.
Keller confessed within twenty-four hours.
The confession implicated General Marcus Thane.
But Thane wasn't finished.
By the time federal agents arrived at his residence, he was gone.
And in his safe, investigators found something even worse than stolen money.
A list.
Twenty-eight names.
Officers.
Contractors.
Officials.
Some crossed out.
Some circled.
Avery's name appeared at the bottom.
Written that morning.
May you like
Beside it were two words.
FINAL PROBLEM.
