Chapter 9 - River Depot
The figure waiting outside wore no hood.
She stood beneath a leaking awning in a dark raincoat, silver hair cut close around a stern face.
Rebecca Vale had aged, but not softened.
A thin scar crossed her chin.
Her eyes moved first to Jack, then Duke, then Emily and Daniel.
“You brought civilians.”
“You followed a city bus.”
“I prevented you from being taken.”
“You let the hooded man disappear.”
“I never controlled him.”
Jack stopped six feet away.
Duke stood at his left leg.
Vale did not try to touch the dog.
That told Jack more than any apology could have.
Duke remembered her.
But did not trust her.
“Is Sarah alive?” Jack asked.
Vale’s face did not change.
“Yes.”
The word hit harder than Jack expected.
He had spent nine years forcing himself to accept her death.
Now anger filled every empty space grief had left behind.
“You signed the report.”
“I signed what kept Elias from killing her.”
“You let me bury an empty coffin.”
“If you had known she survived, you would have searched.”
“I did search.”
“Not the way you would have if you had hope.”
Jack stepped closer.
“You don’t get to call that mercy.”
Vale accepted the accusation.
“No.”
Emily watched them from beneath the awning.
“Who is Elias Voss?”
Vale looked at her.
“A man who discovered that private intelligence was more profitable than public service.”
Daniel folded his arms.
“And Northstar?”
“His legal infrastructure.”
Jack showed Vale the capsule and film.
She examined the puncture code.
“This came from Sarah.”
“Elias said he planted the transmitter.”
“Both can be true. Sarah sent the film. Elias intercepted it, altered the written message, and used Noah to make sure it reached you.”
“Why?”
“To force Duke into the open.”
Jack glanced at the German Shepherd.
“What does Duke know?”
“Not know. Remember.”
Vale reached slowly into her coat and removed a metal ring identical to the one from the bus.
Duke’s ears rose.
“He was trained to detect a chemical scent embedded in these rings,” she said. “Each ring belonged to a member of the Red Valley recovery team.”
“What were they recovering?”
“The Ledger.”
Jack’s jaw tightened.
“Sarah used that word.”
“It contains names, payments, operations, and identities of compromised agents. Not only military personnel. Judges. Police commanders. Corporate executives. Transit officials.”
Daniel looked toward the garage.
“That explains the camera feed.”
“Northstar’s municipal contracts let Elias observe and influence half the city.”
Jack studied Vale.
“Where is the Ledger?”
“Nobody knows. Elias believed your team found it at Red Valley. Your convoy was attacked before extraction. You and Duke were the only confirmed survivors.”
“I remember the explosion.”
“You remember what came after?”
Jack’s silence answered.
For three days following Red Valley, his memory was fragmented.
Heat.
Sand.
Duke pulling him by the sleeve.
A steel door beneath the ground.
Sarah’s voice over a radio that should not have reached them.
Then waking in a military hospital.
“The Ledger was moved,” Vale said. “Duke followed one of the scent markers during the evacuation. Elias believes the dog can still lead him to it.”
“Eleven years later?”
“Duke was conditioned to associate the scent with a route pattern, not a single location.”
Emily frowned.
“How can a dog remember a route for eleven years?”
“He doesn’t have to remember the entire route,” Vale said. “Only the next marker.”
Duke’s attention shifted toward the east again.
River Depot.
Jack looked at Vale.
“You knew where the film would lead.”
“Yes.”
“What’s waiting there?”
“Sarah.”
Jack’s breath caught.
Vale continued before hope could take hold.
“Or a body Elias wants you to believe is Sarah.”
The words landed between them.
Jack stepped past her.
Vale caught his sleeve.
“Elias expects you at 4:10. If you arrive early, he’ll know I warned you.”
Jack looked down at her hand.
She released him.
“What haven’t you told me?” he asked.
Vale’s gaze moved toward Emily.
“The nurse’s father served at Red Valley.”
Emily stared at her.
“My father was an accountant.”
“No,” Vale said. “He designed the Ledger.”
Emily’s face lost all color.
May you like
Behind them, Daniel’s old radio crackled.
A dispatcher announced that Noah Blake and his mother had just been found inside a burning car.
