Chapter 20 - The Broadcast
Rachel’s plan was dangerous for one reason.
It depended on institutions working.
Not perfectly.
Just enough.
She contacted three offices simultaneously.
The Department of Defense Inspector General.
A federal judge.
The Senate Armed Services Committee’s counsel.
Each received a different portion of the Raven evidence.
No office received everything.
That prevented one compromised official from burying the case.
James provided the verification protocol.
Marcus transmitted the independent signatures.
Cross submitted an operational affidavit describing Darak Nar.
Vale submitted a sealed confession.
Helen released the trust records.
Daniel disclosed his own illegal activities.
Sarah objected.
“You could go to prison.”
Daniel looked at her.
“I committed crimes.”
“To expose Raven.”
“That explains them. It doesn’t erase them.”
Sarah remembered Vale saying almost the same thing.
Accountability.
Not innocence.
At 1700, federal agents surrounded the airfield where their helicopter landed.
Rachel stepped out first.
She held a judicial order.
The lead agent read it.
Then lowered his weapon.
Pierce’s detention directive had been temporarily suspended.
Sarah exhaled.
One institution had worked.
Then another.
The inspector general announced a formal investigation.
Then another.
A Senate committee scheduled an emergency classified session.
Pierce’s office issued a statement denying wrongdoing.
Aegis Meridian called the allegations fabricated.
Rourke’s attorneys threatened lawsuits.
Then Commander Cross did something no one expected.
He spoke publicly.
Not about classified details.
About the 381 men.
He stood before cameras outside a military hospital.
Behind him were dozens of members of Red Team.
“My unit was sent into Darak Nar using corrupted operational information,” he said.
Sarah watched from a secure room.
“During the engagement, Major Sarah Mitchell was ordered not to support us.”
Reporters shouted questions.
Cross continued.
“She disobeyed.”
Sarah almost laughed.
“Her decision saved lives.”
The cameras captured hundreds of servicemen standing behind him.
Not dead.
Not numbers.
Witnesses.
Rourke’s narrative began collapsing.
Then Cross said the sentence Sarah would remember forever.
“Three hundred eighty-one people were treated as acceptable losses. We are here to remind everyone that acceptable losses have names.”
Sarah looked at Daniel.
He lowered his eyes.
The statement spread immediately.
Public pressure exploded.
Questions moved from Sarah’s disobedience to the false coordinates.
To Aegis Meridian.
To Pierce.
Rachel entered.
“The federal judge has frozen the $112 million account.”
“Good.”
“And your name is being removed as beneficial owner pending investigation.”
“Better.”
“Also, Pierce is missing.”
Sarah stood.
“What?”
“He left the hydro facility convoy before federal teams intercepted it.”
“Rourke?”
“Captured.”
Everyone looked at her.
“Alive?” Cross asked from the screen.
“Yes.”
“Talking?”
“No.”
Daniel smiled faintly.
“He will.”
Vale disagreed.
“Rourke never talks.”
Sarah remembered the confrontation between Rourke and Pierce.
“He will if he thinks Pierce betrayed him.”
Rachel nodded.
“Federal investigators are already using that.”
Daniel looked uneasy.
Sarah noticed.
“What?”
“Pierce won’t run without a destination.”
“Where would he go?”
Daniel thought.
“Somewhere Raven can still protect him.”
James answered.
“There is one place.”
Everyone turned.
He looked at Sarah.
“Granite.”
The air base.
Sarah’s original base of operations.
“No,” Vale said. “Security is locked down.”
James shook his head.
“Raven built Granite’s contractor network.”
Sarah understood.
Fuel.
Maintenance.
Communications.
Transportation.
Access systems.
All supported by private companies.
Including Aegis subsidiaries.
“Pierce can hide inside the infrastructure,” she said.
Vale’s phone rang.
He answered.
His expression changed.
“What?”
Sarah asked.
He put the call on speaker.
A base officer spoke rapidly.
“Sir, we have a security incident at Granite.”
“What kind?”
“Power failure. Communications outage.”
Sarah exchanged looks with Daniel.
“Where?”
Vale asked.
“Aircraft shelters and operations center.”
Sarah’s stomach tightened.
Her A-10 sat inside one of those shelters.
Then the officer added:
“We also have one missing detainee.”
“Who?”
“Former Brigadier General Thomas Kessler.”
Sarah stared.
Kessler had been moved to Granite after leaving the hospital.
Now he was gone.
Pierce was heading toward Granite.
Kessler had vanished.
The communications system had failed.
Sarah remembered the wrong coordinates.
The corrupted targeting.
The first night.
Everything was circling back to where it began.
Daniel looked at her.
“Pierce needs something at Granite.”
“What?”
James answered.
“The original Raven root server.”
Everyone turned.
“You said you had the master key.”
“I do.”
“Then what is the root server?”
“The record Raven was built from before the system became distributed.”
Sarah understood.
“The beginning.”
James nodded.
“If Pierce destroys it, prosecutors can still prove many crimes.”
“But?”
“They may never prove who first authorized Raven’s conversion into an illegal network.”
Sarah knew the answer.
“Pierce.”
James nodded.
Outside, aircraft engines started.
Sarah looked at Vale.
“Can I fly?”
“No.”
She stared.
Vale sighed.
“You are still suspended.”
Sarah almost laughed.
Rachel looked at the legal order.
“Actually…”
Vale turned.
Rachel smiled.
“The suspension was lifted twelve minutes ago.”
Sarah picked up her helmet.
Daniel watched her.
“You’re going back to Granite.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Sarah looked at her brother.
“Because this started with wrong coordinates in my cockpit.”
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She fastened the helmet under her arm.
“And I’m going to find the person who put them there.”
