Chapter 4
The voice came from behind a wall of stacked crates.
Not loud.
Not clear.
But I heard it.
Eli.
Pike shoved me forward.
“Move.”
Deck Four smelled wrong.
Ships have smells.
Fuel.
Metal.
Salt.
Sweat.
This smelled like bleach poured over rot.
A row of emergency water pallets sat against one bulkhead.
Sealed.
Untouched.
While sailors collapsed in the sun above.
Medical crates lined the other wall.
IV fluids.
Cooling blankets.
Field rations.
Things Kane claimed did not exist.
My anger became so sharp it steadied me.
Pike pushed me into a cleared space under a hanging work light.
Kane stood there waiting.
Beside him was Lieutenant Graves.
The doctor’s face was gray.
Behind them, a locked interior door sat half-hidden by netting.
Second room.
Agent Cross had been right.
Kane smiled.
“Welcome to the heart of logistics, Petty Officer.”
I looked at the water.
“Black market storage?”
He chuckled.
“Controlled redistribution.”
“People are passing out above deck.”
“People always suffer in war.”
“We’re not at war.”
His eyes hardened.
“Men like me always are.”
Graves flinched.
Kane noticed.
“Doctor, tell Petty Officer Cole what happens to bodies that ask too many questions.”
Graves stared at the floor.
Kane stepped close.
“Tell her.”
Graves whispered, “They become reports.”
I looked at him.
“Like Eli.”
His eyes filled.
Kane’s expression went flat.
“Your brother was sentimental. He thought stolen water mattered more than chain of command.”
I lunged.
Pike caught me and slammed me into a crate.
Pain exploded through my ribs.
Kane leaned down.
“He cried for you, you know.”
The world went red.
“He said, ‘My sister will find out.’”
Kane smiled.
“And here you are.”
I forced myself to breathe.
He wanted rage.
Rage made mistakes.
I gave him silence.
That bothered him more.
He turned to Graves.
“Sedate her.”
Graves lifted a syringe.
His hand shook.
I looked at him.
“If you do this, you bury another Mercer.”
His mouth trembled.
Kane snapped, “Do it.”
Graves stepped closer.
Then he dropped the syringe.
It shattered on the deck.
Pike cursed.
Kane stared at him.
Graves pulled something from his pocket.
A small recorder.
“I’m done,” he said.
Kane’s face changed.
Pike reached for the recorder.
The locked interior door burst open.
A man in maintenance coveralls stepped out holding a sidearm.
“NCIS. Hands where I can see them.”
Agent Cross.
Behind him came two sailors with weapons drawn.
Not many.
But enough to fracture the room.
Pike grabbed me as a shield.
His forearm locked around my throat.
Cross aimed at him.
“Let her go.”
Kane did not panic.
That frightened me.
He smiled.
“Agent Cross. I wondered when the rats would surface.”
Cross kept his weapon steady.
“Colonel Kane, you are under investigation for murder, conspiracy, theft of military supplies, and attempted murder.”
Kane laughed.
“On whose authority?”
A voice came from behind Cross.
“Mine.”
Captain Elena Ruiz stepped through the second room.
Commanding officer of the Resolute.
Until that moment, I had believed she was either blind or complicit.
Her face told me neither.
She looked exhausted.
Furious.
“Stand down, Colonel.”
Kane’s jaw tightened.
“You have no idea what you’re interrupting.”
“I know exactly what I allowed too long.”
That sentence shook the room.
Pike’s grip shifted.
I used it.
I drove my heel into his foot, twisted, and dropped my weight.
His arm slid off my throat.
Cross moved.
Fast.
Pike hit the deck under two sailors.
Kane reached for his sidearm.
Ruiz drew first.
“Do not.”
For a second, Kane looked like he might try anyway.
Then the ship’s alarm sounded.
Not man-overboard.
Not fire.
General quarters.
The lights flickered red.
A voice came over the speaker.
“Security breach. Deck Four. All hands remain at stations.”
Kane smiled slowly.
“You think you control this ship, Captain?”
The hatch behind us slammed shut.
May you like
The lock engaged.
Then every light on Deck Four went out.
