Chapter 10 - The Traitor Inside the Investigation
“BLAKE, IF YOU REALLY BELIEVE I BETRAYED YOU, LOOK ME IN THE EYES AND SAY IT.”
Daniel stood across from me in an empty conference room.
His federal credentials had been temporarily secured.
His access to the investigation was suspended.
And for the first time since we'd met twelve years earlier, there was something between us that felt almost like distrust.
I stared at him.
“Did you give anyone your password?”
“No.”
“Did you leave your badge unattended?”
“Not that I remember.”
“Then how did someone use your account?”
His jaw tightened.
“That's what we're trying to find out.”
I turned away.
Images of Emily in the hospital flooded my mind.
The man approaching her room.
The dark hallway.
The message warning that the attackers knew her location.
And now Daniel's name was connected to the breach.
I wanted to believe him.
I did believe him.
But fear was beginning to make everything feel uncertain.
Daniel took a step closer.
“Blake, I held your hand after the explosion in Kandahar when you thought you weren't coming home. I carried you to that helicopter.”
I closed my eyes.
“I remember.”
“And when my daughter was born six weeks early, you sat with my wife at the hospital because I couldn't get leave.”
I turned back.
“I remember that too.”
Daniel swallowed.
“I'm not asking you to ignore evidence. I'm asking you not to forget twelve years of evidence about who I am.”
Something inside me settled.
I stepped forward.
“I'm sorry.”
He shook his head.
“Don't apologize for being scared.”
I extended my hand.
He took it.
“We find whoever did this,” I said.
Daniel nodded.
“Together.”
That afternoon, Naomi arranged an independent review of the compromised systems.
Federal investigators examined the access logs, account changes, communications records, and the electronic device recovered from Travis Bellamy.
Daniel voluntarily provided his equipment for examination.
He didn't complain.
He didn't demand special treatment.
He understood that the investigation had to remain credible.
Meanwhile, Emily underwent another medical assessment.
The swelling in her legs had improved slightly, but she was still in significant pain.
She had begun working with a rehabilitation specialist on basic movement and positioning.
Even sitting upright exhausted her.
When I entered her room, she was staring at the wheelchair beside the bed.
“What's on your mind?” I asked.
She shrugged.
“Everything.”
I sat beside her.
“Want to narrow it down?”
She smiled faintly.
“I'm wondering whether I'll ever be able to walk from the kitchen to the backyard again.”
I glanced toward the window.
We had a small garden at home.
Emily grew tomatoes, roses, and sunflowers.
Every spring, she insisted on planting more than we had room for.
“I don't know,” I answered.
She looked at me.
“You could have lied.”
“I've done enough of that by pretending I'm okay.”
Her expression softened.
“Are you?”
“No.”
“Me neither.”
I moved closer.
She looked down at the wheelchair.
“I keep thinking about everything I might lose.”
I took her hand.
“I know.”
“Sometimes I feel guilty because I'm alive, and I should be grateful.”
“You can be grateful you're alive and still be angry about what happened.”
She stared at me.
Then nodded slowly.
“That's what the therapist said.”
“Sounds like a smart woman.”
“She is.”
Emily leaned against the pillow.
“I don't need you to promise I'll walk again.”
“Okay.”
“I need you to promise that if I don't, you won't look at me like my life ended.”
The question broke my heart.
I held her hand with both of mine.
“Emily, the only life I want is one with you in it.”
Tears filled her eyes.
I continued.
“We'll build ramps if we need ramps. We'll change the garden if we need to. We'll learn a different way to dance.”
She laughed softly.
“You really are terrible at dancing.”
“Then nothing important has changed.”
She squeezed my hand.
For the first time that day, I felt something close to peace.
Then I told her about Daniel.
She listened carefully.
When I finished, she shook her head.
“They're doing it again.”
“What?”
“Making people afraid of the ones they trust.”
I looked at her.
“That's how Cameron kept Serena quiet. That's how the sheriff controlled his deputies. They made everyone afraid that telling the truth would hurt someone they loved.”
She paused.
“Don't let them do that to you and Daniel.”
I kissed her hand.
“I won't.”
By evening, investigators had identified the source of the unauthorized access.
The security audit showed that someone with elevated administrative permissions had created temporary access sessions using Daniel's account.
Those sessions originated from a workstation in the federal liaison office.
Naomi reviewed the building access records.
Only three people had entered the office during the relevant period.
Two were cleared.
The third was Special Agent Lewis Trent.
The same man who had assured me Emily's hospital floor was secure.
Naomi called him.
No answer.
She called again.
Nothing.
An investigator checked his office.
Trent was gone.
His desk had been cleared.
But he'd made one mistake.
The workstation had retained a local record of his administrative activity.
Daniel's account had been used through a session Trent created.
The evidence pointed directly to him.
Naomi contacted internal investigators and arranged for Trent's apprehension.
His vehicle was located less than an hour later near a highway rest stop.
He was arrested without incident.
Inside the vehicle, investigators found a second phone, several storage devices, and envelopes containing large amounts of cash.
Financial records later linked payments to a company controlled by Richard Voss.
When Naomi told me, I stared at her.
“He was standing outside my wife's room.”
She nodded.
“He helped arrange the security plan.”
“He shook my hand.”
“I know.”
I felt physically sick.
For days, I'd feared that I couldn't protect Emily from the people outside the hospital.
But one of the people entrusted with helping protect her had been working against us.
“What happens now?” I asked.
“Trent is being investigated for bribery, obstruction, and other offenses. We're reviewing every case he touched.”
“Will he talk?”
“We're not counting on it.”
Daniel entered the room.
Naomi looked toward him.
“Your credentials are being restored. The evidence supports that your account was misused.”
Daniel nodded.
“Thank you.”
I stepped forward and embraced him.
Neither of us said anything.
We didn't need to.
But the investigation had uncovered something more troubling.
On Trent's second phone, investigators found messages exchanged with Captain Pike.
Most concerned witness locations and movement schedules.
The most recent was different.
It had been sent only thirty minutes before Trent was arrested.
CAMERON IS BECOMING A LIABILITY. THE OLD MAN WANTS HIM GONE.
Below it was Pike's response.
UNDERSTOOD. BEFORE SUNRISE.
I stared at the screen.
Richard Voss was apparently preparing to eliminate his own son.
Then Naomi's phone rang.
An investigator handed her a transcript of an incoming call.
She read it silently.
And looked toward me.
“Blake, someone wants to speak with you.”
“Who?”
May you like
Naomi hesitated.
“Cameron Voss.”
