Chapter 7 - The Thirty-Eighth Name
“Owen, where are you?”
I sent the message and waited.
Three dots appeared.
Then disappeared.
For almost a minute, nothing happened.
Finally, a response arrived.
I need to know you're alone.
I looked toward the locked door of my room.
I am.
Another pause.
There's a name missing from the evacuation roster.
I typed quickly.
What name?
The reply came almost immediately.
Specialist Nathan Bell.
I sat completely still.
Nathan Bell.
I hadn't heard that name in years.
Bell had been attached to the contracted communications maintenance team at the forward compound.
He was a twenty-six-year-old Army reservist assigned to support the transition from one encrypted relay system to another.
He'd arrived three days before the attack.
Officially, he'd been transferred off-site before our final evacuation.
At least, that was what the personnel movement report stated.
I remembered meeting him only once.
He'd approached me outside the operations shelter, holding a folder and looking terrified.
“Ma'am, there's something wrong with the equipment transfer list.”
I'd been coordinating emergency medical supplies at the time.
“Take it to Captain Mercer,” I'd told him.
“I already did.”
“Then Daniel will handle it.”
Bell had hesitated.
“Ma'am, I don't think we're supposed to be looking at it.”
I'd told him to document everything and return to his duties.
Two days later, Daniel was dead.
And Bell had supposedly left the installation.
I typed another message.
Bell was transferred before the evacuation.
Hayes replied.
That's what the paperwork says.
Then another message appeared.
He was still there. I saw him during the final withdrawal.
My heart hammered.
Why didn't you tell investigators?
I tried. They said I was mistaken.
I called Brooks again.
This time she answered.
“Colonel?”
“Hayes is messaging me. He says Specialist Nathan Bell remained at the compound during the evacuation.”
There was a brief silence.
“Bell isn't on the casualty or evacuation list,” Brooks said.
“I know.”
“Can you forward the messages?”
“Yes.”
“Don't arrange a private meeting. Let us help locate him safely.”
I looked back at the screen.
A new message arrived.
I have proof. Daniel gave me a backup drive before the last helicopter arrived.
I forwarded it to Brooks.
Within minutes, she had arranged a monitored communication channel.
Hayes agreed to continue speaking, but refused to reveal his location.
He described the final hour at the compound.
According to him, Bell had discovered that several supposedly military-owned communication modules were actually diverted equipment being moved without proper authorization.
The unauthorized transfers were hidden inside legitimate maintenance activity.
Daniel had ordered the movement stopped pending verification.
Then the communications system began malfunctioning.
“The delay order came after Daniel challenged the shipment,” Hayes explained in a recorded call.
“Do you know who issued it?” Brooks asked.
“I heard Vale's voice. But I don't know whether he understood what was happening.”
“What about Bell?”
Hayes went silent.
I leaned toward the speaker.
“Owen, tell me.”
“He was in the eastern equipment shelter when the attack started. Daniel told me Bell was helping secure the records.”
“Did he escape?”
“I don't know.”
“Did you see him afterward?”
“No.”
My throat tightened.
“Then why did the personnel report show him leaving before the attack?”
“That's what I'm trying to prove.”
Brooks asked for the backup drive.
Hayes agreed to surrender it at a secure location under formal protection.
But before the call ended, he asked to speak with me privately.
Brooks allowed a brief monitored exchange.
“Colonel,” Hayes whispered, “do you remember what Daniel told you about the eastern ridge?”
I closed my eyes.
“He said there was movement.”
“No. Before that. He mentioned the lights.”
I searched my memory.
Then I remembered.
Three flashes.
A pause.
Two more.
I'd assumed they were signals from our own security team.
Hayes continued.
“Bell had been checking a communications beacon out there.”
My breathing slowed.
“Are you suggesting those lights were his?”
“I don't know, ma'am. But I found an image from a surveillance aircraft.”
A file appeared on my secure screen.
The grainy photograph showed the damaged compound from above.
Near the eastern shelter stood a single human figure.
The timestamp was 2:26 a.m.
Nine minutes after Daniel's final radio call.
I leaned closer.
A person appeared to be waving toward the departing aircraft.
Brooks studied the image.
Then she said quietly, “Colonel Mitchell, our official timeline says the site was completely abandoned at 2:21.”
May you like
I stared at the photograph.
Someone had still been alive on the ground after the last helicopter departed.
