Chapter 10 - The Warehouse at MidnightBy midnight, the investigation had become a coordinated federal operation.
I wasn't permitted to participate in the search.
Neither was Evan.
We waited in a secure office while Bennett coordinated with the teams involved.
The hardest part was doing nothing.
I'd spent most of my career making decisions under pressure.
Now the most important decision was to trust the people working to bring Daniel home.
Evan paced.
Mason sat nearby, watching him.
“Sit down,” Mason said gently.
“I can't.”
“I know.”
Evan stopped near the window.
“Do you think he's alive?”
Mason took a moment.
“Yeah.”
“You don't know that.”
“No,” Mason admitted. “But I think he's been fighting to come home for a long time.”
Evan looked away.
I watched the two young Marines.
At the airport, Mason had been the first to challenge Evan's cruelty.
He hadn't done it loudly.
He hadn't humiliated his friend.
He'd simply tried to stop him.
I was beginning to understand that Evan wasn't the only young man changing through this ordeal.
Shortly after one in the morning, Bennett returned.
“The blood recovered from the vehicle is being tested. We also found evidence connecting it to a warehouse leased through a company associated with Voss.”
“Did you search it?” I asked.
“A judicially authorized search is underway.”
Evan stepped closer.
“Can you tell us anything?”
Bennett hesitated.
“We've recovered documents and medical supplies.”
“What about my father?”
“Not yet.”
Hours passed.
Then the office door opened.
A second investigator entered and handed Bennett a tablet.
She studied the screen.
Her expression changed.
“Colonel Mitchell.”
I stood.
“We found a video recording.”
“Of Daniel?”
“Yes.”
She turned the tablet toward us.
Daniel appeared on the screen.
He was seated in a small room.
His hands rested on a table.
His face was bruised.
But he was alive.
A digital timestamp showed that the recording had been made less than twenty-four hours earlier.
He looked toward the camera.
“If anyone finds this, my name is Daniel Carter. I was declared killed in action eight years ago.”
Evan stepped closer.
Daniel continued.
“I have evidence that Marcus Voss and Richard Hale manipulated operational intelligence and concealed unauthorized equipment transfers.”
He paused.
“I've been threatened, detained, and prevented from contacting my family.”
His voice weakened.
“But I have not forgotten who I am.”
Evan pressed a hand against his mouth.
Daniel looked directly into the camera.
“My son is named Evan.”
The room fell silent.
“If he's watching this, I want him to know something.”
Daniel swallowed.
“I never stopped trying to come home.”
Evan began crying quietly.
No one looked away.
Then Daniel leaned closer.
“And Rebecca Mitchell…”
My heart pounded.
“You were right about the mission.”
He glanced toward something beyond the camera.
His expression changed.
“I don't have much time.”
The video abruptly ended.
Bennett received another message.
She read it.
Then looked at us.
“Investigators found a second room behind a false wall.”
Evan stepped forward.
“And?”
May you like
Bennett's voice softened.
“Someone is inside.”
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