Chapter 9 - The Man I Buried
Michael opened the door before I knocked.
“You got old.”
I hit him.
One punch.
He fell backward.
Keene shouted my name.
I stepped inside.
“You let me bury you.”
Mike wiped blood from his mouth.
“I deserved that.”
“Eight years.”
“Nine.”
“Don’t correct me.”
He laughed.
Same laugh.
I hated how much hearing it hurt.
Mike had survived Black Cedar.
The man who died in my arms had been wearing his equipment after the explosion.
Facial identification was impossible.
Voss discovered Mike alive hours later.
Then made a decision.
Keep him dead.
“Why?”
“Because I was the traitor.”
Silence.
Keene reached for her weapon.
Mike raised both hands.
“I leaked the route.”
My body went cold.
“You killed Ben.”
“I thought I was exposing Cole.”
“Explain.”
Mike had discovered Cole Dynamics was selling restricted access.
He contacted someone he believed was an inspector.
It was Cole’s own intermediary.
Mike revealed the operation route as proof.
Cole ambushed us.
“You sold us out.”
“I was stupid.”
“Ben died because you were stupid.”
“Yes.”
No excuse.
That somehow made it worse.
“Why did Voss protect you?”
“Because I knew where Cole’s ledger was.”
“So he faked your death.”
“He needed Cole to stop searching.”
“And me?”
Mike looked ashamed.
“Voss thought you might be involved.”
That old wound again.
“Why?”
“Because the account receiving one of Cole’s payments was under your name.”
Keene stiffened.
“What account?”
Mike produced records.
$2.4 million.
Clayton Hale.
I had never seen it.
Identity theft.
Or something worse.
“Who created it?”
Mike looked toward the floor.
“Your father.”
My father died when I was sixteen.
At least that was what I believed.
“Impossible.”
“Your father worked for Cole before you joined the Navy.”
I laughed.
“No.”
Mike slid a photograph toward me.
Nathan Cole.
My father, Thomas Hale.
And Voss.
All three younger.
Standing beside a prototype weapons system.
“Voss knew my father?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t he tell me?”
“Because Thomas disappeared after stealing something from Cole.”
“What?”
“The original ownership records for the targeting system.”
I stared at him.
The military technology we had supposedly been sent to recover—
had been partially designed by my father.
Then Mike delivered the worse part.
“Clayton, Black Cedar wasn’t where your story with Cole started.”
He pointed toward the photograph.
“It started when you were a child.”
Keene’s phone suddenly vibrated.
She read the message.
“Someone just entered your farm.”
“Voss?”
“No.”
Security footage showed Nathan Cole himself walking into my barn.
No guards.
No weapon visible.
He stood beside the broken combine and looked directly into the camera.
Then held up a cardboard sign.
May you like
BRING THE COIN.
YOUR FATHER IS WAITING.
