Chapter 6 - The Truth About Samuel Vance
Victor Dane did not look like a criminal mastermind.
That was probably why he had survived for so long.
Silver hair.
Tailored coat.
Calm voice.
The appearance of a man who belonged in boardrooms, charity dinners, and photographs with senators.
Not abandoned quarries.
Not kidnappings.
Not murder.
Dane looked at Elena.
“You have Samuel’s eyes.”
“People keep telling me that.”
“He was difficult.”
“He was honest.”
Dane smiled.
“Those things often travel together.”
Cortez and federal agents were hidden outside the quarry perimeter.
Elena wore a transmitter beneath her shirt.
Dane knew she was wired.
He simply did not care.
That arrogance was useful.
“You killed him.”
Dane glanced toward Sterling.
“Did Thomas say that?”
Sterling spat blood.
“Go to hell.”
Dane laughed.
“Interesting moral awakening.”
Elena looked at Sterling.
“What happened?”
Sterling closed his eyes.
Thirteen years earlier, Colonel Samuel Vance had audited transportation contracts.
Dane’s company billed the Army for equipment that never existed.
Hale, then a colonel, approved inflated contracts.
Sterling handled local intimidation.
Samuel found the pattern.
He refused to stop.
Dane ordered Hale to “solve the problem.”
Hale told Sterling to scare Samuel.
Sterling followed Samuel’s vehicle along a mountain road.
Hit the rear quarter panel.
The vehicle lost control.
Went through a barrier.
Three people died.
Sterling stared at Elena.
“I didn’t mean for him to die.”
Elena’s face remained still.
“That doesn’t matter.”
“I know.”
“No.”
She stepped closer.
“You know now.”
Sterling looked away.
Hale whispered:
“We covered it.”
Elena turned.
“You changed the route.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Dane had evidence on me.”
“What evidence?”
“Bribes.”
“So you murdered three people to protect your career.”
Hale closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
No excuse.
Good.
Elena looked back at Dane.
“You ordered it.”
Dane shrugged.
“I ordered pressure.”
Same cowardice.
Different wording.
Nobody ever wanted ownership.
That was the core of corruption.
Not evil speeches.
Passive grammar.
Mistakes were made.
Orders were misunderstood.
Pressure was applied.
People died.
Dane stepped closer to Aaron.
“You have something I want.”
“The microSD?”
“Copies.”
Elena smiled.
“There are six.”
Dane’s expression did not change.
“Then you’ll destroy them.”
“No.”
Dane pointed a pistol toward Aaron.
Natalie was waiting miles away.
Aaron’s eyes found Elena.
Do not trade.
She could see it.
He was ready to die rather than let Dane win.
Elena hated that courage.
Because it forced her to match it.
“You kill him, the evidence goes public automatically.”
Dane smiled.
“Bluff.”
“Maybe.”
Sterling suddenly laughed.
Dane looked at him.
“What’s funny?”
“You still think you’re smarter than everybody.”
Sterling looked toward Elena.
“She came into my mess hall without rank.”
His voice strengthened.
“I thought she was nothing.”
Then he looked at Dane.
“That’s the mistake men like us make.”
Dane’s face hardened.
“Us?”
Sterling smiled bitterly.
“You heard me.”
Then he moved.
He threw himself into Dane.
The gun fired.
Aaron’s chair tipped.
Elena lunged.
Agents stormed the quarry.
“FEDERAL AGENTS!”
Gunfire cracked.
Hale dropped his weapon immediately.
Sterling wrestled with Dane.
A second shot fired.
Sterling collapsed.
Dane ran toward a vehicle.
Cortez tackled him.
Within seconds, Victor Dane was face down in the dirt.
Handcuffed.
Screaming about attorneys.
Aaron was freed.
Alive.
Hale surrendered.
Sterling lay bleeding.
Elena knelt beside him.
The bullet had entered his shoulder.
Not fatal.
He looked at her.
“You wanted me alive?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“So you can answer for everything.”
Sterling smiled weakly.
“Fair.”
Then he lost consciousness.
Aaron was rushed to a hospital.
Natalie met the ambulance.
When she saw him, she screamed.
Not from fear.
From relief.
Seven months apart.
Seven months of everyone telling her he had run.
Aaron lifted one weak hand.
Natalie grabbed it.
“You idiot.”
He smiled.
“I know.”
“You were supposed to marry me.”
“I know.”
“You look terrible.”
“I know.”
She kissed his forehead.
Elena turned away.
Some reunions did not belong to investigators.
By sunrise, Dane was in federal custody.
Hale too.
Sterling under guard in a military hospital.
Rainer remained missing.
Colonel Mason Avery remained missing.
And the biggest problem still had no answer.
Who had protected Dane from Washington?
Because a company that stole millions from military contracts did not survive thirteen years because one brigadier general looked the other way.
Aaron confirmed it after surgery.
“There’s another layer.”
Elena sat beside his bed.
“Who?”
“I never saw the name.”
“What did you see?”
“Initials.”
“Which?”
Aaron whispered:
“P.W.”
Cortez frowned.
“Could be anyone.”
Aaron shook his head.
“Dane called him Senator.”
Elena went still.
A senator.
Then her secure phone rang.
General Avery.
“Elena.”
“What happened?”
“Do not return to Washington.”
“Why?”
“Someone just tried to access your investigation files from a Senate network.”
“Name?”
Avery hesitated.
“Senator Paul Whitmore.”
Chairman of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee.
One of the most powerful men controlling military funding.
Elena stared through the hospital window.
May you like
Dane was not the top.
Not even close.
