Chapter 2: The Evidence Beneath My Bunk
The ocean was louder at night.
That was the first thing I noticed after the ship disappeared into the distance.
Not the cold.
Not the pain.
The silence.
The Pacific stretched endlessly around me.
No lights.
No voices.
No rescue.
Only waves rising and falling beneath a sky filled with stars.
I floated there, fighting the exhaustion trying to pull me under.
Every breath hurt.
My ribs burned where Kane’s boot had struck.
But my mind kept returning to one thought.
The evidence.
The packet.
If Kane reached my quarters before anyone else, it was gone.
And if it was gone, so was the truth.
I had spent months investigating Deck Four.
Months following missing supply records.
Months noticing things that didn’t make sense.
A ship like the Resolute kept records for everything.
Fuel.
Maintenance.
Personnel movement.
Emergency supplies.
Nothing disappeared.
Not unless someone wanted it to.
And someone had been hiding something below Deck Four.
A shadow moved in the distance.
At first, I thought it was another wave.
Then I heard it.
An engine.
Small.
Weak.
Getting closer.
I turned toward the sound.
A tiny inflatable rescue craft appeared through the darkness.
A flashlight swept across the water.
“Lieutenant Reeves!””
I almost laughed.
Almost.
Because the voice belonged to the last person I expected.
“Brooks?””
The young signalman leaned over the side of the boat.
His face was pale.
“You’re alive.””
I grabbed the rope they threw down.
“Apparently.””
Tyler pulled me upward with another sailor.
As soon as I reached the boat, he looked away.
I noticed.
“What happened?””
He hesitated.
Nobody answered.
That told me everything.
Finally, Tyler spoke.
“After you went over…”
He swallowed.
“Colonel Kane ordered everyone back to their stations.””
I stared at him.
“He didn’t report me missing?””
Tyler shook his head.
“No, sir.””
The anger came back.
Not because Kane had attacked me.
I already knew what kind of man he was.
It was because he had convinced hundreds of people to pretend they didn’t see.
“Who sent the rescue boat?””
Tyler looked down.
A nervous expression crossed his face.
“Someone who wants to help.””
“That’s not an answer.””
Before he could respond, the boat radio crackled.
A voice came through.
“Lieutenant Reeves, if you can hear me, do not contact the Resolute.””
Every person on the boat froze.
I reached for the radio.
“Identify yourself.””
Static.
Then:
“Your evidence packet is not safe anymore.””
My blood went cold.
Nobody knew about the packet.
Nobody.
Except—
The voice continued.
“Colonel Kane knows about Deck Four.””
The radio cut out.
I looked at Tyler.
He looked terrified.
Because he knew the same thing I did.
Someone on that ship had betrayed me.
And whoever it was had just revealed the one thing Kane needed to find.
The evidence.
The boat moved slowly through the darkness.
Back toward the Resolute.
Back toward the place where everything started.
I looked at the massive shape of the ship appearing on the horizon.
And beneath the fear, beneath the exhaustion, beneath the pain…
I felt something else.
Determination.
Because Colonel Victor Kane thought throwing me into the ocean would end the investigation.
He was wrong.
The ocean had only delayed me.
But when I returned to that ship, I wouldn’t be the officer who questioned his orders.
I would be the man carrying the evidence that could bring him down.
Then my phone, sealed inside a waterproof emergency pouch, suddenly vibrated.
One message appeared on the screen.
From an unknown number.
May you like
Three words.
*THE PACKET IS GONE.*
