Chapter 3: The Man Who Knew Too Much
Petty Officer Grant Mason stood in my doorway like he had been waiting for me to discover the note.
That bothered me more than finding it.
A guilty man would look nervous.
A guilty man would avoid my eyes.
Mason did neither.
He simply watched.
Calm.
Patient.
Almost curious.
I held the paper between my fingers.
The message stared back at me.
*YOU SHOULD HAVE ASKED WHY DECK FOUR WAS SEALED BEFORE YOU OPENED IT.*
I looked at Mason.
“Did you write this?””
For a moment, nobody moved.
The Marine behind me shifted his weight.
Mason’s eyes dropped to the note.
Then back to me.
“That depends.””
“On what?””
“On whether you’re still asking questions because you want the truth…”
He stepped into the hallway.
“…or because you want someone to blame.””
The answer irritated me.
Not because it was clever.
Because it sounded like something someone said when they had been carrying a secret for too long.
I walked toward him.
“Where’s my packet?””
Mason looked past me into my destroyed room.
“I was wondering when you’d ask the important question.””
“Where is it?””
His expression changed.
Not fear.
Concern.
“Lieutenant, if I had taken your evidence, you wouldn’t have found that note.””
“That’s not an answer.””
“No.””
He looked toward the security camera above the hallway.
Then lowered his voice.
“It’s a warning.””
I glanced at the camera.
“You’re worried about cameras?””
“I’m worried about who watches them.””
That sentence stayed with me.
Because Mason wasn’t talking like a man protecting himself.
He was talking like a man who knew the walls had ears.
The Marine escort stepped forward.
“Petty Officer, you need to return to your station.””
Mason nodded.
But before he left, he looked directly at me.
“Don’t go to medical.””
I frowned.
“Why?””
“Because they’re not treating you.””
He paused.
“They’re checking you.””
Then he walked away.
The hallway remained silent.
The Marine beside me looked uncomfortable.
“Sir…”
I looked at him.
“What?””
He hesitated.
Then shook his head.
“Nothing.””
That was the problem with the Resolute.
Everyone had something to say.
Nobody wanted to be the first person brave enough to say it.
The medical bay smelled like disinfectant and metal.
A corpsman examined my ribs while two officers stood outside the door.
Watching.
Not guarding.
Watching.
That difference mattered.
The corpsman pressed against my side.
I winced.
“Possible fracture.””
“Can you confirm?””
He glanced toward the officers.
Then back at me.
“Not without an X-ray.””
“Then get one.””
Another silence.
Finally, he said:
“Sir, I’m not authorized.””
I stared at him.
“You’re a medical professional.””
“Yes, sir.””
“Then why aren’t you making medical decisions?””
He looked down.
Because he already knew the answer.
Nobody on this ship made decisions anymore.
They followed Kane.
The corpsman wrapped my ribs.
When he finished, he handed me a tablet.
“Sign here.””
I looked at the screen.
Incident report.
I read the first line.
*Lieutenant Daniel Reeves experienced an accidental fall during unauthorized movement on the flight deck.*
I looked up.
“Accidental?””
The corpsman froze.
“Yes, sir.””
“I was pushed.””
The room became quiet.
The officers outside the door heard.
Everyone heard everything on a ship.
The corpsman swallowed.
“I understand, sir.””
“No.””
I pushed the tablet back.
“You don’t.””
He looked at me.
“Because if you understood, you wouldn’t ask me to sign a lie.””
The door opened.
Colonel Kane walked in.
No announcement.
No permission.
Just Kane.
He looked at the tablet.
Then at me.
“Still refusing to cooperate?””
I laughed quietly.
“Is that what we’re calling it?””
Kane closed the door behind him.
The officers remained outside.
He wanted privacy.
That was interesting.
Men like Kane usually loved audiences.
“What do you want, Colonel?””
He walked slowly around the room.
“I want you to understand something.””
“I understand plenty.””
“No, you don’t.””
He stopped beside the medical cabinet.
“You came aboard this ship believing you were different.””
I said nothing.
“You thought because you had NCIS clearance, people would protect you.””
His fingers tapped lightly against the cabinet.
“You thought rules mattered more than rank.””
“They do.””
Kane smiled.
“That’s why you’re going to lose.””
I watched him carefully.
He wasn’t angry.
That was worse.
Angry people make mistakes.
Calm people make plans.
“You searched my room.””
He didn’t respond.
“You took the evidence.””
Still nothing.
“You’re not even going to deny it?””
Kane looked at me.
“Lieutenant, you have a dangerous habit.””
“What’s that?””
“You confuse having information with having power.””
He leaned closer.
“Information disappears.””
I stared at him.
“Not if it’s already somewhere else.””
For the first time, his expression changed.
Only slightly.
But enough.
He knew there were copies.
Good.
Let him wonder.
Kane straightened.
“Where?””
I smiled.
“There it is.””
His eyes narrowed.
“You don’t know what you’re dealing with.””
“I know exactly what I’m dealing with.””
“No.””
His voice hardened.
“You know what you saw.””
He stepped closer.
“You don’t know why.””
The words hit differently.
Because that was the first time Kane had hinted at something bigger.
Not just missing supplies.
Not just hidden records.
A reason.
“What happened on Deck Four?””
Kane stared at me.
Then he said something I didn’t expect.
“People died.””
The room went still.
I watched his face.
Waiting for more.
But he gave none.
“Who?””
He walked toward the door.
“That’s the question you should have asked before opening that door.””
He reached the handle.
Then stopped.
Without looking back, he said:
“Some secrets stay buried because the truth hurts more than the lie.””
The door closed.
I sat there thinking about those words.
Not because they scared me.
Because they confirmed something.
Kane wasn’t hiding a mistake.
He was hiding a story.
An hour later, I left medical.
Not because they released me.
Because I walked out.
Nobody stopped me.
That told me everything.
Kane wanted me moving.
Wanted me searching.
Wanted me to lead him somewhere.
The question was where.
I returned to my quarters.
The room was still destroyed.
But now I noticed something I hadn’t before.
The search had been rushed.
Someone had thrown things around.
But they had only looked in certain places.
The locker.
The mattress.
The floor panel.
They knew exactly what they wanted.
They weren’t searching for information.
They were searching for one specific item.
The packet.
I crouched beside the bunk.
The empty space beneath the floor stared back at me.
Then I remembered something.
The packet wasn’t the only thing I had hidden.
My fingers moved along the underside of the bunk frame.
There.
A small metal strip.
I pulled.
A thin compartment opened.
Inside was a second device.
A backup recorder.
I had placed it there after realizing Deck Four was dangerous.
The recorder contained one thing.
Audio.
The last conversation from the sealed corridor.
The conversation that explained why Kane was terrified.
I turned it on.
Static filled the room.
Then voices.
My own voice first.
“Why is this area sealed?””
A second voice answered.
Older.
Tired.
A voice I recognized.
Chief Engineer Thomas Hale.
“Because nobody wants to remember what happened here.””
My breathing slowed.
The recording continued.
“You said the official report was false.””
“It was.””
“What really happened?””
A long silence.
Then Hale whispered:
“Deck Four wasn’t an accident.””
I leaned closer.
The next words were barely audible.
But they changed everything.
“Colonel Kane ordered the doors locked while people were still inside.””
The recording stopped.
I froze.
For several seconds, I couldn’t move.
Because I finally understood.
The Deck Four incident wasn’t about stolen supplies.
It wasn’t about missing records.
It wasn’t about a cover-up of negligence.
It was about people.
People who had been trapped.
People who had died.
And Colonel Victor Kane had been there.
My door suddenly opened.
I spun around.
Tyler Brooks stood there, breathing heavily.
“Sir.””
“What happened?””
His face was pale.
“Someone knows about the recorder.””
My hand tightened around the device.
“How?””
Tyler looked behind him.
Then whispered:
“Because Chief Engineer Hale just disappeared.””
A cold feeling moved through me.
“What do you mean disappeared?””
Tyler swallowed.
“They found his quarters empty.””
He stepped closer.
“And on his desk…”
He stopped.
“What?””
Tyler looked at the recorder in my hand.
Then back at me.
“On his desk was a note.””
My stomach tightened.
“What did it say?””
Tyler’s voice dropped.
“*ONE WITNESS IS ALREADY GONE. TWO MORE TO FIND.*”
I looked toward the hallway.
Because suddenly, I understood something terrifying.
Kane wasn’t just trying to erase evidence.
May you like
He was hunting everyone who knew the truth.
And I had just become the next name on his list.
