“Why?”
“That question has haunted me for twenty-seven years.”
Elena held up the NIGHTGLASS folder.
“And this?”
Mercer looked around before answering.
“Nightglass was the operation your mother was investigating.”Family history research
“Who ran it?”
“I don’t know.”
“You expect me to believe a lieutenant general doesn’t know?”
“I wasn’t a general then.”
“Who did you report to?”
Mercer hesitated again.
That hesitation told Elena everything.
“You know a name.”
“I know several.”
“Give me one.”Military memorabilia
“I can’t.”
Elena laughed bitterly.
“My mother is dead. Someone erased her history. Someone declared me dead while I was still breathing. Someone has photographed me for weeks.”
She pointed toward where Ryan had disappeared.
“And one of my own NCOs apparently knows about the facility where she died.”
She stepped closer.
“You don’t get to tell me you can’t give me a name.”
Mercer looked at her for a long moment.
Then he nodded.Military leadership courses
“One name.”
Elena waited.
“Colonel Nathan Voss.”
The name meant nothing to her.
“Who is he?”
“Was.”
Mercer corrected himself.
“He disappeared two weeks after your mother died.”
“Disappeared?”
“No body.”
“No resignation.”Life insurance
“No retirement.”
“Nothing.”
Elena looked at the photographs again.
“Was he part of Nightglass?”
Mercer nodded.
“He directed it.”
A vibration came from inside Elena’s pocket.
Her phone.
She pulled it out.
Unknown number.Photo restoration services
One message.
NO TEXT.
Only an image attachment.
Elena opened it.
Her blood turned cold.
It was a photograph taken seconds earlier.
She and Mercer were standing beside the equipment building.
The angle came from somewhere above them.
Someone was watching them right now.
Elena looked toward the rooftops.
“General.”
Mercer saw the screen.
His expression changed instantly.
“Inside. Now.”
They moved quickly toward the nearest building.
Another message arrived.
This time there was text.
YOU SHOULD HAVE STAYED DEAD.
Elena stopped walking.Find Grief Support
Mercer grabbed her arm.
“Keep moving.”
A third message appeared.
It was another photograph.
But not of Elena.
Not of Mercer.
This photograph showed Ryan Cole sitting inside a military police vehicle.
Across from him sat one of the MPs.
The officer’s face was visible.
Elena zoomed in.
There was something beneath the MP’s sleeve.Military history books
A black snake.