Chapter 4 - THE SHORTENED NINTH BARClaire had spent eight days studying the envelope.
Something about its emblem was wrong.
Ten bars formed the old Iron symbol.
But the ninth was shorter.
Most people would never notice.
Claire did.
Iron Team had once used deliberately imperfect insignias to communicate under compromised conditions.
Nine complete marks meant secure.
A shortened ninth meant compromised.
Daniel understood immediately.
“Here?”
Claire nodded.
“Whoever sent this wanted me at this installation.”
Mason looked toward the windows.
“You think they're watching us?”
“I'd be disappointed if they weren't.”
Then the front door opened.
A man wearing a gray jacket entered.
He saw Claire.
Turned.
Left.
Claire stood immediately.
Daniel followed.
Mason insisted on coming.
They reached the parking lot.
Empty.
Then Claire heard metal clicking behind the maintenance building.
They moved.
A shadow crossed the rooftop.
Something dropped.
Claire caught it.
A disposable phone.
Its screen illuminated.
IRON TEN CONFIRMED.
A second message followed.
YOU BROUGHT THE WRONG BROTHER.
Mason laughed nervously.
“There are only two brothers.”
Daniel didn't laugh.
Claire looked at him.
“You know something.”
Daniel's face changed.
Their father had left a letter.
Written to Evelyn Shaw.
A former intelligence liaison.
A convicted traitor.
And a woman who had apparently borne Everett Reed a son.
Mason whispered, “We have a brother?”
Daniel answered quietly.
“I think so.”
Hours later, Mason disappeared.
His truck was discovered near the south service gate.
Keys inside.
Phone abandoned.
No blood.
One photograph waited on the screen.
Mason sat inside a dark concrete room.
Behind him was the old Iron insignia.
And beneath the image were coordinates Claire recognized instantly.
Daniel looked at her.
“Where is that?”
May you like
Claire felt fourteen years of buried terror opening inside her.
“The place where Iron Team died.”
Related Stories
