“The mayor's security chief was standing near the exit. Martin Vale was beside him.”
Riker straightened.
“Are you certain?”
“I've seen Vale at two public events. He works private security. I thought he was one of the contractors assigned to Northstar.”
“Did you know his name before today?”
“No. I asked a friend at the courthouse after I saw him on the screen.”
“Can your friend confirm his employment?”
“I'm checking.”
Riker looked at the paused image.
Martin Vale.
The man who had appeared at the clubhouse demanding to take Leo.
The man whose ring matched the boy's description.
The man who had been standing beside Derek Voss at the factory.
Now he had appeared near the mayor.
Three separate locations.
Three connections.
And a rapidly developing story that was beginning to frame the Steel Saw riders as a threat.
Riker called Sheriff Brooks.
She answered with a clipped greeting.
“Cross, I'm watching the same broadcast you are.”
“Then you know why I'm calling.”
“I know.”
“Did you authorize the mayor to mention the motorcycle organization?”
“No.”
“Did your office give him the information about the possible confrontation?”
“No.”
“Then how did he learn about it?”
“That is a question I'm trying to answer.”
Riker waited.
The sheriff continued.
“I have already instructed my staff to preserve every communication related to this incident. I have also asked the county prosecutor to review the circumstances surrounding the missing woman and the possible threat at the factory.”
“What about the reservoir?”
“Utility security has confirmed that the facilities are operating normally.”
“That's not what I asked.”
“No. It's not.”
Riker heard papers moving at the other end of the line.
“I'm not going to speculate over an unsecured telephone line,” the sheriff said. “But I have requested a review of the recent access records for the pumping station and emergency power facility.”
“Good.”
“And Riker?”
“Yes?”
“If you receive any more messages, do not respond to the sender. Preserve them and forward them to my office.”
“Understood.”
“Also, I want Leo moved to a location where he cannot be approached by anyone claiming to represent his family without independent verification.”
“That's already being arranged.”
“Good.”
She ended the call.
Riker stood in the office for a moment, then walked into the main room.
“Everybody listen. The mayor has mentioned us publicly. That means every action we take from this point forward could be interpreted as part of the story someone wants to tell.”
A rider near the back raised his hand.
“So we do nothing?”
“No. We do the right things in the right way. We preserve evidence. We cooperate with the investigation. We protect the people who need protection. We don't threaten anyone, and we don't give anyone a reason to claim we're preparing for violence.”
Another rider asked, “What if the authorities can't stop what's happening?”
Riker looked around the room.
“Then we keep providing them with information until they can.”
The answer did not satisfy everyone.
But nobody argued.
They understood that the club's strength was not measured by the number of engines it could start.
It was measured by whether its members could resist the temptation to become the very thing their enemies claimed they were.
At 7:04 p.m., Leo remembered the envelope.
He had been sitting at the clubhouse kitchen table with Linda when she asked whether he had ever seen anything unusual at the factory besides the meeting.
The boy stared at his hands.
“There was a box.”
“What kind of box?”
“Metal. Gray. It was under a table.”
“Did anyone open it?”
“One man did.”
“What was inside?”
“Papers. A lot of them. And a small black thing that looked like a computer.”
“Did you hear what they said?”
Leo thought for a moment.
“They said the original had to be moved before the power test.”
Linda did not interrupt.
“One man asked if the engineer had signed the final report. Another said the engineer was gone, but his signature was already on the documents.”
“Did they say the engineer's name?”
Leo closed his eyes.
“Daniel.”
Linda immediately contacted Evan.
Within minutes, the information reached Riker and Sheriff Brooks.
Daniel Hargrove.
The former municipal project manager.
The man who had raised concerns about cost overruns and safety inspections before disappearing from public view.
The reference to his signature suggested that someone might have used his name to approve work he had never authorized.
If that were true, Project Lantern could involve falsified safety documents.
And if the plan involved the reservoir's emergency power system, falsified records could conceal defects that placed thousands of residents at risk.
Riker called the sheriff.
“Leo remembered a conversation about Daniel Hargrove's signature.”
The sheriff went silent.
“Tell me exactly what he heard.”
Riker repeated the boy's account.
When he finished, Sheriff Brooks exhaled slowly.
“I've been trying to reach Hargrove for two hours. His former office says he resigned voluntarily. His family says he hasn't been home for several days.”
“Does his family know where he is?”
“They don't.”
“Have they reported him missing?”
“Not yet. They believed he was traveling for work.”
Riker looked toward the city.
“Could he be the person who sent the email?”
“Possibly.”
“Or he could be the person they're trying to silence.”
“Yes.”
The sheriff's voice became sharper.
“Riker, I'm dispatching a unit to check the Hargrove residence. I'm also requesting an emergency review of the infrastructure contract. If there is a credible concern about the reservoir's safety, the relevant utility officials need to know.”
“Do they know about Project Lantern?”
“They know what we can establish from the records. I'm not going to send a vague theory to a control room and risk causing a public panic. But I'm not going to ignore a credible safety concern either.”
“That sounds reasonable.”
“It is reasonable. And it is the only way I can protect the public without creating a second emergency.”
After the call, Riker sat quietly.
For the first time, he began to suspect that the missing engineer might be the key to the entire operation.
Daniel Hargrove could explain why the city had approved the contract, why the emergency power system was being modified, and why a restricted operational plan had been attached to the procurement file.
He might know what Project Lantern meant.
He might also know why the mayor wanted the industrial district cleared.
But if Hargrove had discovered something dangerous, he could already be in the hands of the people who had taken Leo's mother.
Riker turned toward Evan.
“Do we have any photographs of Hargrove?”
“Not yet.”
“Find a recent one from a legitimate public source. Give it to the sheriff, not to Leo unless she asks.”
Evan nodded.
Riker looked at the clock.
7:12 p.m.
The city was entering the evening rush.
Traffic was building near the industrial district. Emergency vehicles had begun appearing on the local roads. The mayor's statement was circulating across social media, and the first posts claiming that the Steel Saw riders had planned an attack were beginning to appear.
Some included photographs of the club's charity events.
Others showed old images of unrelated motorcycle gatherings.
A few falsely claimed that the riders had been seen carrying weapons.
The story was spreading faster than the evidence.
Riker knew that once a public narrative became emotionally satisfying, facts often struggled to catch up.
If people believed a gang was planning violence, they would interpret every motorcycle on the road as a threat. If they believed the mayor was protecting the city, they would treat his statements as confirmation. If they believed a child had been manipulated by dangerous adults, they might dismiss his testimony before hearing it.
The people behind Project Lantern understood that.
They were not simply planning an operation.
They were planning how the city would remember it.