Then Foster closed his notebook.
"Thank you, Lieutenant. We'll include that in the review."
The meeting ended shortly afterward.
Mara returned to the training hall, but her attention had shifted.
The original mission log was missing.
Someone had sent her a warning.
And the official record appeared to describe a different sequence of events from the one she remembered.
For the first time, she began to consider a possibility she had resisted for two years.
Perhaps the operation had not simply gone wrong.
Perhaps someone had changed the record of what happened afterward.
That evening, she sat at her desk and looked at the photograph of Price and Brooks.
She thought about the people who had survived, the people who had written reports, and the people who had been told to move on.
She thought about the message that had arrived after midnight.
You were wrong to trust the review.
Mara could not yet prove that the sender was telling the truth.
But she could no longer assume the official account was complete.
She switched off the desk lamp.
Tomorrow, she would return to training, follow her assignment, and continue doing the work she had been sent to Fort Redstone to do.
But she would also remember one thing.
A missing record could be an administrative mistake.
A false instruction could be a technical failure.
A familiar voice could be an impersonation.
Yet when all three appeared together, coincidence was no longer an explanation she was willing to accept without evidence.
And somewhere beyond the walls of Fort Redstone, someone knew exactly what the original mission log contained.
Someone who had decided that Mara Ellison needed to find out.
At 0610 the following morning, Mara Ellison found a sealed envelope beneath the door of her quarters.
It contained no official markings, no return address, and no indication of who had delivered it. Her name had been printed across the front in black capital letters.
She stood in the corridor for several seconds, listening.
Somewhere down the hall, a shower was running. A door closed, followed by the muffled sound of someone speaking on a telephone. The installation was waking up around her, continuing its ordinary routines as though nothing unusual had happened.
Mara picked up the envelope and returned inside.
She didn't open it immediately.
The unauthorized messages had already been reported, and Colonel Vale had explicitly instructed her not to investigate the incident independently. Whatever the envelope contained, opening it could introduce another problem into an investigation that was already becoming increasingly complicated.
She considered taking it directly to the security office.
Then she noticed something written beneath her name.
Three short lines beneath a circle.
The symbol from Operation Lantern.
Mara's pulse quickened.
She placed the envelope on her desk, photographed both sides with her authorized device, and contacted the duty officer. After explaining the circumstances, she followed the instructions she received and waited for a security representative to collect it.
Twenty minutes later, Captain Lewis arrived.
"Did you touch anything inside?"
"No, ma'am. I haven't opened it."
"Good."
Lewis examined the envelope without removing the contents, then placed it inside a protective evidence sleeve.
"Did you recognize the symbol immediately?"
"Yes."
"Could anyone at this installation know what it means?"
"Anyone who saw the casualty card during the exercise could have copied it."
"Did you tell anyone about its significance?"
"Only the personnel involved in the investigation."
Lewis made a note.
"We'll examine the envelope and determine whether we can identify its source. Until then, don't discuss it with anyone outside the authorized review team."
Mara nodded.
As Lewis prepared to leave, Mara asked a question that had been bothering her since the previous evening.
"Captain, has anyone examined the personnel records of the people who participated in Operation Lantern?"
"That's part of the ongoing review."
"Have you found anything unusual?"
Lewis hesitated.
"I'm not authorized to discuss the findings."
Mara looked at the evidence sleeve.
"Then I suppose I'll have to wait."
"That's the appropriate course of action, Lieutenant."
Lewis left.
Mara stood beside the desk, feeling the familiar frustration of being told to remain patient while someone else controlled access to information that might determine the truth about her past.
She had obeyed the rules. She had reported the messages, submitted her statement, and cooperated with the investigators.
Yet the questions continued to multiply.
At 0800, she reported for duty.
Captain Mercer was waiting outside the training hall.
"Major Shaw wants you in the command building at ten," he said.
"Is there a problem?"
"Not that I'm aware of."
He studied her expression.
"You're thinking about the envelope."
Mara looked at him.
"How did you hear about it?"
"Captain Lewis informed the command staff that a new piece of evidence had been collected. She didn't give me the details."
Mara nodded.
Mercer lowered his voice.
"Listen, Lieutenant. I know you want answers. But don't let the uncertainty interfere with your responsibilities."
"It won't, sir."
"I believe you. I just want to make sure you remember that you still have a team relying on you."
His words stayed with her as she entered the training hall.
Private Hayes was already preparing the equipment. Sergeant Bennett stood beside the mats, reviewing the day's schedule.
When he saw Mara, he walked over.
"Everything all right?"
"An envelope was delivered to my quarters."
Bennett's expression changed.
"What was in it?"
"I don't know yet. Security collected it before I opened it."
"Was it connected to the operation?"
"It carried the same symbol."
He exhaled slowly.
"Someone is getting increasingly bold."
"Or increasingly desperate."
Bennett considered that.
"Do you think they want you to do something?"
"I think they want me to look in a particular direction."
"At what?"
Mara looked toward the windows.
"That's what I'm trying to determine."
For the next hour, they conducted the scheduled training session without discussing the investigation. Mara worked with Hayes on balance and movement, while Bennett supervised a series of controlled reaction exercises.
The work helped restore a sense of normality.
But as the session ended, a message arrived on Bennett's phone.
He read it, frowned, and approached Mara.
"There's something you should know."
"What is it?"