Mara did not react.
“Then help us establish that it was an administrative error.”
Foster placed the equipment transfer records on the table.
Vale examined them without touching the pages.
“I authorized several equipment transfers after the operation. The command center had to be cleared, systems had to be restored, and classified material had to be secured. That doesn't mean I personally handled every item.”
“No one has claimed that you did,” Foster said. “We are asking why your name appears on the authorization associated with the missing backup module.”
“Because I was responsible for the review.”
“Did you order the module removed?”
“No.”
“Did you authorize Peter Lang to collect it?”
“I don't recall.”
“Did you know it had been removed from the original equipment inventory?”
Vale looked at Foster.
“Not at the time.”
Mara stepped away from the window.
“When did you learn about the discrepancy?”
Vale's gaze shifted toward her.
“Several weeks after the operation.”
“And what did you do?”
“I requested a technical assessment. I was told the module had been disconnected before the mission and that the inventory had been corrected.”
“Who told you?”
“A communications officer.”
“Name?”
Vale's silence lasted just long enough to become an answer of its own.
“I would need to consult the original file.”
“The original file is missing,” Mara said.
His expression hardened.
“Lieutenant Ellison, you are not conducting this interview.”
“No. But I was there when the orders were given. I was there when Daniel and Naomi died. And I was the one whose report changed.”
Vale looked down at the documents.
For the first time, he seemed older than his rank.
“I believed the review had established what happened,” he said. “I believed that the command record was accurate.”
“Then why did you recommend my transfer?”
“Because the review was not finished, and I wanted you away from the people who were discussing the operation.”
“You sent me away without telling me that.”
“I thought I was protecting you.”
“From what?”
Vale had no immediate answer.
Shaw moved closer to the table. “Colonel, we have evidence that the primary and backup recording systems were treated differently, that a discrepancy report was removed, and that the missing module may have been transferred outside the approved inventory process. We need a complete account of your involvement.”
Vale rubbed his forehead.
“I didn't order anyone to alter your report.”
“Did you read it before signing the final review?” Foster asked.
“Yes.”
“Did it accurately reflect your findings?”
Vale stared at the table.
“No.”
The answer stunned even Shaw.
Vale explained that the first draft of the report had contained a discrepancy between the radio log and Mara's written account. The discrepancy was described as a possible communications failure. During the final review, the wording had been changed to suggest that Mara had acted without waiting for confirmation.
He had approved the final document after being told that the technical issue had been resolved.
“Who changed it?” Hale asked.
“I don't know.”
“Who told you the technical issue had been resolved?”
Vale closed his eyes briefly.
“Major Thomas Rourke.”
Mara felt the room tilt around her.
Rourke had been the remote mission coordinator. His voice had guided them through the operation. His instructions had directed their movement, their timing, and eventually their waiting.
If he had also influenced the review, then the person whose orders Mara had trusted had helped shape the explanation of why those orders failed.
Foster asked whether Vale had contacted Lang's former employer.
Vale admitted that he had requested the old employment records, but insisted he had done so after receiving an anonymous warning that the archive contained evidence relevant to the review.
“Why didn't you report the warning?” Shaw asked.
“Because I was trying to verify it before creating another investigation based on rumors.”
Mara studied him.
“Who sent it?”
“I don't know.”
“Do you still have the message?”
Vale hesitated, then removed a folded piece of paper from his folder.
It contained one sentence:
The original recording will surface when the people responsible believe the witness has stopped looking.
Beneath it was a date.
Tomorrow.
Foster immediately ordered the depot secured and the archive inventory preserved. Hale contacted the authorities responsible for the equipment records.
Vale remained seated after the others began moving.
“Mara,” he said quietly.
She stopped at the door.
“I did not want Daniel and Naomi to die.”
She looked at him for a long moment.
“I believe you may mean that.”
Relief flickered across his face.
“But meaning well is not the same as telling the truth.”
Then she left him alone with the documents he had signed.
The archive was secured before sunrise.
A team of investigators examined the storage cabinets, access logs, and old maintenance records. They found no original mission log, but they discovered a discrepancy in the archive's digital index: one item had been assigned a temporary identifier and then removed from the searchable catalog.
The identifier corresponded to a backup recording module.
Its last recorded location was a secure evidence room at the communications depot.
Its recorded transfer date was three days after Operation Lantern.
The receiving signature was Peter Lang's.
The releasing signature belonged to Thomas Rourke.
Yet the digital entry showed that the item had been returned to storage the following day. No one had signed for that return.
“Someone wanted the system to show that the module never left the building,” Hale said.
“Or that it came back,” Foster replied.
Mara stood behind them, watching the records appear on the screen.
“Can we retrieve the module?”
“The storage room has been searched,” Foster said. “It isn't there.”
“Then we search the next location.”
Hale turned toward her. “We have no confirmed next location.”
“Not yet.”
At midday, the depot received a package addressed to the review team. It contained a small memory card inside a padded envelope, with no return address and no identifying marks.
The package was photographed, logged, and examined before the card was accessed.
Its contents consisted of a single audio file.
The timestamp placed the recording twelve minutes before the first casualty was reported during Operation Lantern.