"No, sir."
"Did you see inside?"
Torres shook his head.
"But?"
He swallowed.
"It had a red security seal."
Reeves became still.
"Are you certain?"
"Yes, sir."
"What did the seal say?"
Torres thought.
"Government property."
Reeves stood.
"Leave."
Torres left.
Lena looked at Reeves.
"What's wrong?"
He didn't answer.
He walked to a locked cabinet.
Opened it.
Removed a folder.
Placed it on the desk.
Lena looked at the label.
PROJECT MERIDIAN SHIELD.
She had heard the name.
Everyone had.
It was supposed to be a classified communications modernization program.
Reeves opened the folder.
Inside were photographs.
Equipment inventories.
Transfer documents.
Lena frowned.
"What's missing?"
Reeves looked at her.
"Seventeen secure communication modules."
"Stolen?"
"We don't know."
"How can you not know?"
"Because the records say they were transferred."
"To where?"
"That is the problem."
He pointed to a document.
The equipment had supposedly been transferred to an authorized contractor.
But the contractor denied receiving it.
Lena looked closer.
The authorization signature belonged to Colonel Adrian Vale.
Her stomach dropped.
"Is he under investigation?"
"Officially?"
Reeves paused.
"No."
"Unofficially?"
Reeves closed the folder.
"Now you understand why I told you to come here."
Lena stared at him.
"What do you want me to do?"
"Nothing."
She frowned.
"Nothing?"
"Go home."
"But—"
"Sergeant, listen to me."
His voice became serious.
"You did the right thing at the gate."
"Then why am I being told to stop?"
"Because doing the right thing and surviving the consequences are sometimes two different problems."
Lena stared at him.
Then asked quietly,
"Do you think Colonel Vale is involved?"
Reeves didn't answer.
That was answer enough.
The next morning, Lena was reassigned.
Temporary administrative duty.
No gate access.
No patrol.
No contact with the Meridian Shield investigation.
The official reason was "operational restructuring."
Everyone knew what it meant.
She had become inconvenient.
At lunch, Torres found her.
He sat across from her.
"You okay?"
"Fine."
"You don't look fine."
"I'm not."
He lowered his voice.
"Something happened last night."
"What?"
"I checked the vehicle log."
Lena looked up.
"Why?"
"Because I couldn't sleep."
"What did you find?"
Torres glanced around.
"The colonel's vehicle was logged entering the base at 2:14 a.m."
Lena frowned.
"So?"
"He wasn't supposed to be on base."
"How do you know?"
"Because I was working the overnight gate."
Lena leaned closer.
"Was his vehicle actually there?"
"That's the problem."
Torres pulled out his phone.
He showed her a photograph.
A security log.
The entry had been manually added.
Lena's eyes narrowed.
"Who authorized it?"
"Someone using the command access code."
"Whose?"
Torres looked at her.
"Vale's."
Lena felt a chill.
Then another message appeared on Torres's phone.
He read it.
His face went pale.
"What?"
He showed Lena.
TRANSFER ORDER.
Torres had been reassigned to a remote training facility.
Effective immediately.
Lena looked at him.
"They're separating us."
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because we know something."
That afternoon, Lena received her own transfer order.
Different base.
Different state.