“You stay behind us.”
Olivia glanced toward the mock village.
“Bad idea.”
Lance smiled.
“Why?”
“Because the left alley creates a blind corridor from the second-floor window.”
He looked.
Couldn’t see anything.
“That’s ridiculous.”
Olivia pointed.
“Broken reflection in the third window.”
Everyone looked again.
A narrow shard of glass reflected movement.
An instructor playing opposition force waited behind cover.
Lance’s smile faded.
“How did you see that?”
Olivia shrugged.
“Light.”
They changed route.
Minutes later, Olivia identified a hidden observation position by noticing pigeons refusing to land on one roof.
Then she predicted a simulated ambush because tire tracks in the dirt stopped before reaching the loading bay.
By the end of the exercise, Lance had stopped giving orders.
He started asking questions.
That bothered him even more.
Afterward, Sergeant Pulk approached Olivia.
“You’ve done urban reconnaissance.”
“No.”
“That wasn’t a question.”
She looked at him.
“Then why ask?”
He almost smiled.
Almost.
“Captain Harrow wants to see you after evening formation.”
“Why?”
“He didn’t say.”
“I’m sure he did.”
Pulk studied her.
“You don’t trust anybody, do you?”
“No.”
“Smart.”
That answer surprised her.
That night, Harrow closed his office door.
Voss was already inside.
So was a third man Olivia had never seen.
Gray suit.
Silver hair.
Civilian.
No identification.
He stood by the window.
Harrow gestured.
“Sit.”
Olivia remained standing.
The civilian smiled.
“She never did like chairs.”
Everything inside Olivia went cold.
Voss turned sharply toward him.
“You know her?”
The civilian faced Olivia.
“Better than you do.”
Olivia stared.
“Who are you?”
“That depends which file you read.”
Harrow frowned.
“Enough games.”
The civilian removed a small metallic token from his pocket and placed it on the desk.
Black triangle.
Silver line.
Seven dots.
Olivia stopped breathing.
The Ghost Section insignia.
Her insignia.
“How did you get that?”
The civilian smiled.
“From your team commander.”
“He’s dead.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“You already know.”
“Karsen.”
The civilian nodded.
Olivia stepped closer.
“Who sent the packet?”
“What packet?”
She watched his eyes.
No reaction.
Maybe genuine.
Maybe trained.
Voss looked between them.
“What exactly are we dealing with?”
The civilian ignored him.
“Did you tell anyone about Blue Lantern Seven?”
Olivia’s face gave nothing away.
“No.”
“That wasn’t convincing.”
“Neither is your suit.”
Harrow slammed a palm on the desk.
“I’m done being excluded from conversations inside my own command.”
The civilian finally looked at him.
“Captain, your camp is compromised.”
Silence.
Harrow stared.
“By whom?”
“We don’t know.”
“How badly?”
“At least one staff member. Possibly multiple cadets.”
Voss cursed under his breath.
Olivia said, “Why would anyone infiltrate a training camp?”
The civilian looked at her.
“To recruit.”
“Recruit for what?”
“The same network that sacrificed your unit.”
Her expression tightened.
“What network?”
“We call it Meridian.”
Harrow frowned.
“I’ve never heard of it.”
“You weren’t supposed to.”
The civilian continued.
“Meridian recruits promising military personnel before they acquire significant rank. They identify ambition, resentment, financial pressure, ideological weakness. Then they cultivate those people for years.”
Olivia looked toward the training yard through the blinds.
“One of these cadets is being recruited.”
“At least one.”
“Who?”
“We were hoping you’d tell us.”
Olivia looked at him.
“Why me?”
“Because Meridian believes you’re dead.”
“So you put me in the middle of thirty recruits and waited?”
“You found Voss.”
“That wasn’t planned.”
“No.”
The civilian glanced at Voss.
“That complication may have helped.”
Voss looked offended.
“Complication?”
The man ignored him.
“Now everyone is curious about Olivia. Curiosity creates movement. Whoever is embedded here may panic.”
Olivia understood.
“You wanted me noticed.”
“Yes.”
Her anger rose.
“The truck?”
“Selected deliberately.”
“The clothes?”
“Yes.”
“The incomplete file?”
“Yes.”
“You wanted them to treat me like nothing.”
“We wanted people to underestimate you.”
“You used the cadets.”
“We used expectation.”
Olivia stepped closer.
“And if one of them had seriously injured me?”
The civilian’s smile vanished.
“We both know they wouldn’t have.”
The room changed.
Harrow caught the implication.
“So she really is—”
Olivia interrupted.
“No.”
The civilian studied her.
Then nodded.
“Fine.”
He retrieved the insignia.
“From this moment forward, observe everyone. Staff. Cadets. Visitors.”
“What am I looking for?”
“Blue Lantern Seven.”
“You said Meridian recruits people here.”
“They use phrases from old operations as authentication.”
Olivia’s stomach tightened.
“They’re using my dead team’s mission codes.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To remind defectors what happens when loyalty changes.”
For the first time, Voss looked genuinely disturbed.
Olivia asked, “Who runs Meridian?”
The civilian paused.
“We don’t know.”
“Then you know almost nothing.”
“We know one thing.”
“What?”
The civilian looked directly at her.
“The person responsible for Karsen believes you betrayed the operation.”
Olivia almost laughed.
“They killed my team.”
“And they believe you caused it.”
“How?”
“That’s what you need to discover.”
After Olivia left, she walked alone toward the barracks.
Halfway there, Tara stepped from behind the communications building.
“You’re being followed.”
Olivia stopped.
“By you?”
“No.”
Tara looked genuinely afraid.
“Someone searched your bunk.”
Olivia’s expression changed.
“When?”
“During dinner.”
“Who?”
“I didn’t see their face.”
“Why didn’t you report it?”
Tara swallowed.
“Because they came out wearing an instructor’s uniform.”
PART 4 — BLUE LANTERN SEVEN
Olivia did not return to her room.
Instead, she circled the barracks and entered through the rear laundry corridor.
Nothing appeared disturbed.
That meant someone competent had searched it.
She checked the lining of her backpack.
Untouched.
Under the mattress.
Untouched.
Inside the cracked sole of her left boot, however, the thin encrypted memory card was missing.
Olivia sat on the bed.
The card contained no operational intelligence.
Only bait.
A false list of coordinates.
Whoever took it had just identified themselves as interested.
But they did not know they had been trapped.
The card transmitted once opened.
At 23:14, a signal appeared.
Not from outside the camp.
From inside the administration building.
Olivia left through the bathroom window.
She moved behind the barracks, crossed a drainage trench, and reached the administration annex without crossing a security camera.
The transmission came from the second floor.
Records office.
She climbed the exterior maintenance ladder.
A window stood slightly open.
Inside, someone whispered.
Olivia froze.
Another voice answered.
She recognized the first.
Captain Harrow.
Her stomach dropped.
“You’re sure she has no idea?”
A second voice replied.
Male.
Distorted by distance.
“She’s suspicious of everyone.”
Harrow spoke again.
“That’s why we accelerate.”
Olivia moved closer.
Then the second voice said:
“Blue Lantern Seven.”
Her entire body locked.
Three years disappeared.
Snow.
Blood.
Radio static.
Her teammates shouting.
The order that had doomed them.
Blue Lantern Seven.
Inside the room, Harrow answered:
“Confirmed.”
Olivia’s hand tightened on the windowsill.
Captain Harrow.
The man responsible?
She leaned closer.
A floorboard creaked beneath her boot.
Inside, silence.
Olivia dropped from the ladder.
The window opened.
She ran.
A figure appeared behind her.
Olivia crossed the dark yard, cut between two storage buildings and entered the obstacle course.
Footsteps followed.
Fast.
Trained.
She ducked beneath a low barrier.
The pursuer followed.
Olivia doubled back.
When the figure rounded the corner, she caught his arm, redirected his momentum and drove him against a wooden support.
He countered instantly.
Not Harrow.
The attacker wore a black training jacket and face covering.
He swept at her legs.
Olivia jumped back.
He struck toward her shoulder.
She blocked.
Their movements were fast, controlled, almost silent.
Then he whispered:
“You should have stayed dead.”
Olivia froze for half a fraction too long.
He used it.
A strike caught her ribs.
She staggered.
The attacker ran.
Olivia chased him toward the vehicle yard.