Chapter 4 - Seven Missing Minutes.
The investigators entered the hangar with warrants, body cameras, and the calm confidence of people who believed the ending had already been written.
Avery knew the type.
They did not raise their voices.
They did not need to.
The lead investigator identified himself as Colonel Daniel Reese.
He was tall, silver-haired, and careful with every word.
"Commander Monroe, General Ward, Captain Bennett," he said, "you are currently in possession of restricted operational materials."
Noah looked at the empty box.
"Apparently not very restricted if someone tried to throw them away."
Reese ignored the comment.
"I need everyone to step away from the container."
Avery did.
She also kept her right hand inside her coat pocket, fingers resting against the data cartridge Noah had slipped to her.
Ward glanced at her once.
She could not tell whether he had noticed.
Investigators photographed the box and collected the papers Noah had intentionally left inside.
Avery watched Reese study Camille's signature on the maintenance acceptance form.
His expression did not change.
That interested her.
Most people showed surprise when they saw something unexpected.
Reese looked like a man seeing something familiar.
"Colonel," Avery said, "when did your office learn this material existed?"
"Last night."
"Before or after the gala?"
Reese looked at her.
"I cannot discuss an active inquiry."
"You just discussed enough to tell me it began last night."
Ward almost smiled.
Reese did not.
"Commander, I am advising you to be cautious."
"About what?"
"Public statements."
Avery understood instantly.
The video.
Someone wanted silence before she had even spoken.
"I have made no public statement," she said.
"Keep it that way."
Noah laughed once.
"There it is."
Reese turned toward him.
"Captain Bennett, you left active service after an administrative review."
"I left because your office spent six months asking who I had talked to instead of asking why an unsafe component was installed."
"That is not an accurate summary."
"It is accurate enough for me."
Reese's eyes hardened.
Avery stepped between them before the argument grew.
"Are we being detained?"
"No."
"Then we are leaving."
Reese looked at Ward.
"General, I strongly recommend you discourage her from taking this further outside official channels."
Ward picked up his cap.
"If official channels had worked, we would not be standing in a museum hangar at dawn."
They walked out together.
Noah waited until the sedan was miles away before speaking.
"Reese knew about the signature," he said.
Avery nodded.
"I saw it too."
Ward tightened his hands on the wheel.
"Reese led the secondary review after Falcon Ridge."
Avery turned sharply.
"You left that out."
"I was hoping I was wrong about him."
"Hope is not a strategy, General."
Ward accepted the criticism without defending himself.
Noah leaned forward from the back seat.
"There is something else."
Avery looked over her shoulder.
"How much else?"
"Enough to make Camille's gala stunt look desperate instead of cruel."
He explained that seven minutes had vanished from the official data archive during a scheduled systems migration.
But before the deletion, Noah had made a diagnostic copy for training analysis.
That copy included temperature spikes, alarm timing, cockpit audio markers, and Avery's command decisions.
It would prove the equipment failure came first and that Avery's response had been immediate.
"Where is the full copy?" Ward asked.
Noah looked at Avery.
"Lieutenant Maya Torres."
Avery's breath caught.
Maya had been her navigator at Falcon Ridge.
She was also Camille Sloane's younger cousin.
"You gave it to Maya?"
"She gave it to herself," Noah said.
"She found me eight months ago."
Avery remembered Maya after the operation.
Quiet.
Shaken.
Loyal.
Then suddenly transferred to a desk assignment across the country.
"Why would Camille's cousin help you?"
Noah's answer came slowly.
"Because Maya believes Camille knew the shielding was wrong before takeoff."
Avery turned forward again.
The road blurred beneath morning rain.
She remembered the preflight briefing.
Camille had entered late, carrying a folder.
She had told Avery the transport had received expedited maintenance and was cleared for mountain conditions.
Avery had asked whether the temporary shielding issue had been resolved.
Camille had smiled.
"Signed, sealed, and safer than the old unit," she had said.
Avery had trusted the clearance.
Not Camille personally.
The system.
That difference suddenly felt meaningless.
Ward broke the silence.
"Where is Maya now?"
Noah checked his phone.
"She works logistics at Fort Hadley."
"That is three hours away."
"She is not there today."
Avery looked back.
"Where is she?"
Noah showed her the screen.
A social media photograph from the previous evening showed Camille at the gala entrance.
Behind her, partly obscured by a floral arrangement, stood Maya in a black service uniform.
Avery stared.
"She was there."
"Yes."
"Did she contact you?"
"At 10:12 last night."
Noah opened a message.
It contained only five words.
SHE KNOWS I KEPT IT.
Avery felt the same cold pressure return beneath her ribs.
"When did Maya stop replying?"
Noah checked the timestamp.
"Ten minutes before Camille pulled your dress."
Ward accelerated.
Avery looked at the city skyline emerging ahead.
"Where does Camille live?"
Ward glanced at her.
"You are not going to her house."
Avery's voice stayed calm.
"Noah said the evidence was with the one person Camille thought was too loyal to betray her."
Noah nodded.
"Maya."
Avery took the data cartridge from her pocket and held it up.
"Then this is only a fragment."
Ward looked at it, startled.
"You had that the whole time?"
"Noah gave it to me before the investigators entered."
Noah leaned back.
"That is the diagnostic index."
Avery studied the small black cartridge.
"Can it tell us where Maya stored the full copy?"
Noah's face changed.
"Not where."
He reached for it.
"But it can tell us when someone accessed it."
They stopped at a red light.
Noah connected the cartridge to his laptop.
A timestamp appeared.
2:14 a.m.
This morning.
Avery read the access code beneath it.
MTS-09.
Maya Torres.
Noah's fingers moved quickly over the keyboard.
Then he went still.
"What?" Avery asked.
Noah turned the screen toward her.
The file had been opened from a secure terminal registered to a private residence.
The address belonged to Camille Sloane.
"Maya was in Camille's house at 2:14," Noah said.
Avery looked at Ward.
The light turned green.
No one moved until a horn sounded behind them.
Ward drove forward.
Avery's phone rang.
Unknown number.
She answered.
For three seconds, there was only breathing.
May you like
Then Maya whispered, "Avery, do not come here."
The line went dead.
