Chapter 1 - THE OCEAN WAS SUPPOSED TO HIDE ME
Colonel Victor Kane’s boot hit my chest.
And the next thing I knew…
I was falling.
For one terrifying second, I was still looking at his face.
That calm expression.
That little smile.
The look of a man who believed he owned everyone standing on that ship.
Then the steel deck disappeared beneath my feet.
The world went silent.
Someone shouted.
“PETTY OFFICER COLE!”
My hands reached for something.
Anything.
But there was nothing.
Only air.
Only the endless blue below.
Then the Pacific Ocean hit me.
Hard.
The cold was so violent it felt like my body had been dropped into ice.
Every muscle locked.
My lungs screamed.
My mind told me one simple thing.
Survive.
I fought my way upward.
When my head finally broke through the surface, I gasped for air.
And that was when I saw it.
The USNS Resolute was already moving away.
The ship that had carried me into one of the biggest secrets in the Pacific was leaving me behind.
Hundreds of sailors and Marines stood along the railing.
Watching.
Silent.
Above them all stood Colonel Victor Kane.
He looked down at me like I was nothing more than a problem that had finally disappeared.
His hands rested casually on his hips.
“Problem taken care of.”
Those three words stayed with me.
Not because they hurt.
Because they told me exactly who he was.
A man who believed power was the same thing as truth.
A man who believed nobody would dare challenge him.
But Kane had forgotten something.
He forgot about the evidence packet hidden beneath my bunk.
The sealed NCIS file.
The one with two words stamped across the front.
DECK FOUR.
And that file was the reason I was on the Resolute.
Three hours earlier, before I was thrown into the ocean, the ship was already burning under the Pacific sun.
The flight deck felt like the surface of a frying pan.
Heat waves danced above the steel.
Five hundred sailors and Marines stood in formation.
No shade.
No water.
No relief.
Except for Colonel Victor Kane.
He sat beneath a canopy.
Eating steak.
A cold bottle of water rested beside his plate.
Every person on that deck could see it.
The water.
The shade.
The difference.
That was the point.
Kane wanted them to know.
He wanted them to remember who had comfort and who didn’t.
By then, three sailors had already collapsed from heat exhaustion.
The medical logs showed the truth.
But Kane ignored it.
The emergency water supplies remained locked below deck.
His explanation was simple.
“Ration control.”
Nobody believed him.
They just didn’t say it.
Not out loud.
Not when Colonel Kane was listening.
I was standing near the center of formation when I noticed a young signalman beside me start shaking.
He was barely twenty.
His uniform was soaked.
His lips were dry.
His eyes were struggling to focus.
I leaned toward him.
“Hey.”
He looked at me.
“Yes?”
“Stay with me.”
He nodded.
“I’m fine.”
Those words were always the first lie people told when they weren’t fine.
Then his knees buckled.
I grabbed his arm.
But Kane saw.
And that changed everything.
The colonel slowly stood.
The entire deck became quiet.
He walked toward us.
Slow.
Confident.
Like everyone else was just waiting for his permission to breathe.
He stopped in front of the young sailor.
“Can’t stand anymore?”
The signalman tried to straighten.
“Yes, sir.”
His voice was weak.
Kane looked him over.
Then smiled.
“Dead weight doesn’t deserve supplies.”
The sailor collapsed.
And I moved.
I didn’t think.
I didn’t calculate.
I stepped between them.
“Sir, he needs water.”
Five hundred people heard me.
Kane turned.
Slowly.
His sunglasses hid his eyes.
Then he removed them.
“And who exactly do you think you are, Petty Officer?”
I kept my voice steady.
“The person telling you that someone is about to die.”
Silence.
Kane stared at me.
Then I added:
“The only person here still treating you like you’re human.”
Nobody moved.
Nobody spoke.
Somewhere behind us, an empty plastic cup rolled across the deck.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
Kane looked at me.
And I saw it.
The exact moment he decided I was going to pay.
He smiled.
“Interesting.”
Then he stepped closer.
“Do you always confuse courage with stupidity?”
I looked directly at him.
“No, sir.”
“Then what is this?”
I glanced at the unconscious sailor.
“This is me doing my job.”
Kane laughed quietly.
That was worse than yelling.
Because angry men lose control.
Cold men make plans.
And Colonel Victor Kane had just started planning mine.
He didn’t know my real mission.
He didn’t know why NCIS had placed me on the Resolute.
He didn’t know what was hidden beneath my bunk.
Officially, I was Petty Officer First Class Hannah Mercer Cole.
Maritime interdiction specialist.
Temporary logistics support.
That was what everyone saw.
But the truth was different.
NCIS sent me because someone on this ship was hiding something.
Something connected to Deck Four.
Something that had already destroyed careers.
And maybe lives.
The only problem was…
the person protecting that secret was now standing three feet in front of me.
May you like
Colonel Victor Kane.
And he had just decided I was his next target.
