Chapter 6 - The Missing Badge
Claire went pale when investigators told her.
“My badge?”
“When did you last see it?”
She thought for several seconds.
“Three weeks ago.”
“Why didn’t you report it missing?”
“I didn’t know it was missing.”
She looked sick.
“I keep it in a locked drawer at home when I’m off duty.”
“Did Mark have access to your apartment?”
“Yes.”
The answer came quietly.
Everyone understood.
Mark had stolen it.
But a badge alone wasn’t enough to enter a secure facility.
Unless he had help.
At 2:13 a.m., Hayes called me.
“Someone attempted entry at the Arlington support annex.”
“Using Claire’s badge?”
“Yes.”
“Mark?”
“Camera footage confirms him.”
“Was he arrested?”
“No.”
My stomach tightened.
“How did he get away?”
“He never entered. The badge failed secondary authentication, and he ran.”
I looked at Grace sleeping beside me.
“What was he trying to reach?”
Hayes hesitated.
“A records office.”
“What records?”
“Yours.”
That made no sense.
He already knew about the inheritance.
He already knew my rank.
“What else could he want?”
“We’re trying to determine that.”
The answer arrived the next morning.
David Mercer called.
“Anna, did your grandfather ever mention a second trust?”
I frowned.
“No.”
“There is one.”
I sat up.
“What?”
“Not money.”
“What is it?”
“Ownership.”
My grandfather had held a minority interest in Whitmore Aeronautics, a defense manufacturing company founded by my great-grandfather.
The shares had been placed in a protected trust decades earlier.
Upon my grandfather’s death, they transferred to me.
The estimated value was far greater than twenty million dollars.
But that wasn’t the dangerous part.
Whitmore Aeronautics held government contracts.
Mark had discovered the connection.
Suddenly, his obsession with my military records made sense.
He wasn’t only chasing money anymore.
He wanted leverage.
Then David said something worse.
“Anna, someone requested an emergency board meeting at Whitmore Aeronautics.”
“Who?”
“A man claiming to represent you.”
My blood went cold.
“Name?”
May you like
David answered.
“Mark Whitmore.”
