General Mercer’s command cut through the range.
Chapter 3
PART 3 — THE TRAITOR INSIDE NORTHSTAR
1,043 words
“Lock the range. Now.”
Master Sergeant Vance hesitated for only a second before barking orders.
Soldiers moved toward the gates.
Radios came alive.
The range entrances closed.
Staff Sergeant Briggs looked from Mercer to the letter in his hands.
“Sir, what’s in that letter?”
Mercer folded it carefully.
“Evidence.”
“Of what?”
Mercer slowly turned toward the command observation building.
“That Northstar was never compromised by an enemy.”
Several officers standing near the building exchanged glances.
Emma followed Mercer’s gaze.
“So what compromised it?” Vance asked.
Mercer’s expression hardened.
“Someone inside.”
The words seemed to change the air.
Emma looked toward the senior officers gathered near the observation structure.
One man stepped backward.
Colonel Harrow.
Mercer noticed immediately.
So did Emma.
Harrow took another step.
Then turned.
And started walking away.
Mercer’s eyes narrowed.
“Harrow.”
The colonel walked faster.
Vance shouted:
“Colonel Harrow!”
Harrow broke into a run.
Several soldiers moved
instantly to block him.
He stopped.
His face twisted with anger.
“You don’t understand.”
Mercer walked toward him slowly.
“You told me Claire was dead.”
Harrow said nothing.
“You signed the report.”
“It was necessary.”
Mercer’s hands curled into fists.
“You erased my daughter.”
Harrow’s composure finally cracked.
“She found financial transfers tied to Northstar!”
Silence.
Harrow realized what he had just said.
But it was too late.
He looked around at the soldiers.
At the range cameras.
At Mercer.
Then at Emma.
“She was going to expose people above you,” Harrow said.
Emma stared at him.
“You ordered the convoy diverted.”
Harrow’s face betrayed him before he could speak.
The truth hit Mercer all at once.
He stepped toward Harrow.
Vance quickly moved between them.
“Sir.”
Mercer stopped.
His fists remained clenched.
Harrow laughed bitterly.
“You think she came here by accident?”
Mercer turned toward Emma.
Harrow continued.
“She
entered the competition because she knew the scoring system would flag her grouping.”
Emma did not deny it.
“She knew Range Control would notify command,” Harrow said. “She knew a record like that would reach you.”
Mercer stared at Emma.
“You planned this?”
Emma nodded.
“I needed you here.”
“Why not contact me?”
“Because every message to your office passed through Harrow’s security team.”
Harrow’s face collapsed.
Emma looked toward the cameras mounted around the range.
“And the competition is archived.”
Vance slowly understood.
A smile appeared at the edge of his mouth.
“You wanted him to confess.”
Emma looked directly at Harrow.
“I wanted him to hear my mother’s name.”
Harrow stared back at her.
“I needed him to believe the truth had finally come back.”
She glanced toward the cameras.
“And I needed witnesses.”
Harrow turned toward the nearest mounted camera.
Then toward the hundreds of soldiers around
him.
His face went pale.
He had confessed.
In front of everyone.
Mercer closed his eyes.
For a moment, there was no general.
No four-star commander.
Only a father understanding what had been taken from him.
When he opened his eyes again, he looked at Emma differently.
Not as a lieutenant.
Not as a marksman.
Not as a security threat.
As family.
Military investigators were called immediately.
Harrow was separated from the other officers.
The letter Claire had left behind was secured as evidence.
The range remained locked down while investigators began collecting recordings, radio logs, and witness statements.
But Mercer barely seemed to notice any of it.
He stood beside Emma near Lane Four.
The sunlight had shifted slightly lower over the berm.
For several seconds neither spoke.
Finally Mercer said:
“I spent twelve years thinking I buried my daughter.”
Emma looked at him.
“She spent twelve years trying to keep you alive.”
Mercer swallowed.
“Why didn’t she come back?”
“Because Harrow threatened you.”
Mercer looked down.
Emma continued.
“She knew people tied to Northstar still had access to intelligence channels. She believed if she contacted you directly, they would know she survived.”
“And you?”
“She protected me the same way.”
Mercer looked toward the letter now held by investigators.
“She carried all of that alone.”
Emma nodded.
“For years.”
He looked at her.
“Did she hate me?”
Emma’s expression softened.
“No.”
Mercer seemed almost afraid to ask the next question.
“Did she talk about me?”
“All the time.”
His eyes filled.
Emma reached into her pocket.
“There’s something else.”
She removed a small silver pendant.
A hawk.
Mercer stared at it.
Emma placed it into his hand.
“She wanted me to give you this if I ever found you.”
Mercer closed his fingers around the pendant.
For a long moment he could not speak.
Then:
“Did she know you became an officer?”
Emma smiled faintly.
“She hated the idea.”
A laugh escaped Mercer through the grief.
“That sounds like Claire.”
“She also said that if I joined the Army, I should stay away from snipers.”
Mercer glanced toward Lane Four.
“You listened well.”
Emma laughed softly.
For the first time that day, there was no tension in the sound.
Vance approached.
Briggs walked behind him.
The sergeant who had mocked Emma only hours earlier now looked deeply uncomfortable.
“Lieutenant.”
Emma turned.
Briggs cleared his throat.
“I owe you an apology.”
“For what?”
He glanced at the rifle.
“For assuming you’d hurt yourself.”
Emma held his gaze.
Then smiled.
“I almost did.”
Briggs’s face fell.
Emma pointed toward him.
“Just not with the rifle.”
A few nearby soldiers laughed.
Briggs shook his head.
Even Vance smiled.
But then the chief range officer approached holding the official score sheet.
“Sir, there’s one problem.”
Mercer turned.
“What?”
The range officer pointed toward the board.
“The competition.”
Mercer frowned.
“What about it?”
“Lieutenant Carter never completed the standard course after you changed the distance.”
Emma blinked.
Briggs’s embarrassment vanished instantly.
A grin spread across his face.
“So she technically didn’t win.”
Several soldiers began murmuring.
Mercer slowly turned toward Emma.
Then toward the target.
Then back to the range officer.
“Is that true?”
“Yes, sir.”
Emma shrugged.
“Rules are rules.”
Mercer studied her for a moment.
Then he smiled.
He walked toward Lane Four.
Picked up a fresh score sheet.
And held it out to Emma.
“Fine.”
She took it.
“Finish the course.”
Click the blue “PART 4” below to read the final part: 👉 PART 4 👈
Chapter complete
You have reached the end of this chapter.
Continue reading
Find your next story
A few more worlds to get lost in after this chapter.