Chapter 6 - The Man Who Was Still Inside.
Claire looked at the hotel security image and then at Hale.
"What time was this taken?"
"Seven minutes ago," the officer answered.
That made no sense.
Colonel Marcus Vane had been seated near the front of the ballroom less than ten minutes earlier, smiling through the speeches as if he had nowhere else to be.
Hale called the gala security desk.
"Locate Colonel Vane without alerting the room."
The answer came back after a tense pause.
His chair was empty.
His coat was still hanging behind it.
Claire felt the shape of the evening change again.
Vane had not been in two places at once.
He had simply made everyone believe he was still where they expected him to be.
The hotel camera showed him entering a service corridor near the loading dock.
He carried no bag when he entered.
He carried a black equipment case when he left the camera's view.
Hale ordered the exits secured and the hotel footage copied.
Vanessa paced beside the cabinet containing her father's files.
"If Marcus took something from here, he knows my father kept evidence."
Claire glanced at her.
"You call him Marcus?"
Vanessa stopped.
"He has known my family since I was a kid."
That detail landed harder than Claire expected.
"How close?"
"He was at birthdays, holidays, company dinners."
Vanessa swallowed.
"He introduced my father to half the defense people he works with."
Hale's face became unreadable.
"Vane was also assigned to the Northstar review board by headquarters."
Claire turned toward him.
"You never told me that connection existed."
"I didn't know it existed."
Claire believed him, but belief no longer felt comfortable.
Too many people had been standing beside the truth while pretending they could not see it.
A hotel employee arrived with another piece of information.
Someone had requested access to the underground parking level using Grant Cole's account.
The request had come twelve minutes earlier.
Claire, Hale, and two security officers moved downstairs while Vanessa followed despite another order to remain behind.
The garage smelled of concrete, rain, and cold engine exhaust.
Rows of black cars reflected the harsh fluorescent lights.
At space 417, they found an empty sedan with its trunk open.
Inside was a torn garment bag, a disposable staff jacket, and a second phone.
The phone began ringing before anyone touched it.
Vanessa stared at the screen.
DAD.
Hale put the call on speaker.
For several seconds, all they heard was breathing.
Then Grant Cole's voice came through, strained and low.
"Vanessa?"
"Dad, where are you?"
"Listen to me."
"Where are you?"
"You need to leave Claire Bennett alone."
Vanessa looked at Claire as if the words had struck her.
Grant continued before she could respond.
"Everything I told you about Northstar was wrong."
A metallic sound echoed on his end of the call.
Grant lowered his voice.
"Marcus knows the recorder survived."
Hale leaned toward the phone.
"Grant, this is Rear Admiral Hale. Tell me your location."
Silence.
Then Grant laughed once, without humor.
"You still think this started with me?"
The call cut off.
Vanessa immediately tried calling back.
The device was unreachable.
Claire looked at the open trunk again.
Beneath the garment bag was a folded gala seating chart.
Three names had been circled in red ink.
Claire Bennett.
Thomas Hale.
Vanessa Cole.
A fourth circle surrounded a name Claire had almost forgotten.
Dr. Maya Torres.
One of the Northstar survivors.
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According to the official guest list, Maya Torres had never arrived at the gala.
According to Claire's last contact with her, Maya had disappeared from public life eleven months earlier.
