Chapter 6: The Forgotten Mission
The abandoned naval facility sat forty miles outside Washington.
Officially, it had been closed for twelve years.
Unofficially, it had never stopped operating.
Callahan stood outside the rusted gates with Michael Carter beside him.
The two men looked like they belonged to different worlds.
One wore the uniform of the Navy’s highest command.
The other wore the clothes of a man who had spent decades disappearing.
But both carried the same burden.
The truth.
“We shouldn’t be here,” Carter said.
Callahan looked at the broken security cameras.
“We’ve spent twenty-four years not being where we should have been.””
Carter almost smiled.
Almost.
Then the gate opened.
Neither man touched it.
It moved by itself.
A warning.
A welcome.
Or a trap.
Inside, the facility smelled like dust and old metal.
Callahan looked around.
“This place was shut down.””
Carter nodded.
“It was.””
“Then why is the power on?””
No answer.
They moved deeper inside.
The walls were covered with old mission photographs.
Most had been removed.
But one remained.
A picture of the Black Current team.
Nine men standing beside the recovery vessel.
Callahan stopped.
He recognized every face.
Except one.
A man standing behind the group.
Half hidden.
“That wasn’t on the original file.””
Carter looked at the photograph.
“No.””
“Who is he?””
Carter’s face changed.
“That’s the man who killed us.””
Callahan stared.
“What?””
Carter pointed.
“His name was Victor Hale.””
The name meant nothing.
But the photograph made something clear.
Victor Hale had never been listed as part of the mission.
“How was he there?””
“He wasn’t supposed to be.””
Carter’s voice lowered.
“Black Current wasn’t compromised after we left.””
Callahan looked at him.
“It was compromised before we arrived.””
They reached a control room.
Inside, monitors flickered.
Then one screen turned on.
A video file appeared.
Recorded twenty-four years earlier.
Callahan stepped closer.
A younger version of himself appeared on screen.
The same mission.
The same ship.
The same night.
But something was different.
The camera angle.
Someone had been watching them.
Carter stood beside him.
“That recording didn’t exist.””
The video played.
They watched as the team prepared for extraction.
Then another person entered the frame.
Victor Hale.
Talking to someone.
The audio was damaged.
But one sentence was clear.
“We need Carter alive.””
Callahan turned.
“Why?””
The screen continued.
Hale handed something to another officer.
A small device.
A tracking beacon.
Callahan recognized it.
His face went pale.
“The explosion…”
Carter nodded.
“Wasn’t an accident.””
“They planted it.””
“Yes.””
“Why?””
Carter looked at the screen.
“Because they wanted us trapped.””
The door behind them slammed shut.
Both men turned.
A voice came through the speakers.
“You two were always better detectives than soldiers.””
Callahan recognized the voice immediately.
Daniel Voss.
“Show yourself,” Callahan demanded.
A monitor turned on.
A man appeared.
Older.
Scar across his face.
But alive.
“You look disappointed,” Voss said.
Callahan stepped closer.
“You were dead.””
Voss smiled.
“So was Carter.””
Michael Carter stared at the screen.
“Why?””
Voss’s expression changed.
“Because we were sacrifices.””
“For what?””
Voss leaned forward.
“For the truth.””
The screen went black.
Then another file appeared.
A name.
A date.
A location.
Callahan’s heart stopped.
Because the file was titled:
*BLACK CURRENT: FINAL SURVIVOR.*
And beneath it was a photograph.
May you like
A woman.
Elizabeth Callahan.
