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“Well, as you’ve seen today, Aaron isn’t around to ask. He’s also not answering calls or texts.”
The room gets quiet. Like Knot, this group knows that’s a bad look. “Regardless of how this looks, whatever you’re thinking, just stop. Talk me through what the investigators are thinking.”
“Aaron disappeared shortly after you got back from the first raid,” Zach points out.
Chelsea gives him an evil look at the insinuation, and Zach throws up his hands. “Hey, this is the kind of shit people will be looking at.”
Maxen leans forward and lays his hands flat on the table. “Zach’s right. We can’t ignore something because it’s uncomfortable. We’ll have to find and plug any holes, and the only way to do that is by playing devil’s advocate. Zach raises a good point. Fortunately, this is one hole we can plug pretty quickly. We’re talking about a coordinated attack on a target guarded by US Army soldiers. A target that Aaron didn’t learn about until after he’d returned from his disappearing act. Wherever he disappeared to, we know it wasn’t with the knowledge of the raid location.”
“Not necessarily,” Zach presses. “Whoever had the connections to pull this off would have had to be working with inside information and knew about the cave before even Heathman did.”
“Again, we’re talking about organizing a force of enemy combatants in a matter of hours,” Maxen presses. “And we know he couldn’t have left the base without gate security logging it. Hosfeld could have phoned it in, but that would make him an idiot because anybody could access his phone records.”
“Come on, Smoke. It wouldn’t have had to be his phone. Any phone would have worked,” Zach says.
“What the fuck, Zach? Are you trying to fry the man yourself?” Maxen yells.
“No, but like you said, these are the questions someone’s already been asking. While we’re on the subject, why are you coming so strongly to Grim’s defense? You’re probably the only person in this room that has a problem with him.”
Maxen gets in Zach’s face and snarls, “And what do you think would happen to this company, to PMCs stationed around the globe, if it looks like we’re responsible for the deaths of Heathman and his men?”
“That’s enough! Both of you shut it. We’re going about this all wrong. Instead of focusing on Aaron, we should be looking for the real culprit.”
“How do you know there is one?”
At the angry flash of my eyes, Zach backpedals, “I don’t mean Aaron, but couldn’t it just as easily be retaliation by the terrorists? I mean, after the cave was captured, wouldn’t someone on the outside notice a sudden loss of contact with the guys on the inside?”
Bastien speaks up for the first time, “I might float that idea, except that the feds are convinced Aaron is involved. They must have a reason.”
Maxen shakes his head again. “That would imply there’s evidence of some sort, but only a tip-off would have anyone looking at Aaron, to begin with. Otherwise, it would make more sense to point to you or Chelsea. You two were there and left before the attack.”
Bash taps the table a couple of times. “We could be looking at an inside job.”
“You mean inside with FinCen bird-dogging every move?” asks Chelsea.
“It could be someone in treasury,” Zach suggests.
He gets some sour looks for his thoughts and elaborates, “Ok, whether it’s FinCEN or not, hear me out. Fate and Grim being dismissed after that first raid made sense. Sending Chelsea and Bash away from the cave was stupid.”
“Yeah, and everyone there died because of it,” I remind him. “Which leaves ten other possibilities. The eight surviving grunts and two feds from the first raid.”
“And us,” Maxen says.
The air in the room chills, and everyone is silent. I get that Maxen doesn’t know these people as well as I do and that blind spots can be dangerous, but the last thing any of us needs right now is to have doubts about our team. “Y’all shut up and listen. This is getting us nowhere. Arguing for or against Aaron is not our job. What I am going to ask of you won’t be easy. Once we walk out this door, none of you are to talk about Aaron to anyone. If anyone inside or outside Knot Corp asks you about this, your answer better be that you don’t know anything and then refer them to our lawyers. If someone with a badge asks, you request to have our lawyers present since all Knot Corp employees sign an NDA upon hiring.”
The faces in the room are tight, not feeling any better about the situation than when they came in. “You guys get out of here. I’m sure Spatch is waiting..”
I step away from the table, heading for the door, and Chelsea calls out, “Fate, where are you going?”
Still facing the door, I answer, “I have work to do.”
I’ve made it about fifteen feet from the conference room when Maxen calls out to me, “Sadie, wait.”
His hand on my shoulder stops me and spins me around to face him. “Where are you going?”
“I have to find him, Maxen.”
He lowers his voice to barely a whisper. “Sadie, he’s being hunted for treason. What do you think will happen to you if the feds find you trying to help him? At the absolute least, your career will be over. I can’t let... you shouldn’t risk yourself like that.”
