Page 261 of Silent Target

Walter Graves.

The man who had framed Evie for murder. The man who had ordered innocent people killed to protect Black Banner.

The man who was still out there.

“Are you sure?” Rook asked.

“Yes.” Evie’s voice hardened. “Graves used it to identify operations that required civilian participation.”

I looked at her. “What does that mean?”

“I never knew. The files were compartmentalized. I saw references to something called voluntary destruction, but I couldn’t access the operation reports.”

Sniper’s jaw tightened. “There’s nothing voluntary about anything Graves does.”

“No,” Evie whispered. “There isn’t.”

I pulled up the evidence recovered from the listening station. Thousands of pages had been copied from the archive before the underground levels flooded. We’d worked through only a fraction of them.

“Show me where you saw the symbol.”

Evie took the seat beside mine and searched the recovered records. Sniper remained behind her with one hand resting on the chair.

Less than a minute later, she found it.

The same black flag.

Two silver lines.

Beneath it were six words.

Phase Three requires a believable sacrifice.

Rook swore quietly.

I felt the first cold brush of dread against the back of my neck.

“Who authorized it?” I asked.

Evie opened the connected authorization page.

Most of the signatures had been removed.

Two hadn’t.

Edmund Vale.

Dr. Harrison Pike.

I recognized both names. They had appeared in the Chairman’s ledger.

Two men connected to Black Banner’s second circle.

Rook leaned over my shoulder. “Vale is a former deputy director of the National Counterterrorism Center.”

“And Pike?” Sniper asked.

Evie opened another file. “Behavioral scientist. He designed emergency-response simulations for several federal agencies.”