Page 82 of Silent Target

Rook studies the surrounding terrain. “Options?”

“North is federal,” Fathom says. “East and south are blocked. Graves’s teams hold the lower mountain.”

“West?” Cobra asks.

“The ravine exits near an access road,” I say. “But they’ll expect us to use it.”

“So we don’t?” Evie asks.

“We do.”

Mac laughs weakly. “You enjoy walking into traps.”

“I enjoy knowing where the enemy is.”

Rook nods. “We move west.”

Fathom closes his tablet, but the screen flashes before he can store it.

A decryption window appears.

“I didn’t start that.”

Everyone looks toward him.

“What do you mean?” Rook asks.

“One of the drives opened itself.”

“That’s not possible,” Evie says.

“It is if someone inside the archive wanted us to see something.”

A single folder appears.

No password.

No encryption.

Only a name.

MCDOUGAL.

Every man on the ridge turns toward me.

Fathom looks at me. “Caleb?”

“Open it.”

The folder contains a scanned personnel file.

The photograph is old.

The man in it is younger than I remember him. Dark hair. Straight shoulders. Eyes identical to mine.

My father.

A line at the bottom of the page reads: