Chapter 6: The Truth We Buried
Nobody moved.
Daniel Cross stood in the archive doorway like he had been waiting twenty-four years to say those words.
Why did they let you come home?
It was the kind of question that infected every memory afterward.
Because suddenly every answer became suspicious.
Every moment.
Every decision.
Every victory.
I looked at Carter.
He looked away.
That hurt more than I expected.
“Michael.””
He didn’t respond.
“Tell me.””
Finally, he spoke.
“I don’t know everything.””
I almost laughed.
“You don’t know?””
“No.””
His voice was quiet.
“But I know enough.””
Cross walked into the room.
Reynolds kept his weapon raised.
“Don’t.””
Cross stopped.
“Captain, if I wanted you dead, you wouldn’t have heard me enter.””
Reynolds didn’t lower the weapon.
Good.
At least one of us was thinking clearly.
I looked at Cross.
“You were on the ship.””
“Yes.””
“You were hiding.””
“Yes.””
“Why?””
Cross glanced at the letter in my hand.
“Because I knew what they would do if they found out what you saw.””
“I saw nothing.””
Cross shook his head.
“That’s what they wanted you to believe.””
My memory returned in fragments.
The explosion.
The water.
Carter at the seal.
Red lights.
Then nothing.
A missing hour.
A hole in my own mind.
“What happened?”” I asked.
Cross looked at Carter.
Then at me.
“After Carter closed the seal, the ship lost power.””
I remembered.
A flash.
A sound.
Someone shouting.
Cross continued.
“You went back.””
My body froze.
“No.””
“Yes.””
Carter looked at me.
“You don’t remember.””
I stared at him.
“You’re saying I went back for you?””
Carter nodded.
“You climbed down after me.””
The room became silent.
“But I escaped.””
“You escaped later.””
Cross placed a hand on the table.
“For forty-three minutes, you were inside that flooded compartment.””
Impossible.
I would remember.
Wouldn’t I?
Cross continued.
“And during those forty-three minutes, you discovered what Black Current really was.””
My eyes narrowed.
“What?””
Cross looked at me.
“The mission wasn’t about recovering technology.””
He pointed at the folder.
“It was about recovering a list.””
“What list?””
“The names of everyone involved.””
I felt cold.
“Everyone involved in what?””
Cross’s expression changed.
“An operation that existed above governments.””
The words sounded insane.
But so did a dead man standing in front of me.
“The Ghost Trident wasn’t a team,” Cross said.
“It was a warning.””
“A warning?””
“Yes.””
“To people who believed they were untouchable.””
Carter stepped forward.
“Richard.””
I looked at him.
“There’s something you need to know.””
His voice was heavy.
“Your memories were not damaged by the explosion.””
I stopped.
“What?””
“They were removed.””
The room went silent.
Reynolds looked between us.
“Removed?””
Carter nodded.
“Chemical intervention.””
My hands went numb.
“No.””
“Richard—”
“No.””
I stepped back.
“You’re telling me someone changed my memory?””
Cross nodded.
“And they did it because you saw the truth.””
I looked at the letter again.
My handwriting.
My words.
Evidence from a person I no longer remembered being.
“What did I see?””
Nobody answered.
Then Carter finally said:
“You saw who gave the order.””
The lights flickered again.
But this time, nobody moved.
Because we all understood.
The person who ordered Black Current.
The person who erased Carter.
The person who altered my memory.
Was still alive.
My phone rang.
Unknown number.
Everyone looked at it.
I answered.
A voice spoke immediately.
“Admiral Callahan.””
I recognized it.
Older.
But unmistakable.
Thomas Vale.
“Where is Michael?””
I said nothing.
Vale continued.
“You need to understand something.””
My grip tightened.
“What?””
A pause.
Then:
“Commander Carter was never the mission.””
I looked at Carter.
Vale’s voice became quieter.
“You were.””
The call ended.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Then Cross walked toward the table.
He pointed at the letter.
“Read the final paragraph.””
I looked down.
I had stopped before the end.
The last section was folded.
My hands trembled as I opened it.
One sentence.
Only one.
But it destroyed everything.
*If I ever forget what happened on Black Current, do not trust Admiral Richard Callahan.*
I stared at the words.
My own handwriting.
My own warning.
Reynolds slowly lowered his weapon.
Carter looked at me.
May you like
And for the first time since returning from the dead…
Michael Carter looked afraid of me.
