Gina and Lach both nodded.
Maren read the next line again.
No action involving the child is required.
Her hands went cold in her lap.
Juni was a bargaining chip and Maren was the price.
Colin wrapped his arm around her.
“You think Ray talked?” Mac asked.
Ray’s voice from the recording echoed in Maren’s mind. She imagined him making it, not knowing if it would reach her in time. Not knowing if she’d believe him. Trusting that she would do what needed to be done, because Mira had trusted him to get it right, and he was not going to let Mira down.
He held out.
“No,” Maren said before she could stop herself. “He—Ray—wouldn’t. He wanted to keep us safe. He knew he was going to die but wanted to save two strangers anyway. He wouldn’t talk.”
Kyle and Lachlan looked at her and she could damn near read their minds.
She’s naive.
But Colin’s arm squeezed her reassuringly.
“Guys, I’m with Maren,” Elissa said. “Call me an unrepentant optimist, but I don’t think he broke. And I can tell you why.” She paused, and even through the screen Maren could see the triumph on her face. “Your car idea worked, by the way, Maren. The Iowa trail. They burned days and serious resources chasing your Subaru through Denver and Nebraska before they figured it out. That bought us time. I used it.”
Gina looked at Maren. “Good operational call.”
“It was a panic call.”
“Those are still calls,” Gina said. “This one was good.”
“Here’s what I found.” Elissa pulled up a split screen—two document trails, a network map, a corporate org chart. “TheLackland flag and the anonymous message. They route through different channels, different covers, but they converge on the same node. Same infrastructure, same timing pattern, same fingerprints on both. Someone was trying to make it look like two separate problems. They’re not. So, I was able to zero in on one of the people at the top of LRH’s government contracts division who’s been there since Mira contacted NCIS.” She zoomed in on the org chart.
“Warren Voss. Current CEO. Back then, VP of Government Contracts.”
Warren Voss. Now Maren had a name for the man who murdered her sister.
“Voss went looking for leverage the moment he connected Maren to Watchdog. The Lackland application is publicly filed—anyone who knew where to look and had the right contacts could find it and apply pressure through the review process.” Her voice went flat. “Which he did in less than forty-eight hours. He’s resourceful and he’s motivated and he’s done shit like this before. Dude is networked.”
“The LRH contract,” Lachlan said.
“Yeah.” Elissa nodded. “Back when Mira was working at LRH, Mira found something in the compliance documentation—I’m gonna guess procurement fraud, possibly worse. We don’t know what it was for sure. Now LRH is about to do a DoD contract renewal worth two billion dollars on the same thing Mira almost blew the whistle on. Voss has spent two years making sure nobody who knew anything was still in a position to say so. Ray never gave up on the case and it cost him his life.” She paused. “Voss is thorough. He’s patient. And until Kyle threatened his timeline by sheltering Maren, he was invisible.”
“He made a mistake,” Charlie said quietly.
“He made abigmistake,” Elissa agreed, nodding. “He’s paranoid and panicked. And panicked people leave fingerprints.”
“We know who he is,” Kyle told Maren. “What we don’t know yet is where Mira’s evidence is. Or how Voss connected you to us in the first place.” He held her gaze. “That second question especially. If Ray didn’t talk, someone else gave him Watchdog’s name.”
Maren looked around the table—Kyle, Lachlan, Gina, Charlie, Mac, Flint, Elissa’s face on the screen. Colin beside her.
“You have all been carrying this with me since I showed up at your gate. You’ve kept me and Juni safe.” Her throat tightened, but she didn’t let her voice shake. “I’m not going to let the people who killed my sister take anything from you. Tell me what you need from me. Let me finish the work Mira started.”
Colin pressed his knee against hers. The room was quiet for a moment.
“All right,” Kyle said. “Then let’s finish it.”
