Page 19 of Silent Target

The fear returns, but it isn’t fear of the men hunting her.

It’s the look of someone about to destroy everything she once believed.

She presses the button.

Graves’s voice fills the room.

“Shadow Division is still alive.”

I listen without moving.

Every word.

Every pause.

Every name.

When the recording ends, silence settles between us.

“They’re going to kill Senator Vance,” she says.

“Yes.”

“And blame Shadow Division.”

“Yes.”

“Can Graves actually make that accusation believable?”

“He has access to classified operational records, forensic evidence, weapons inventories, and people willing to lie.”

“So he can manufacture anything he needs.”

“Almost.”

Her eyes sharpen. “What can’t he manufacture?”

“The truth.”

Something flashes across her face.

Hope, perhaps.

It vanishes quickly.

“I worked around men like Graves for years,” she says. “I knew they were ambitious. I knew they manipulated intelligence to support decisions they had already made. But murdering a senator and blaming American operators…”

Her voice breaks.

Only slightly.

“I should have seen it.”

I recognize that guilt.

I’ve carried my own version since the mountain.

“You saw it now.”