Part 3 Rear Admiral James Crawford pressed his p0lished boot directly onto my registration papers and spoke into the live microphone.3 005

Only slightly, but I saw it.

“You knew someone who wore one?”

“I knew Daniel Mercer.”

She looked down at the photograph.

“My brother.”

The words settled between us.

I looked from her to Hale.

For the first time since entering the room, Elaine Mercer seemed less like a government official and more like the sister of a young man who had disappeared from the world without leaving enough of himself behind.

“How old were you when he died?” I asked.

“Thirty-two.”