Chapter 11 - THE MAN WHO POURED THE WATER|
Claire had imagined facing Robert Hayes again.
Sometimes she imagined him apologizing.
Other times she imagined telling him everything she had wanted to say in the dining hall.
But she had never imagined seeing him sitting alone in a secure interview room.
Without his polished uniform.
Without medals.
Without soldiers standing at attention.
He wore ordinary clothes.
His hair was disheveled.
And his hands trembled when Claire entered.
Special Agent Shaw sat beside her.
An attorney representing Hayes occupied the far end of the table.
The meeting was being recorded under agreed investigative procedures.
Hayes looked up.
“Sergeant Morgan.”
Claire sat.
“General Hayes.”
A faint smile crossed his face.
“Still following protocol.”
“It's served me better than following your example.”
His smile disappeared.
Shaw opened a folder.
“Mr. Hayes has indicated that he wishes to provide information relevant to the ongoing investigation.”
Claire looked at him.
“Then he should tell the truth.”
Hayes stared at the table.
For several seconds, he said nothing.
Finally, he spoke.
“You have no idea what Voss is capable of.”
Claire felt her anger rise.
“I know he wanted me dead.”
Hayes looked up sharply.
“You heard that?”
“Yes.”
He leaned back.
“Then you understand why I was afraid.”
Claire stared at him.
“Afraid?”
Hayes's voice cracked.
“He threatened my family.”
Claire remained silent.
Hayes continued.
“He told me if I didn't cooperate, my brother would be charged with crimes that could send him to prison for life.”
“Your brother helped operate Northstar.”
Hayes looked away.
“He got in too deep.”
Claire shook her head.
“That doesn't explain what you did to me.”
Hayes swallowed.
“No.”
“Did Voss order you to pour water on my head?”
He stared at her.
“No.”
“Did he order you to humiliate me in front of an entire dining hall?”
“No.”
“Did he tell you to make me feel powerless?”
Hayes closed his eyes.
“No.”
Claire leaned forward.
“Then don't use your fear of him to excuse what you chose to do.”
The room went silent.
Hayes looked at her.
For the first time, there was no arrogance in his expression.
Only exhaustion.
“You're right.”
Claire hadn't expected those words.
Hayes continued.
“I was angry because you wouldn't back down.”
He swallowed.
“Every time you questioned the records, I felt my control slipping.”
“And you thought humiliating me would make that stop.”
“Yes.”
Claire looked at his trembling hands.
“Did it?”
Hayes shook his head.
“No.”
For a moment, neither spoke.
Then Shaw intervened.
“Mr. Hayes, you indicated that you have information about the remaining missing individuals.”
Hayes nodded.
“Yes.”
“Where are they?”
He looked toward Claire.
“I don't know their exact location.”
Claire's jaw tightened.
“But you know something.”
“Yes.”
Hayes leaned forward.
“There was a secondary transfer site.”
“Where?” Shaw asked.
“New Mexico.”
Claire's heart accelerated.
Shaw wrote something in her notebook.
“Do you have records?”
Hayes nodded.
“I can identify the contractor who managed the site.”
“Name?”
“Graham Mercer.”
Thomas had mentioned that name before.
Claire remembered seeing it on an old procurement authorization.
“What was Mercer's role?”
Hayes lowered his voice.
“He handled transportation and security.”
“For whom?”
“Voss.”
Shaw continued.
“Is Mercer still operating the facility?”
“I don't know.”
Claire watched him carefully.
Hayes seemed genuinely frightened.
But she had learned that frightened men could still be dangerous.
“Why are you cooperating now?” she asked.
Hayes looked at her.
“Because Voss ordered my brother killed.”
Claire went still.
“What?”
Hayes's eyes filled with tears.
“His car was found burned outside Annapolis.”
Shaw nodded slightly.
The information had apparently been verified.
Hayes continued.
“I spent twenty-eight years believing rank meant I could control everything around me.”
He looked toward Claire.
“Then I discovered I'd become useful to a man who didn't care whether I lived.”
Claire did not feel satisfaction.
She felt something colder.
The machinery of corruption was consuming its own operators.
Shaw closed her folder.
“Mr. Hayes, if you want to cooperate, you'll have to provide verifiable evidence and accept responsibility for your conduct.”
Hayes nodded.
“I understand.”
Then he looked at Claire.
“Sergeant, I owe you an apology.”
Claire remained still.
Hayes took a breath.
“What I did in that dining hall was cruel.”
His voice shook.
“It was beneath the standards of the uniform I wore.”
Claire looked at him.
He continued.
“You stood up for the rules.”
“And I punished you because I believed my rank put me above them.”
Claire's throat tightened.
For weeks, she had imagined hearing him admit exactly that.
Now the words felt smaller than the harm they described.
“I appreciate you acknowledging it,” she said.
Hayes looked hopeful.
Claire continued.
“But an apology doesn't erase what happened.”
His face fell.
“I know.”
“And it doesn't make us even.”
“I understand.”
She stood.
“Then tell Agent Shaw everything.”
Hayes nodded.
As Claire turned toward the door, he spoke again.
“Sergeant.”
She stopped.
“There's one more thing.”
Shaw looked up.
Hayes lowered his voice.
“Voss kept a list of everyone who knew about the operation.”
Claire faced him.
“What list?”
“A contingency list.”
Hayes stared at her.
“He called it the Final Clearance Protocol.”
Shaw's expression hardened.
“What was its purpose?”
Hayes looked toward the ceiling camera.
Then back at Claire.
“If the investigation reached him, the people on that list would be eliminated.”
Claire felt her pulse thunder.
“Who was on it?”
Hayes swallowed.
“Daniel Price.”
He looked down.
“Your father.”
Then he met Claire's eyes.
“And you.”
Shaw leaned forward.
“Anyone else?”
Hayes hesitated.
“General Whitmore.”
Claire took a step backward.
Hayes continued.
“And Colonel Bennett.”
Claire suddenly remembered something.
Bennett had not answered her last two messages.
She reached for her phone.
A new message was waiting.
May you like
It came from an unknown number.
COLONEL BENNETT IS NEXT.
