Chapter 2: Someone Already Knew My Name
A rescue boat pulled me out forty minutes later.
No order from the Resolute.
No distress signal authorized by Kane.
A junior petty officer named Reyes had thrown a life ring the moment I hit the water.
He did it without permission.
He did it knowing exactly what it would cost him.
When I climbed back aboard, soaking and shaking, the corridor outside medical was empty.
Except for one man.
Master Chief Doyle.
Twenty-two years in the Navy.
The kind of man who had outlasted four commanding officers without ever raising his voice.
He looked at me for a long moment.
Then he said quietly, "Your bunk was searched while you were in the water."
My chest went cold in a way the Pacific hadn't managed.
"The packet?"
He didn't answer that.
What he said instead stopped me completely.
"Kane made a call from the command deck eleven minutes after you went over.
Whoever he spoke to — they already knew your real name."
I stared at him.
Not Petty Officer Cole.
My real name.
May you like
Which meant Kane hadn't acted alone.
Someone above him knew I was on that ship before I ever boarded it.
