SHE WAS THROWN INTO THE PACIFIC—THEN SHE FOUND WHAT THE CAPTAIN HAD HIDDEN
SHE WAS THROWN INTO THE PACIFIC—THEN SHE FOUND WHAT THE CAPTAIN HAD HIDDEN
Commander Jack Dalton thought the Pacific would swallow the evidence.
He was wrong.
Chief Petty Officer Sarah Bennett hit the ocean so hard that the impact knocked the air from her lungs.
Above her, the deck of the USS Meridian exploded into chaos.
“MAN OVERBOARD!”
Sailors rushed toward the railing.
A life ring flew through the air.
But Commander Dalton didn't move.
He simply stood beside the rail, watching Sarah disappear beneath the waves.
“She won't be a problem anymore,” he muttered.
What he didn't know was that Sarah had landed exactly where she needed to be.
Three hours earlier, Sarah had been standing beside a young sailor named Tyler Reed when he suddenly collapsed.
“Sir!” Sarah shouted. “He's overheating!”
Dalton barely looked at him.
“Get him back in formation.”
“He can barely stand.”
“That wasn't a suggestion.”
Sarah stared at the commander.
Then she noticed something strange.
Tyler's canteen was empty.
So were the emergency water containers nearby.
All of them.
Sarah turned toward Dalton.
“Why are the reserve tanks sealed?”
His eyes immediately sharpened.
“How do you know about those?”
Sarah realized her mistake.
She had said too much.
“I've served on enough ships to know standard emergency procedures.”
Dalton stepped closer.
“Have you?”
“Yes, sir.”
He stared at her for another second.
Then walked away.
Sarah watched him leave.
Her instincts screamed that she had been noticed.
She was right.
For seventeen days, Sarah had secretly been investigating the Meridian under orders from NCIS.
Medical supplies were disappearing.
Maintenance records had been altered.
Two containers listed as empty had somehow gained weight during every inspection.
And there was one location that appeared repeatedly in old engineering diagrams but had vanished from every current blueprint.
COMPARTMENT 7B.
Sarah had tried twice to reach it.
Both times, someone had changed the access schedule minutes before she arrived.
Then came the swimming incident.
Dalton ordered a group of exhausted sailors into the water.
One began struggling almost immediately.
Sarah jumped in and dragged him toward the safety line.
When she returned, Dalton was furious.
“You ignored my command.”
“I saved your sailor.”
“You embarrassed me in front of my crew.”
Sarah stared at him.
“He was drowning.”
Dalton stepped closer.
“You're becoming a problem, Chief.”
Sarah's eyes hardened.
“Maybe the problem isn't me.”
The deck went silent.
Dalton leaned toward her.
“You should learn when to keep your mouth shut.”
Sarah smiled faintly.
“You should learn who you're talking to.”
His face changed.
For one second, fear flashed across his eyes.
Then anger replaced it.
He grabbed her arm.
Sarah pulled free.
“Don't touch me.”
Dalton looked around.
Hundreds of sailors were watching.
He couldn't strike her.
So he chose something else.
“Chief Bennett is relieved of duty.”
Sarah stared at him.
“On what grounds?”
“Insurbordination.”
Then, without warning, Dalton shoved her.
Sarah crashed backward over the railing.
The Pacific swallowed her.
When Sarah surfaced, the Meridian towered above her.
“Chief! Stay where you are!”
She ignored them.
Instead, she looked beneath the ship.
Something dark was visible below the surface.
A rectangular steel structure.
Her heart began pounding.
Sarah dove.
Thirty feet down, she found it.
A reinforced hatch had been welded beneath the hull.
Fresh weld marks.
Recently installed.
She pulled the small NCIS access tool from her belt.
It fit the lock.
CLICK.
The hatch opened two inches.
Sarah froze.
Something moved inside.
She heard breathing.
Then came three knocks.
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
Sarah pressed her hand against the steel.
A hand pressed back from the other side.
Her blood ran cold.
Someone was trapped inside.
Then a voice came through the narrow opening.
Barely audible.
“Sarah?”
Her eyes widened.
She knew that voice.
It belonged to Lieutenant Daniel Reed.
A sailor who had officially been listed as missing at sea eleven days ago.
Sarah stared into the darkness.
“Daniel?”
His voice trembled.
“Don't open it.”
“Why?”
A long silence followed.
Then he whispered:
“Because I'm not alone.”
Sarah looked upward toward the ship.
On the deck, Commander Dalton was staring directly into the water.
And somehow—
he was smiling.
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