Chapter 6: The Secret Beneath Deck Four
Colonel Victor Kane held the evidence packet like it was a trophy.
Like he had spent years chasing something and finally caught it.
The label on the front was impossible to ignore.
DECK FOUR.
The same words I had seen on the original packet.
The same words that had started everything.
Kane stood in front of the elevator, surrounded by flashing emergency lights.
The ship shook slightly beneath our feet.
Somewhere above us, alarms continued screaming.
But Kane looked completely calm.
That was what bothered me most.
A normal person would have been worried.
A normal commander would have been trying to restore order.
Kane looked like a man who had already won.
“Interesting expression,” he said.
I stared at the packet.
“You found it.””
He smiled.
“You sound disappointed.””
“I’m wondering why you’re showing it to me.””
Kane stepped closer.
“Because I want you to understand something.””
The elevator doors closed behind us.
The only people inside were me, Kane, and Captain Marcus Voss.
Kane held the packet between two fingers.
“This is not evidence.””
I looked at him.
“Then what is it?””
“A mistake.””
I almost laughed.
“A mistake that required you to threaten people?””
His face hardened.
“You still don’t understand.””
“No.””
I looked directly at him.
“I understand exactly.””
Kane’s eyes narrowed.
“You think this is about the sailors who collapsed.””
“It is.””
“No.””
He shook his head.
“This is about control.””
The elevator continued moving downward.
Deck numbers changed.
Seven.
Six.
Five.
Then four.
The doors opened.
And for the first time, I saw it.
Deck Four.
The place Kane had spent so much effort hiding.
The hallway was older than the rest of the ship.
The lights flickered.
The paint on the walls was faded.
This section looked abandoned.
But it wasn’t.
I could hear machinery running behind the walls.
Active systems.
Active storage.
Kane stepped out.
“Welcome.””
I followed slowly.
Captain Voss remained behind us.
Watching.
Waiting.
The hallway ended at a heavy metal door.
Kane placed his hand on the access panel.
The lock opened.
Inside was a storage room.
Rows of containers filled the space.
My eyes immediately went to the labels.
Emergency water supplies.
Medical equipment.
Food reserves.
Everything the crew had been told was unavailable.
Everything Kane claimed needed ration control.
My anger rose.
“You locked all of this away.””
Kane walked inside.
“You make it sound simple.””
“It is simple.””
“No.””
He turned.
“You see supplies.””
He pointed around.
“I see resources.””
“Resources belong to the crew.””
“Resources belong to command.””
The answer was so cold that for a moment I couldn’t believe he said it.
“You actually believe that?””
Kane walked toward a desk at the back of the room.
“I believe leadership requires difficult decisions.””
“Making sailors collapse in formation is leadership?””
His expression changed.
“You think I wanted casualties?””
“You created them.””
His jaw tightened.
Then he opened the evidence packet.
Inside were photographs.
Documents.
Reports.
But not the ones I expected.
Kane pulled out a picture and handed it to me.
I looked at it.
A supply transfer.
Signed by a senior officer.
The signature wasn’t Kane’s.
It belonged to someone else.
Someone higher.
Kane watched my reaction.
“Now you understand.””
I looked up.
“Who is this?””
He didn’t answer.
Instead, he took the photo back.
“You thought I was the top.””
A pause.
“I’m not.””
The room became silent.
For weeks, I had believed Kane was the center of everything.
The locked supplies.
The false reports.
The missing personnel.
But maybe I had only been looking at the person standing in front.
Not the person pulling the strings.
“Who ordered this?””
Kane walked around the room.
“You don’t ask the right questions.””
“Then tell me the right one.””
He stopped.
“Why do you think I let you find the medical records?””
That question caught me off guard.
“What?””
“You heard me.””
“I found them because someone made a mistake.””
Kane smiled slightly.
“No.””
He looked toward the storage containers.
“Someone wanted you to find them.””
A chill moved through me.
“What are you saying?””
“I’m saying you were never investigating me.””
I stared at him.
“You were being guided.””
The words bothered me because they explained too much.
The anonymous warnings.
The evidence appearing at the right moments.
The memory card.
Someone had been moving pieces.
But why?
Kane stepped closer.
“And now you’re here.””
I looked around the room.
“Why bring me here?””
“Because you need to see the truth.””
“You expect me to believe you?””
“No.””
He looked at Captain Voss.
“Because I know you won’t.””
Voss stepped forward.
For the first time, I noticed something.
He wasn’t looking at me like an enemy.
He looked uncomfortable.
Almost guilty.
Kane noticed too.
“Captain.””
Voss immediately straightened.
“Yes, sir.””
“Tell him.””
A long silence.
Voss looked at me.
Then away.
“Lieutenant Reed…”
His voice was quieter than before.
“The first Deck Four investigation wasn’t about supplies.””
I waited.
“It was about a death.””
The room seemed to freeze.
“What death?””
Voss swallowed.
“A sailor.””
“Who?””
He looked at Kane.
Kane didn’t stop him.
“Petty Officer Liam Carter.””
The name meant nothing to me.
Until Voss continued.
“He was the first person who discovered the unauthorized shipments.””
I stared.
“What happened to him?””
Voss didn’t answer.
He didn’t need to.
The silence said enough.
I looked at Kane.
“You killed him.””
Kane’s expression remained unreadable.
“No.””
The answer came immediately.
“I didn’t.””
That surprised me.
Because I expected denial.
Not that.
Kane looked at the documents on the desk.
“Liam Carter was found dead after reporting the shipments.””
“Then who did it?””
Kane looked at me.
“That’s what you’re about to find out.””
Before I could respond, the lights flickered.
Then every monitor in the room turned on.
A security feed appeared.
The image showed the flight deck.
The day I confronted Kane.
The day the young signalman collapsed.
But the camera angle was different.
Closer.
Hidden.
Someone had recorded everything.
Then the footage changed.
A new scene.
Nighttime.
A sailor walking alone through Deck Four.
Liam Carter.
The timestamp showed:
03:17 AM.
I watched as Carter entered the storage room.
He carried a folder.
He opened one of the containers.
Then he looked directly at the camera.
Like he knew someone was watching.
A voice came through the speakers.
Not Carter’s.
Someone else.
“Liam.””
Carter turned.
The screen froze.
The voice continued.
“You should have left this alone.””
My hands tightened.
The footage ended.
The room went dark again.
Kane looked at me.
“That was the moment everything changed.””
I looked at him.
“Who was the voice?””
He didn’t answer.
Instead, he walked to the door.
“Because that person knows you have the backup.””
My blood ran cold.
“How?””
Kane looked back.
“Because they were the one who gave it to you.””
I froze.
“What?””
He opened the door.
“Your memory card.””
My hand instinctively moved toward my watch.
Kane noticed.
“You still have it.””
A pause.
Then he said:
“But you don’t know what’s really on it.””
The door behind him opened.
Two security officers appeared.
Kane stepped aside.
“Take him.””
I didn’t move.
“Why?””
Kane looked at me.
For the first time, there was something close to honesty in his expression.
“Because if you find out who sent you that file…”
He paused.
“You won’t know who to trust anymore.””
The officers grabbed my arms.
As they pulled me away, I looked back at the monitors.
The frozen image of Liam Carter remained on the screen.
A dead sailor.
A hidden investigation.
A secret command chain.
And one question I couldn’t answer.
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If Kane wasn’t the person controlling everything…
Then who was?
