Hero (Alpha Mountain 1)

He took the SD card then looked up at me.

“It was in Indi’s necklace.”

I grabbed a chair and pulled it beside him as he loaded it into a converter port. With a few clicks, a video came up on the screen.

“Holy shit,” Kennedy whispered, and I had a really bad fucking feeling about what we were going to see.

“Boys,” Gram began, and Kennedy clicked to pause the movie. “The eggs and—”

“I need you to go get Hayes and Taft, Gram. Right now.” I didn’t look away from the screen.

Thankfully, Gram didn’t say a word, and I heard the screen door slam.

Kennedy started the video.

It lasted less than four minutes, but it made everything, everything, clear.

“Holy fuck,” Kennedy said after it ended.

“Play it again,” I said, my blood pumping in my veins. This was how I felt before a mission. Charged, as if I’d been plugged into a light socket.

After we watched it once more, I wasn’t sure if I could keep my rage in check.

“This guy… Tully,” I breathed. “Get every fucking thing you can on him.”

Kennedy nodded, and his fingers flew over the keyboard as the others came in.

Gram must’ve told them something was up because there was no joking or fooling around. Their expressions were serious. They were ready for whatever we needed.

“I’ll let you boys have your space,” Gram said. “I’ll be at the farmer’s market.”

When none of us acknowledged her, she slipped out the back door once more. I was thankful for that woman, and I’d have to make it up to her later, but this was the clue we’d all been waiting for.

“Play it again,” I said to Kennedy. He started it up on one of his screens. “That’s Buck’s camera.”

Hayes leaned over Kennedy’s shoulder. Taft hovered, his gaze watchful.

“There are two men besides Buck,” Taft said. “Tully. The other guy’s nameless. And that’s Abdul Tareen, the Afghan police officer.”

“How do you know for sure?” Hayes asked.

“Rewind,” Taft requested. When Kennedy got to the video to a specific spot, he added, “There. There’s a scar on his left cheek. Two prongs on the right side where the stitches were.”

None of us questioned him. With his photographic memory, if Taft had seen or heard something before, it was fact.

“What about the name Tully?” I asked. “Got anything?”

Taft looked up at the ceiling as if he could find the information there; however, I knew he was searching that encyclopedia of a brain of his. “Cameron Tully, an operative working with Ranger beta team on reconnaissance and security tying to the base infrastructure and alliance with the Afghan people. Assignment ran from June of two years ago until February twenty-seventh of last year. Reassigned to Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Clearance level, confidential.”

“What was that data from?” I asked.

Kennedy’s fingers were already flying over his keyboard.

“It was in the records you shared with me of all military teams stationed in our quadrant of Afghanistan when we were there. When Buck had died,” Taft explained.

That had been a big fucking pile.

“This is him,” Kennedy said, enlarging a Department of Defense photo. The video hadn’t been the clearest, but this was the guy.

“What about the guy in charge off-camera?” Hayes asked.

“Search any connection between this guy Tully and colleagues within the armed forces. Commanding officers.” I looked to Taft. “You and Kennedy work together. Your brain and his machine should give us some results.”

“Where’d this come from?” Hayes asked.

“Indi.”

Taft and Hayes looked stunned. I grabbed the necklace. “Buck bought this at a bazaar off base with me three weeks before he died. Said the stone color reminded him of Indi. He sent it to her, and it was the last thing she got. She’s been wearing it ever since. I guess it broke, and she found the card.”

“Holy shit,” Hayes said.

“He must’ve suspected some shady shit to secretly make the recording, but the way he acted in the video, he hadn’t expected the guy to be shot. He sent it to his sister for… safe keeping? Or as insurance, if something went wrong,” Taft thought out loud.

I nodded. Which it had. “Yet she didn’t know she even had it. Didn’t even know she carried around something so dangerous about her neck.”

“Think she’d have kept it a secret from you? I mean…” Kennedy cut off then scratched his head. Winced.

“Because I didn’t share shit with her?” I admitted. “She had that bulletin board. Told me it was nothing but dead ends. No. She must’ve just broken the necklace recently.”

“She hates your guts, man,” Hayes added.

I hated the truth, but it was my own fucking fault. I had to own it, at least until I could make it right.

“Yeah, but she loved Buck.” I hopped to my feet. “I have to go see her. Now.”

“I thought she was on a guide trip,” Hayes added.