But later that afternoon, Ethan called me.
His voice was shaking.
“Sarah, I found something else.”
He had recovered an audio recording made shortly before one of the academy’s classes.
In it, Richard and Derek were discussing Cole’s arrival.
But there was a third voice.
A deep, measured voice that seemed unusually interested in my brother’s reaction.
When Cole listened to the recording, he froze.
He played it again.
And again.
Finally, he whispered, “That could be Voss.”
“Are you sure?”
“No. But I recognize the way he speaks.”
It wasn’t proof.
Yet it was enough to convince us that what happened at the academy might be connected to something much older.
A few hours later, Cole received another unexpected call.
The man on the other end introduced himself as Nathaniel Mercer.
Daniel’s father.
“I’ve been trying to reach you,” Nathaniel said. “My son has started remembering things about the accident.”
Cole straightened.
“What things?”
“People who were there. Details that never appeared in the official report. And an order that nobody ever properly explained.”
Nathaniel paused.
“I need you to come and see me. There are things I won’t discuss over the phone.”
They arranged to meet the following day.
But that meeting would never happen as planned.
Because that evening, someone knocked on my apartment door.
When I opened it, a worried-looking woman stood in the hallway, clutching a folder against her chest.
“Are you Sarah?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“My name is Rebecca Mercer. I’m Daniel’s wife.”
I immediately invited her inside.
Cole appeared behind me.
“What’s happened?”
Rebecca swallowed.
“Daniel hasn’t come home. Before he left, he gave me something and told me to bring it to you if anything unusual happened.”
She placed the folder on the table.
Inside were an old photograph and a sealed letter.
I picked up the photograph first.
It showed two soldiers standing beside a military vehicle.
I recognized Cole immediately.
But the man beside him made my blood run cold.
He looked almost exactly like my brother.
The same eyes.
The same jawline.
The same serious expression.
I turned the photograph over.
Someone had written a short message on the back.
“Ask Cole who the second soldier was.”
I looked up.
“Cole, who is that?”
My brother stared at the picture.
His expression was unreadable.
“I don’t understand,” he whispered.
Rebecca handed me the letter.
It was addressed to me personally.
My hands trembled as I opened it.
Daniel explained that after years of fragmented memories, certain details of the military accident had begun returning to him.
He remembered two men during a training exercise.
He remembered an unexpected order.
