Page 1 of Cold Silence
1
Captain Travis Chapman readily served wherever his country needed him. All Green Berets did.
But this?
“I realize this operation is a bit unusual.” Colonel Louis Vogler grabbed a marker and approached the whiteboard in the small Fort Bragg briefing room.
Unusual? Try earthshaking.
Travis tugged at his collar and swallowed the unease threatening to bring up his breakfast. He had to find a way out of this assignment. For once, he didn’t care what the team needed. This was personal. He’d do anything else. Go anywhere other than the Army Research Institute in Orlando.
Getting quickly and quietly behind enemy lines and creating insurgencies was what he knew and thrived on—it was how he lived and operated day to day. But working with Claire at the institute? With the woman who’d left him feeling as if a grenade had exploded in his chest, his heart still a torn mess two years later?
Not that.
He shifted in his chair and watched the colonel ink Combat Action and Tactics Simulator on the board in bold red strokes. Vogler turned, dark brows thick as caterpillars drawn together, perpetual scowl fixed on his broad face. “As I mentioned, your familiarity with CATS makes you the ideal candidate for this op.”
CATS. Claire’s pet project to develop a lower-cost alternative to the Army’s current simulated training program. Travis had spent months by her side working out kinks in it. Discussing enhancements for the prototype. Getting to know her and…
Not going there again.
“Is there a problem with this assignment, Captain?” Vogler’s penetrating gaze raked over him.
Travis sat up straighter and dug his nails into his palms, pain biting into his skin and keeping him on task. “No, sir, but with all due respect, are you sure this op is appropriate for our team?”
The crease between Vogler’s brows deepened, but his eyes remained riveted on Travis. “Didn’t mention the team. They’re spinning up tonight as planned. This will be just you and your qualifications. You know the facility and CATS.”
And Claire.
Even now, with Vogler watching him intently, Travis could get lost in thoughts of her. The smell of her perfume with a hint of lavender in direct contrast to her down-to-earth personality, almost lingered in the air. He could see her sparkling eyes behind designer glasses. What would’ve happened if she hadn’t rejected him?
Stop it. You’ve asked that like a thousand times. No point in it. None.
Vogler shifted on the balls of his feet, impatience written on his face. “Is there something you need to tell me, Captain?”
I once believed in a forever kind of love and, thanks to Claire, now I don’t.Yeah, right. Like he’d tell Vogler that.
“No, sir. I just need the op details to catch my flight on time.” He opened the briefing folder, the op dubbed Operation Cold Silence, but he had no idea why the title. “So are they looking for me to participate in testing and give the simulator a Green Beret seal of approval?”
“Negative. It’s more involved than that. Project director Dr. Claire Reed has completed a solid prototype. A copy of the software and a virtual device were stolen from the institute last night. Preliminary investigations by Reed point to an inside job, though I must say she’s having a hard time believing anyone on her team could do this.”
At Vogler’s use of Claire’s name, Travis’s brain snapped to full attention. “Why an inside job?”
Vogler raised his index finger. “First, stealing the software is worthless without the ability to overcome the encryption and obfuscation techniques employed as security features. Only an insider would have that information.”
“That information could’ve been stolen too.”
“True, but less likely, and our other factors point to an insider.”
“Factors such as?”
“Few people outside the staff would know the value of Reed’s breakthrough. She’s taken a technology that has cost us billions of dollars and made it affordable. Means if it was available on the black market, even small guerrilla groups would have the money to turn our training against us.”
Travis shuddered at the thought of the many insurgent groups he’d trained over the years and imagined similar groups whose values opposed America’s using the U.S. Army’s exacting standards to train an unlimited number of soldiers.
“Exactly.” Vogler rested on the edge of the table and lifted another finger. “Also, the thief would have to get past the guards to get on campus.”
“Not an impossible task, but difficult,” Travis said as he remembered the guard post at the campus front gate. “I doubt the thief waltzed through the front gate, but can you get the log book and security feed for last night?”
