For three months, Harbor Crest had been reporting inventory discrepancies in its training armory. Small ones at first—miscounted magazines, missing serialized parts, ammunition sign-outs that never lined up with returns. Then a whole pistol had gone missing from a locked cage used for advanced marksmanship instruction. A week later, one of the same model pistols turned up in the trunk of a stolen car connected to an armed robbery in Norfolk.
Nothing connected on paper.
But somebody at Harbor Crest was lying.
And Rowan Chase had been sent to find out who.
She touched the inside pocket of her windbreaker, feeling the flat edge of the transfer authorization she’d need to present to security. Her sidearm rested inside the leather bag in a locked travel case, declared and documented according to protocol. Admiral Cole had told her to bring it. Her arrival paperwork listed the weapon, serial number, chain-of-custody forms, and temporary carry order.
