Chapter 15 - THE FILE INSIDE THE FIRE
The federal judge allowed the archive to be opened under seal.
Ortiz entered the password. The wafer generated a cryptographic key linked to the transport's original flight-data module—the black box Rachel had hidden at Fort Morrow.
But Voss had removed that module before fleeing.
His surrender of the wafer had been another calculated half-truth. Without the module, the archive remained unreadable.
Then Dana Mercer asked to speak.
When she shoved Nora toward Samuel, she had also taken something from Voss's coat. She produced a small black casing from evidence storage. Afraid that he would kill everyone once he escaped, she had switched the flight-data module with an empty battery pack.
For once, a person Voss coerced had used proximity against him.
The archive opened.
It contained sensor data from the Afghanistan crash, metallurgical scans made by David Chen, Rachel's analysis, internal Voss emails, and a chain of payments to officials who suppressed later failures. The same defective alloy appeared in commercial aircraft, medical evacuation helicopters, and prosthetic joint components.
Samuel stared at the last category.
His first two prosthetic fittings had failed without explanation. One caused the infection that nearly required an above-knee amputation. Voss had profited not only from the part that took his leg, but from the replacements fitted afterward.
The archive also held maintenance communications from Rachel's final flight. A Voss engineer warned that her control assembly had been altered without authorization. Minutes later, Conrad personally ordered the message deleted.
It was not yet proof that he intended a crash. It proved he knew the aircraft was unsafe and allowed her to fly.
Voss's attorneys attacked the chain of custody. The module had passed through Rachel, Fort Morrow, Rusk, Mercer, and investigators. They claimed the data could have been manipulated.
The government needed independent physical confirmation.
Ortiz remembered one surviving valve from the original transport. David Chen had removed it during rescue and placed it in a medical evacuation case. The case was shipped with Samuel when he returned stateside.
Samuel searched his memory. His personal effects arrived months after him, most ruined by fire. One unopened crate had remained in storage because he could never bring himself to examine the objects from the day he lost his leg.
The crate was in Oregon.
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Before agents reached it, Samuel's home security alarm activated.
A live feed showed smoke pouring from his garage.
