Chapter 7 - The Mastermind RevealedAdrian spun around in complete shock as NCIS agents flooded into the engine room, their weapons trained directly on him.
“Marcus?!” Adrian yelled, total confusion tearing through his voice. “What is this?! My father said you were coordinating the cover with JAG!”
Captain Marcus Vance stepped through the blast doors, stepping over the threshold onto the steel catwalk. He wasn't wearing his formal staff uniform anymore; he was wearing an official NCIS tactical vest.
“Your father tried, Adrian,” Marcus said coldly, pulling a signed federal warrant from his jacket. “In fact, your father tried so hard that he used an unencrypted satellite line to call the Fleet Commander to demand an emergency hold on Serena’s investigation.”
Adrian’s jaw dropped. “You... you were helping him!”
“I was wiretapping him,” Marcus corrected smoothly.
I allowed myself a slight smile as I stepped toward Marcus. The confrontation in the parking lot the night before hadn't been a warning from an enemy—it had been a subtle, pre-arranged code. Marcus Vance wasn't covering up for the Navy; he was the Chief Director of the Joint Military Corruption Task Force, working in tandem with my office for over six months to catch the senior officers protecting high-ranking legacy families.
“We needed Adrian to commit an overt act of obstruction while on active vessel territory,” I explained to Adrian, whose face was now entirely drained of color for the second time in twenty-four hours. “A maintenance violation alone would have resulted in a military tribunal with a light sentence. But locking an IG Director in an engine room while attempting to force a vessel under operational command? That’s mutinous conspiracy.”
“You... you used the blind date,” Adrian breathed out, collapsing back against the steel guardrail as NCIS agents moved in to snap heavy steel handcuffs onto his wrists. “The whole thing... my mother... your mother...”
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“My mother actually had no idea,” I admitted, leaning in close so only he could hear. “She genuinely thought I was a desperate clerk who needed a strong man to set her straight. But you proved my point better than any investigation ever could: arrogance always leaves a trail.”
The NCIS agents stripped Adrian of his sidearm, pulling his arms behind his back and forcing him up the ladderwell toward the deck. As he was marched past his crew, the silence along the ship’s corridors was deafening. The decorated Commander, the untouchable Annapolis graduate, was being escorted off his own warship in chains.
