They Arrested Her for Impersonating a SEAL — The Base Commander Went Pale Seeing Her Classified File
Chapter 11
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And at the bottom, a photograph: slightly grainy, clearly surveillance footage, but unmistakable. Willow Harper wearing tactical gear, standing in what looked like a compound somewhere in Central Asia, surrounded by people whose faces were blurred out."Holy cow," Reed whispered, looking over Hartwell's shoulder."Everyone out," Hartwell said, his voice deadly calm. "Everyone except Master Chief Burke and Lieutenant Commander Palmer. Now."They hesitated."That was not a suggestion."Reed, Drake, Blackwood, and Wallace filed out. Torres followed, casting one last look at Willow through the mirror. The woman sat exactly as she had for the past two hours: patient and still, as if she'd known all along how this would end.When the room had cleared, Hartwell set down the tablet and rubbed his face with both hands. "Tell me I'm reading this wrong.""You're not, sir," Palmer said. "She's CIA Special Activities Division, deep cover operative. And we just arrested her on camera in front of 40 witnesses who've now posted it all over social media."Burke let out a long breath. "This is bad.""This is catastrophic," Hartwell corrected. "Her NOC is burned. Her cover's destroyed. Whatever operation she was running is compromised, and it's our fault.""What do we do?"Hartwell picked up the tablet again, scrolled through what little information the file provided. "It says to contact this number in case of emergency." He pointed to a phone number at the bottom of the screen. "That's going to be her handler, who is about to have a very bad evening."He made the call. It was answered on the second ring by a woman whose voice conveyed the emotional warmth of a glacier."This is Commander Solomon Hartwell, Naval Amphibious Base Coronado. I'm calling about an individual currently in my custody. I believe she may be one of yours."A pause. "Describe her."Hartwell did, including the code name from the file. Another pause, longer. Keyboard clicking in the background."Stand by."The hold lasted four minutes. When the woman returned, her voice had shifted from cold to arctic. "I'm Special Agent Heather Vaughn, CIA Special Activities Division. You have Ghost Seven in custody.""If that's who Willow Harper actually is, then yes.""On what charges?""Impersonating a Navy SEAL."Silence."Then you arrested an active CIA operative for impersonating a Navy SEAL while she was maintaining cover for a classified operation.""We didn't know.""Of course you didn't know. That's the entire point of deep cover. But now you do know, which means roughly 43 civilians also know, which means her cover is comprehensively blown, which means six months of operational development just went up in smoke."Hartwell felt his career prospects dimming in real time. "What do you need me to do?""First, get her out of custody immediately. Second, confiscate every phone and camera in that building. Third, get everyone who saw that file to sign NDAs with teeth. Fourth, prepare for a cleanup team to arrive within the hour. And fifth, keep her there until I arrive. Do not let her leave the building. Clear?""Crystal."