Chapter 16 - Project Hale
No one spoke during the drive back to headquarters.
The words "Project Hale" echoed inside every officer's mind.
Mercer entered the digital forensics laboratory with Arthur only a few steps behind.
Three computer specialists sat before multiple monitors, each displaying lines of recovered files.
One folder had finally been decrypted.
PROJECT HALE.
Created: Twenty-Two Years Earlier.
Last Modified: Nine Days Ago.
Mercer immediately noticed the date.
"Someone accessed these files last week."
The lead analyst nodded.
"They weren't simply opened."
"They were updated."
Arthur remained unusually quiet.
The analyst opened the first document.
It contained surveillance reports.
Arthur leaving his apartment.
Arthur shopping for groceries.
Arthur visiting the cemetery every Sunday morning.
Photographs stretched back almost eight months.
Mercer clenched his jaw.
"They've been following you this entire time."
Arthur answered softly.
"I suspected six months."
The second file opened.
Financial records.
The third.
Copies of Arthur's retirement benefits.
Medical prescriptions.
Hospital visits.
Emergency contacts.
Everything had been collected.
The fourth folder contained something different.
A photograph appeared on the screen.
Mercer looked closely.
It showed Arthur standing beside several investigators decades earlier.
Most of the faces had been crossed out with black ink.
Beneath each photograph appeared a single word.
Deceased.
Retired.
Missing.
When the screen reached Arthur's picture, the word beneath it had not yet been filled in.
Instead it read:
Pending.
The room became completely silent.
Mercer slowly turned toward Arthur.
"This wasn't surveillance."
Arthur nodded.
"No."
"It was preparation."
Before anyone could respond, another encrypted folder finished decoding.
The analyst opened it.
Every person inside the laboratory leaned closer.
It contained names.
Hundreds of them.
Business owners.
Former detectives.
Lawyers.
Judges.
Politicians.
Each connected by lines forming a massive organizational chart.
Near the very top sat only one unidentified figure.
No photograph.
No name.
Only a title.
The Chairman.
Mercer stared at the screen.
Arthur quietly whispered words he had hoped never to say again.
May you like
"So..."
"He's still alive."
