Chapter 6 - THE SECOND CARTER SEAL
Ethan had found it in a drawer the morning after Pallet Six disappeared.
Same custodian:
R. CARTER.
Different serial.
Rachel's official seal on Container 33A was D-44109.
The loose unused seal Ethan found was:
D-44112.
Three numbers later.
“Why didn't you report it?”
Rachel asked.
Ethan looked down.
“I asked Chief.”
Mason turned toward him.
“You did?”
“You said destroy any duplicate.”
Mason's face changed.
“I thought you meant blank misprints.”
“You said anything with the wrong serial.”
Mason rubbed his face.
He remembered.
Not the specific seal.
The standing instruction.
Secure seal printers occasionally produced duplicate output after network freezes.
Standard procedure required logging and destruction.
Mason had shortened that to:
“Kill duplicates before they become paperwork.”
A joke.
A habit.
Ethan put D-44112 in the shred bin used for plastic and thin metal tags.
Except it didn't shred.
It jammed the machine.
So Ethan dropped it into a locked destruction box.
A contractor collected the box weekly.
Which contractor?
Pier Systems Support.
Caleb Price's company.
Rachel turned toward Pierce.
There.
A path.
But then Pierce checked destruction manifests.
Caleb did not personally handle them.
The subcontractor was Atlantic Secure Recycling.
Seven people had access.
The old seal itself was gone.
Maybe destroyed properly.
Maybe not.
Then Mason said:
“Why would anyone make two Carter seals?”
Rachel looked at him.
“That's what I was going to ask you.”
“I printed one.”
“I know.”
“Not two.”
The printer log from seven months ago had been purged after ninety days.
No digital proof of who produced D-44112.
Only Ethan's memory.
Then the current Glassline footage gave them something else.
The left-handed person attaching Rachel's seal wore a wristwatch on the inside of the wrist.
Ethan wore his watch that way.
Pierce called him back.
Ethan removed his watch.
Same position.
Different band.
Rachel felt sick.
Ethan stared at the still image.
“That's not me.”
“Can you prove where you were?”
“At cold storage.”
Badge log showed him entering at 04:02.
Current seal replacement happened 04:09.
Cold storage was six minutes away on foot.
Possible.
Then another camera showed Ethan inside at 04:08.
He could not be both places.
So the watch clue collapsed.
Supporting detail.
Not identity.
Then Ethan did something that surprised Rachel.
He asked NCIS to take his personal phone.
No warrant argument.
No deleting.
“There's a message I should've shown you yesterday.”
Pierce stared.
“What message?”
Ethan opened it.
Sent the previous evening.
Unknown prepaid number.
IF CARTER SEES 44C, DO NOT LET REED TOUCH THE SEAL.
Rachel read it.
“Why would someone send that to you?”
“I don't know.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
Ethan looked embarrassed.
“I thought it was someone messing with me.”
Pierce asked:
“Did you reply?”
“Yes.”
“What?”
Who is this?
No response.
Then a second message at 03:31.
YOU WILL UNDERSTAND AFTER SHE OPENS IT.
Rachel stared.
Someone expected her to open 44C.
Not merely notice it.
The replacement seal with her name had been bait.
Mason's panic had supplied the violence.
Rachel's own anger had supplied the bolt cutters.
Whoever arranged it had understood both of them well enough to predict the scene.
May you like
And that meant the hidden surveillance container might not have been exposed by accident.
Someone had wanted Glassline burned.
