Page 24 of Hidden Tide
His expression had changed.
“The forensic lab recovered the first image from Jonathan’s film.”
Agent Morales stood.
“What does it show?”
“A cargo vessel entering Blackwater three years ago.”
“That establishes the harbor was active,” Ben said.
“There’s something else.”
Keating turned a tablet toward us.
The photograph was grainy and dark. Blackwater’s cliffs rose on either side of a rust-streaked cargo ship. Men stood along its deck beside several wooden crates.
I leaned closer.
One of the crates had fallen onto its side.
A shipping label was visible beneath the ropes.
The words were too blurred to read, but a black symbol had been stamped across the wood.
A compass.
The eastern point had been cut away.
I knew that symbol.
We had seen it inside Blackwater.
Elias Ross used it to mark betrayal.
But that wasn’t what held my attention.
“Enlarge the upper deck,” I said.
Commander Keating expanded the image.
A man stood behind the bridge window.
Most of his face was hidden by reflected sunlight, but a pale streak ran through his hair.
Silver.
My skin went cold.
“That’s the man who took Mom.”
Ward moved closer.
“August Ross?”
“No.”
I shook my head.
