Chapter 5: Unsanctioned Response

👉 Previous Choice: You chose Option B – Override station protocol and covertly trigger a priority silent distress dispatch while maintaining the line.

The receiver pressed against my ear, the caller’s frantic whispers still echoing. My heart pounded, but a cold resolve settled over me. Silas’s claims of hallucinations felt like a physical blow, yet the fear in the caller’s voice was too real. I had to act.

My fingers flew across the keyboard, bypassing the usual dispatch protocols. A priority silent distress signal, coded for a home invasion, flashed on Deputy Caleb Wright’s patrol car display. He was the newest recruit, young, still burdened by the oath of his badge more than the Covenant’s veiled authority. He was my only chance.

“Deputy Wright to 414 Cedar Ridge Lane,” I muttered into the comms mic, my voice low and steady, masked by the general station chatter. “Code eight. Discreet and immediate.”

I kept the original caller on the line, the receiver warm against my ear. Her terrified breaths now seemed to stretch, thin and wavering. Then, a strange thing happened. Her voice began to echo, a double-layered resonance that sounded as if two distinct voices were speaking the same words, one slightly behind the other. It sent shivers down my spine.

“They’re coming for me,” the caller whispered, the double voice barely audible now. “My Gabriel… they took everything…”

My Gabriel. The name ripped through my composure. My husband. This couldn’t be a random prank. I started frantically searching through the digital dispatch log archives, trying to trace the incoming line’s true origin, desperate for an IP address or a physical relay point that didn’t match my home.

In my haste, my elbow swept across the console. An old, heavy metal filing box, tucked half-hidden beneath the main panel, clattered to the floor. Dust exploded into the air. When the cloud settled, a thin, yellowed parchment lay exposed beneath where the box had rested. It was no accident. The box had been deliberately positioned to conceal it.

I dropped the headset, the caller’s eerie echoing voice fading into static. My fingers snatched the document. It was a land title transfer and a life insurance claim. Gabriel’s name was prominently displayed, but the signature at the bottom for transfer of proceeds wasn’t his. It assigned everything – his property, his entire one-million-dollar estate, the proceeds of his life insurance policy – to the “Covenant of the First Light Ministry.”

The document was notarized. The signature beneath the seal belonged to Bartholomew Gidley, the town notary and insurance adjuster. It was dated three days *prior* to Gabriel’s “accidental” death.

A cold, horrifying clarity settled over me. Gabriel hadn’t just died; he had been robbed. This wasn’t an accident. This was a calculated seizure.

My gaze snapped to Silas, still standing by my desk, watching me with a paternal calm that now felt like a viper’s coiled stillness. His face remained impassive, but his eyes, deep-set and unblinking, held a triumphant glint. He knew I had found it.

➡️ Read CHAPTER 6 to continue the story.