Clear Water, Hidden Danger

Chapter 30 — Brother to Brother

I found Hawk standing outside the control room, arms folded, staring down the dark hallway like he was waiting for something to step out and test him.

He didn’t look over when I stopped beside him.

“You about to go do something dumb?” he asked.

“Yes,” I said. “But we’re not starting with that.”

Now he looked at me.

Good.

“Earlier,” I said, “when everything went sideways… you said something.”

Hawk blinked once. “I said a lot of things.”

“No,” I replied. “You said Kandahar.”

His jaw tightened.

I stepped closer. Not threatening — just close enough that he had to face me head-on.

“Hawk… I never said that word to anyone. Ever. Not Alex. Not Dave. Not Neal. No one.”
I let that land.
“You looked me in the eyes today and referenced something I’ve never spoken aloud in my life.”

Silence stretched between us.

Hawk finally exhaled through his nose, slow and controlled. “Alright,” he said quietly. “Then let’s talk about it.”

I folded my arms. “How do you know that name?”

Hawk didn’t look away.

“Because I’ve seen that look before,” he said. “In Afghanistan. In a place we weren’t supposed to be. In a room we weren’t supposed to find.”

My skin tightened.

“You were never deployed,” I said.

“Correct,” Hawk replied. “Not officially.”

“So explain it.”

He glanced past me toward the stairwell leading to WH27.

“RJ… back when I was enlisted, before I washed out of my unit, we intercepted a transmission. Coded. Fragmented. Reference markers from a site outside Kandahar — a black research annex. The kind the government denies even when you’re standing in the doorway.”

A cold weight formed in my gut.

“And?” I said.

“The Marines I was with joked about it, called it ‘the ghost project.’ But one of the guys… he took it seriously. Said the annex wasn’t for intel gathering or weapons.” Hawk swallowed. “He said it was for people.”

My heart thudded once — loud.

Hawk kept going.

“I didn’t believe him until I saw your face when you snapped back today. You had that same hollow shock — the kind people get when they remember something the brain tried like hell to bury.”

I stared at him.
“Say what you’re really saying, Hawk.”

He nodded once.

“I recognized the look, not the name.”

I let that roll through me, slow and dangerous.

“And how exactly does a random enlisted Marine know the name of a place tied to my memory?”

Hawk leaned toward me.

“Because when you blacked out, you said two things before your eyes rolled back.”
He held up two fingers.
“Kandahar. And why again?”

My breath caught.

“I didn’t—”

“You did,” he said firmly. “Quiet. Slurred. But you said it.”

I shook my head, stepping back. “No. No, that doesn’t make sense. The only time I heard that word was—”

And then it hit.

The mirrored-shade man.
The metal table.
The cold voice saying:
“Start over.”

Hawk watched my face shift.

“Yeah,” he murmured. “There it is.”

I swallowed hard. “So you think I’ve been… there?”

“I think you’ve been somewhere you weren’t supposed to survive,” Hawk said. “And you’re remembering pieces. That’s why I’m not letting you go down there alone.”

I looked away, breathing slow, controlled.

“This wasn’t supposed to drag anyone else into my past.”

Hawk stepped into my line of sight again.

“You didn’t drag us, RJ. We walked.”

I held his gaze.

“I’m going back down to WH27,” I said. “I’m checking every file, every frame of footage. And if that place shows me one damn hint about who that man was or why Kandahar is in my head…”
My voice sharpened.
“I’ll deal with it.”

“And I’ll be five feet behind you,” Hawk said. “That’s not up for debate.”

I didn’t argue.

Because for the first time…
I wasn’t sure what waited for me downstairs —
but I was damn sure I didn’t want to face it with no witness.

Hawk jerked his chin toward the stairwell.
“Whenever you’re ready.”

I nodded.

But inside?

The past I didn’t remember was already waking up.

========================================
ANONYMOUS FIELD LOG — ENTRY ALPHA
CLASSIFIED — PROJECT ECHO CLEARANCE REQUIRED:
Anchor exhibits controlled resurfacing of suppressed operational memories; verbal cues indicate linkage to early ECHO field sites. Subject “Hawk” displays unplanned familiarity with pre-collapse transmission markers, likely due to incidental contact with restricted comms during prior service. Anchor’s stress output elevated but contained, emotional stabilizers intact. Civilian posture toward Anchor remains bifurcated yet non-hostile. Recommend heightened observation ahead of any WH27 sublevel incursion.

ANONYMOUS FIELD LOG — ENTRY BRAVO
CLASSIFIED — PROJECT ECHO CLEARANCE REQUIRED
NLC telemetry logged micro-resonance spike corresponding to Anchor’s verbal reference point (“Kandahar”). Dr. Mercer alerted; correlation with early-phase ECHO facilities under review. Major Jackson preparing controlled-interrogation protocol pending Anchor arrival. Infiltration assets maintaining cover. Potential identity convergence imminent.