Chapter 17: Operation Ironwood
Chapter 17: Operation Ironwood
Three days later, Nathan walked into the secure wing of the state medical center.
A state investigator met him outside Richard Holloway's room.
"He's awake."
Nathan nodded.
"And he's asking for you."
The investigator lowered his voice.
"He agreed to cooperate, but only if you hear his statement firsthand."
Nathan took a slow breath before entering the room.
Holloway looked nothing like the confident executive Nathan had confronted at the bunker.
His face was pale.
His shoulder was heavily bandaged.
A sheriff's deputy from another county stood outside the door.
Richard looked at Nathan and managed a weak smile.
"I suppose congratulations are in order."
Nathan remained standing.
"I'm not here for that."
"I know."
Holloway glanced at the recorder on the bedside table.
"They're recording everything."
Nathan nodded.
"Good."
The lead investigator switched on the recorder.
"State your name."
"Richard William Holloway."
"Do you agree to give this statement voluntarily?"
"I do."
The investigator looked at Nathan.
"You may ask your questions."
Nathan stepped closer.
"What was Operation Ironwood?"
Holloway closed his eyes.
"It wasn't a government operation."
Nathan frowned.
"What do you mean?"
"It was a code name."
"For what?"
"For buying land before anyone learned what was underneath it."
Nathan folded his arms.
"So it was about the mineral deposit."
"At first."
Nathan caught the hesitation.
"At first?"
Holloway nodded slowly.
"Then it became something else."
Holloway took a sip of water.
"Twenty-three years ago, several wealthy investors formed a private partnership."
"What kind of partnership?"
"Mining."
"They learned about the government's geological surveys."
Nathan listened carefully.
"They wanted the Reed property."
"Yes."
"When your father refused to sell..."
Holloway looked down.
"...they started looking for another way."
Nathan's jaw tightened.
"Carl."
"Carl was drowning in debt."
"So they bought him."
Holloway nodded.
"For far less than he eventually received."
Nathan asked the question that had haunted him for weeks.
"Who ordered my father's murder?"
Holloway remained silent.
The investigator spoke firmly.
"You agreed to full cooperation."
Richard finally answered.
"No one ordered his murder."
Nathan stared at him.
"What?"
"The plan..."
Holloway's voice grew quieter.
"...was only to scare him."
Nathan's expression hardened.
"But he died."
"Because Victor Sloan panicked."
Holloway continued.
"They confronted your father at the logging site."
"They wanted him to reveal the location of the original survey."
Nathan clenched his fists.
"When he refused..."
"Victor hit him."
Silence filled the room.
"He fell."
Nathan's throat tightened.
"He wasn't dead."
"No."
Holloway's eyes filled with regret.
"He was unconscious."
Nathan already knew what came next.
"They staged the accident."
Holloway nodded.
"They released the log."
Nathan closed his eyes.
His father hadn't died instantly.
He had been left there.
The investigator wrote several notes.
"Did Sheriff Harper know?"
"Yes."
"Before or after?"
"Before."
Nathan looked up.
"He helped plan it."
"He agreed to classify it as an accident."
The investigator asked,
"In exchange for what?"
"Money."
"How much?"
"Five hundred thousand dollars."
Nathan removed one final photograph from his folder.
It showed Samuel Brooks.
The state geologist who had disappeared twenty-one years earlier.
"What happened to him?"
Richard stared at the picture.
"I wondered when you'd ask."
"He vanished."
"No."
Holloway shook his head.
"He entered witness protection."
Nathan blinked.
"What?"
"He refused to help us."
Nathan frowned.
"So he wasn't killed."
"No."
"He secretly gave copies of the surveys to your father."
Nathan slowly smiled.
His father hadn't been alone after all.
Just then, the hospital room door opened.
A state investigator hurried inside.
"You need to see this."
He handed Nathan a tablet.
The screen displayed breaking news.
Authorities had executed search warrants at Horizon Valley Development's headquarters.
Investigators had seized hundreds of boxes of records.
Nathan scrolled through the report.
Financial ledgers.
Offshore accounts.
Internal emails.
The conspiracy stretched far beyond one county.
The lead investigator smiled.
"Holloway's testimony gave us probable cause."
Richard looked exhausted.
"It's over."
Nathan wasn't so sure.
That afternoon, Nathan visited Carl in the county detention center.
Carl sat behind thick security glass wearing an orange jail uniform.
For several moments, neither brother spoke.
Finally, Carl broke the silence.
"You came."
Nathan picked up the phone.
"I needed answers."
Carl laughed bitterly.
"You already have them."
"No."
Nathan's voice remained calm.
"I want to know why."
Carl stared at the table.
"I spent my whole life feeling invisible."
Nathan said nothing.
"Dad trusted you."
"He loved us both."
Carl shook his head.
"Not the way I saw it."
Nathan leaned closer.
"So you locked Mom in a shed?"
Tears filled Carl's eyes.
"I told myself it was temporary."
Nathan's disappointment was unmistakable.
"You stopped seeing her as your mother."
Carl whispered,
"I stopped seeing anyone."
Silence settled between them.
Nathan finally asked,
"Did you ever regret it?"
Carl looked up.
"Every single day after you came home."
Nathan believed him.
But regret could never erase what had happened.
He stood to leave.
Carl spoke one last time.
"There was something Dad hid..."
Nathan turned.
"What?"
"I never found it."
"What are you talking about?"
"The original deed."
Nathan frowned.
"I thought Victor forged it."
"He did."
Carl nodded.
"But Dad hid the real one."
Nathan slowly lowered the phone.
"If you ever find it..."
Carl's voice broke.
"...give the farm back its name."
That evening, Nathan returned to the farmhouse.
June was sitting beneath the old oak tree.
She smiled as he approached.
"How did it go?"
Nathan sat beside her.
"I finally know what happened to Dad."
June closed her eyes.
"I've waited twenty-one years to hear those words."
Nathan gently took her hand.
"There will be trials."
"There will be appeals."
"It may take years."
June nodded.
"I can wait."
Nathan looked across the fields.
The original deed.
His father had hidden it somewhere on the farm.
And if James Reed had gone to such extraordinary lengths to protect it...
There was only one logical place left to search.
The old farmhouse itself.
The home where Nathan and Carl had grown up.
The home that had stood empty since the day their father died.
May you like
Somewhere inside its weathered walls...
The final piece of the Reed family's legacy was still waiting to be found.
