Quest Chapter 31

Chapter 31 Summary

The chapter opens with Officer Charley receiving confirmation from the FBI lab in St. Croix: the wallet and cell phone found under Mark Peltier’s car both contain only his fingerprints. While this confirms ownership, it doesn’t resolve whether Mark dropped them during an incident or intentionally placed them there.

Charley calls Lisa and Tim to update them. Lisa reveals that Colonel Daniel Weaver had visited Mark days before his disappearance to offer him an assignment—one Mark had refused. Charley suspects Weaver may have coerced Mark into accepting, possibly even forcibly taking him. She asks Lisa for Weaver’s contact info, but the call had come from a private number, prompting Charley to begin her own investigation into Weaver’s whereabouts.

Meanwhile, Mark wakes up in a hotel near CIA headquarters, recalling that the meeting with Dr. Alexandra Conner and George Ramsey had run late into the night. Conner had provided him with a prepaid credit card to cover his hotel and other immediate needs. After a hearty breakfast, Mark is ready to ditch his Army fatigues for civilian clothing.

He visits a shopping mall and enters a men’s fashion store, requesting a complete wardrobe overhaul: casual, semi-casual, and formal attire, as well as shoes, jackets, and accessories. The attentive clerk helps him select and tailor outfits, even offering delivery to Mark’s hotel.

Dressed in new clothes, Mark leaves the store and heads into the mall to purchase a new, private cell phone, aiming to regain personal communication outside of the surveillance tied to his government-issued device.

The chapter ends with Mark stepping further into his covert role—blending in, re-equipping, and preparing to operate independently.