Chapter 2 - The Name Under the Tape

Colonel Daniel Rourke ordered everybody back to work. They obeyed badly, checking over their shoulders as Kessler struggled to his feet.

"My office," Rourke told Mara.

"Medical evaluation for your sergeant first," she replied. "He took a hard fall."

Kessler looked surprised by her concern. "I don't need your help."

"Then don't accept it. But get checked."

Private Eli Navarro approached while the others dispersed. "Ma'am, I saw him grab you."

"Keep that memory," Mara said.

His eyes shifted toward Rourke. "That's going to be a problem."

In the office, Rourke closed the blinds before he spoke. "Your transfer orders say logistics oversight."

"They do."

"Your last assignment wasn't logistics."

Mara placed a sealed folder on his desk. "My last assignment was conducting an Army Criminal Investigation Division liaison review. The missing supply shipments at Calder aren't an accounting problem."

Rourke didn't touch the folder. "Who sent you?"

"Someone who still thinks the Army can tell the truth."

He glanced at the worn duffel. "That belonged to your brother?"

Mara peeled away the red tape. Beneath it, faded black letters read SGT. ADAM VOSS.

Adam had been a mechanic here. The official report said he died after driving drunk off a maintenance road. No passenger. No witnesses. Case closed in forty-eight hours.

"He didn't drink," Mara said.

"That isn't proof."

"I know. That's why I'm here."

Rourke reached for his desk phone, thought better of it, and lifted a scrap of paper from beneath the folder. His handwriting was small: CAMERAS ARE WATCHED. MEET ME ALONE AT 1900.

Then he said loudly, "Captain, I recommend you request reassignment."

Mara understood the performance. Someone was listening.

At the door, a uniformed woman waited with a clipboard. "Captain Voss? Military police need you. Staff Sergeant Kessler filed a formal assault complaint."

On her clipboard was a photograph from the takedown, captured from an angle that hid Kessler's hand on Mara's sleeve.

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The picture had already been altered.