Chapter 18 - The Last Attempt
Raymond Vaughn disappeared twelve hours before federal agents planned to arrest him.
His passport remained at home.
His car was found in an airport garage.
His phone was discovered inside a trash bin with the battery removed.
For a man who had spent years believing influence could open any door, he suddenly seemed to understand that some doors were closing.
Fort Halbrook increased security around Lena, Rina, Maya, and Noah.
An MP outside the dining facility.
An MP near her barracks.
“I feel like I’m the one under arrest,” she told Tessa.
“You’re the one somebody wants quiet.”
“Same amount of freedom.”
Two days passed.
Then Lena received a call from an unknown number.
Something made her answer.
No voice came at first.
“You ruined my son.”
Lena’s blood turned cold.
She signaled the MP beside her and put the phone on speaker.
“Your son made his own choices.”
Raymond laughed softly. “That’s what people say when they want to feel clean.”
The MP began tracing the call.
Raymond continued. “You think these officers care about you? They’ll put you in front of cameras, use your story, then move on.”
“Maybe.”
“You should have taken the transfer.”
So he knew.
The draft transfer request had never left her personal folder.
Unless someone had accessed her barracks room or account.
Lena looked through the window at soldiers crossing the courtyard.
“No,” she said. “You chose this every time you thought nobody could stop you.”
His tone sharpened. “Be careful.”
“I have been careful for months.”
For the first time, she let anger into her voice.
“And I’m tired of being the only careful person in the room.”
The trace placed the call near a roadside motel forty miles away.
Agents reached it in thirty-two minutes.
Raymond was gone.
But the room contained a laptop he had not had time to destroy.
On it were financial records, messages, and a draft email addressed to a reporter.
The email accused Lena of fabricating harassment for a book deal.
Attached was a document meant to prove she had planned everything.
Someone had stolen it from her private files.
The metadata showed who accessed it.
Major Daniel Pryce.
May you like
But the most recent edit had been made from another user account.
Colonel Hale’s.
