Chapter 16 - The Second Betrayal

Grant had arrived in an unmarked vehicle wearing a badge he no longer had the right to carry. Two officers believed him for exactly twelve seconds. That was enough time for him to pull Kessler into the back seat and drive away.

Torres launched a search. Kessler was wounded but alive. Grant was armed, desperate, and willing to silence anyone who could expose him.

At the command post, Vale sat across from me and slid a sealed envelope over the table.

"I should have given you this years ago," he said.

Inside was a letter dated three months after the ambush. It carried Vale's signature and recommended that I receive a commendation for extraordinary courage. The recommendation had been blocked pending a classified review that never ended.

"Why did you stop looking?" I asked.

"I didn't. I was told you'd changed your name and wanted no contact. They showed me a signed request."

The signature was mine, but I hadn't written it.

I looked up. "Grant forged it."

Vale nodded. "And I accepted it because I wanted to believe the system had handled things correctly."

I wasn't sure which hurt more: the lie, or how easy it had been for good people to accept it.

Ben entered carrying a printout from the drive. "Found another account. Transfers from shell companies to Grant, Kessler, and one recipient listed only as R.S."

Richard Sterling. Dad.

But one payment had arrived last week. Long after Dad's supposed break with Kessler.

"He kept taking money," I said.

Torres asked Dad to return for questioning. He arrived without a lawyer, eyes hollow, and admitted that the most recent payment had covered Chloe's company debts.

"She didn't know," he said. "I wanted to save her business."

Chloe overheard from the doorway. "You used stolen money to save me?"

"I thought I was helping."

"You keep saying that," she snapped. "And people keep getting hurt."

Torres's phone rang. She listened, then looked at Vale.

"Grant just called in a demand. He'll give us Kessler alive in exchange for immunity. But he says he's got one more hostage."

She glanced at me.

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"Your father."

THE SCARS THE ADMIRAL REMEMBERED