Chapter 2 - The Man Who Wouldn't Look at Me
For a moment, I could hear nothing but the fluorescent lights humming above us.
Colonel Warren Price. Commander of the logistics task force. The man who had handed my mother a folded American flag and told her Liam never suffered.
Voss lunged for the paper. I pulled it against my chest.
"Give it back," he hissed.
"You don't own my brother's last words."
Two soldiers rose from their table. One was Specialist Addie Chen, a sharp-eyed signals tech who'd served with me before the convoy. She stepped between us with her phone in her hand.
"Problem, Sergeant?" Addie asked.
Voss noticed the phone. "Put that away."
"Then stop grabbing an injured soldier."
Cora Bell, a cafeteria worker who'd raised two sons on Army bases, appeared with a chair.
"Sit down, honey," she told me. Then she looked at Voss. "And you can walk somewhere else."
Voss backed away, but he kept staring at the note. That scared me more than his threats. He wasn't angry because I'd embarrassed him. He was terrified because I'd read something I wasn't supposed to see.
My phone vibrated before I could call anyone. Unknown number.
DO NOT TAKE THAT PAPER TO PRICE. 21:10. MOTOR POOL BAY SIX. COME ALONE.
I showed Addie. "Somebody's setting a trap."
"Maybe," she said. "But whoever sent it knows the note is in your hand."
Two minutes later, Voss vanished through the dining hall doors. Four minutes later, an orderly found me and delivered an order to report to Colonel Price immediately.
Price's office displayed a photograph of him shaking hands with a senator. He wore a calm smile.
"Nora," he said, as though we were old friends. "I heard there was an unfortunate scene at lunch."
"Sergeant Voss blocked my way."
"He says you threatened him."
"He says a lot of things."
Price folded his hands. "You're still recovering. Grief makes people connect things that aren't connected. I've recommended an honorable medical retirement. All you need to do is sign."
He slid a packet across the desk. The final page withdrew my pending request to reopen Liam's casualty investigation.
"You want me to stop asking questions."
"I want you to heal."
I took out the folded note. His eyes went straight to the word PRICE.
May you like
"Where did you get that?" he asked.
I had expected him to deny knowing anything about it. Instead, he reached for the phone on his desk and said, "Security, lock the doors."
