Chương 10
“That sounds dramatic.”
“It sounds accurate.”
“What does he want now?”
“I don't know.”
“Then what do you know?”
“I know the government reopened an old financial inquiry six weeks ago after a defense contractor flagged irregular payments through one of Vale's legacy companies.”
I glanced toward the door.
Defense contractor.
Now the Pentagon made sense.
Samuel continued.
“I know some of those payments overlap with the accounts Julian gave your father years ago.”
My skin went cold.
“And I know somebody started asking about you two days ago.”
My mother rose.
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I expect you to believe I don't invent names when I don't have them.”
I pressed a hand to my forehead.
“Why would anyone ask about me?”
“Because you're now a three-star general with access to logistics planning, procurement channels, and people who make decisions worth billions.”
That landed differently.
Not as daughter.
Not as abandoned wife.
As officer.
I stood straighter without meaning to.
“Did anyone contact my staff?”
“Not that I know.”
“Approach the boys?”
“No.”
“Approach my mother?”
“No.”
“Then all you have is someone asking questions.”
“Yes.”
“That is not enough.”
“No.”
Samuel's voice lowered.
“But it is enough for me to stop staying quiet.”
I looked at the twins.
Leo's anger had been replaced by concentration.
Ethan looked frightened now.
He hid it by twisting his medal ribbon.
I took the phone off speaker.
“Call me back in ten minutes.”
Samuel answered immediately.
I hung up.
“You're taking us with you,” Leo said.
“No.”
“Mom.”
“No.”
“If this is about us—”
“It isn't.”
“You don't know that.”
“I know enough.”
Ethan looked between us.
“Can everybody stop saying they know enough when clearly nobody knows anything?”
That shut us up.
He gave a small shrug.
“Thank you.”
I crouched in front of them.
The medals made them look older from a distance.
Up close, they were still boys with rumpled collars and tired eyes.
“Listen to me.”
Leo opened his mouth.
“Just once.”
He closed it.
“You're staying here tonight because this house is familiar, because Grandma and Claire know your routines, and because taking two thirteen-year-olds into a national security briefing would be frowned upon.”
Ethan raised a hand.
“Even medalists?”
“Especially medalists.”
His mouth twitched.
I looked at Leo.
“This is not me choosing work over you.”
“It feels like it.”
“I know.”
He hated that answer less this time.
“I am going because if Samuel is right, then the fastest way to protect this family is for me to understand what the government knows.”
“What if Julian knows more?”
“He probably does.”
“Then talk to him.”
“When?”
“Tonight if I can.”
Leo searched my face.
“No general answers.”
“That was a specific answer.”
“Barely.”
“It is what I have.”
He looked away.
I touched his shoulder.
He let me.
That was enough for now.
Claire walked me to the door.
My mother remained with the boys.
“You trust Samuel?” I asked quietly.
“No.”
“Good.”
Claire blinked.
“I thought you'd be annoyed.”
“I am becoming suspicious of anyone everyone agrees with.”
“That sounds exhausting.”
“It is.”
She looked back toward the living room.
“Do you trust Julian?”
I nearly laughed.
“No.”
“Do you believe him?”
“I haven't heard his version.”
“That isn't what I asked.”
I studied my sister.
“No.”
Then I corrected myself.
“I believe some of what happened may be different from what I thought.”
Claire nodded.
“That seems fair.”
“Fair is getting irritating too.”
She smiled faintly.
“You always hated uncertainty.”
“I like uncertainty when it comes with a spreadsheet.”
“There she is.”
I stepped outside.
Marissa was waiting beside the SUV.
“You have exceeded every imaginable interpretation of twelve minutes.”
“Write me up.”
“I would, but the paperwork goes through you.”
“System failure.”
She opened the rear door.
Before I got in, Leo called from behind me.
“Mom.”
I turned.
He stood barefoot on the front steps.
His shoes were inside.
That detail nearly broke me.
“What?”
“Don't let him make you feel bad for not telling him.”
I knew exactly which him he meant.
“I won't.”
Leo looked uncertain.
“And don't let Grandma make you feel bad for being mad at Grandpa.”
I stared at him.
That was more generosity than I had managed all evening.
He nodded.
Then, because he was thirteen, he ruined the moment by saying, “Also Ethan took your charger.”
From inside the house Ethan yelled, “It was abandoned property.”
I smiled despite myself.
“Good night.”
Leo lifted a hand.
I got into the SUV.
Marissa waited until we were moving before speaking.
“Do I want to know?”
“No.”
“Excellent.”
I called Samuel.
He answered on the first ring.
“Are you alone?”
“No.”
“Who is there?”
“My chief of staff.”
Marissa looked back.
“I am pretending I can't hear this.”
“You can hear it.”
“Then I object preemptively.”
Samuel said, “Colonel Cole?”
Marissa's head snapped toward the phone.
“How does he know my name?”
“I dislike him already.”
“Get in line.”
I switched to speaker.
“Samuel, if you have information relevant to my official duties, you're speaking with both of us.”
“Fair.”
Marissa mouthed, Who is this?
I mouthed, Later.
Samuel continued.
“Julian gave your father financial records beginning in late 2013.”
“That matches the letter.”
“Some records showed payments routed through an advisory firm called Meridian Bridge.”
Marissa's posture changed.
She knew the name.
I saw it immediately.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“Marissa.”
She sighed.
“Meridian Bridge appeared in the briefing packet.”
Samuel went quiet.
That frightened me more than if he had sworn.
“What did it say?” he asked.
“Not over an unsecured line.”
“Now you sound like me.”
“I do not appreciate that.”
Marissa turned toward the window.
“Meridian Bridge was dissolved years ago.”
Samuel said, “On paper.”
My pulse quickened.
“What remained?”
“Three shell entities absorbed pieces of its portfolio.”
“Which entities?”
“Where?”
“Not yet.”
Marissa rolled her eyes.
“He really does enjoy control.”
May you like
Samuel ignored her.
“One of those entities eventually became part of a subcontracting chain attached to military shipping software.”
