Chương 12
“I was frustrated.”
“That doesn’t answer the question.”
“I believed she was attempting to use senior command influence.”
“So you deleted the order?”
“I deleted the local display of the message pending verification.”
“And told her you deleted it.”
“Yes.”
“Why say ‘your general’?”
David looked at Rachel.
For the first time since the holding cell, there was no contempt in his face.
There was resentment.
And something more recognizable.
Embarrassment.
“She kept acting like she knew better,” he said.
Keene shifted slightly.
David continued anyway.
“She kept correcting everything I said. The door. The pass. The time. The procedure. She kept looking at me like I was already finished.”
Rachel felt heat rise into her face.
Because part of that was true.
The board member asked, “Did you know she was General Bennett’s mother?”
“No.”
“When did you learn?”
“After Cole opened the cell.”
“Would you have behaved differently if you knew?”
Keene said, “I would caution—”
David answered.
“Yes.”
The room went still.
Keene closed her eyes briefly.
David looked down at his hands.
“Yes,” he repeated.
The board member leaned back.
“Why?”
David’s mouth tightened.
“Because I’m not an idiot.”
Rachel almost laughed.
No one else did.
The board member said, “Explain.”
David looked toward Rachel again.
“I would have called headquarters myself. I would have slowed down. I would have checked Jenkins’s statement. I wouldn’t have put her in the cell.”
Rachel felt no victory.
The admission was uglier than denial.
The board member asked, “Why not do those things for a civilian without that relationship?”
David said nothing.
Keene leaned toward him and whispered.
He nodded.
Then he said, “I don’t have a good answer.”
That was the first thing Rachel believed him say all day.
The board recessed.
Rachel went outside.
Nathan was sitting on a concrete planter forty yards from the entrance.
She stopped.
He stood.
“I thought you weren’t attending.”
“I didn’t.”
“You are physically at the building.”
“I was told the testimony ended.”
“Who told you?”
“Mom.”
“Right. General.”
He looked tired.
She walked over.
For a second neither spoke.
Then Nathan said, “How bad?”
“For whom?”
He nodded.
“Fair.”
Rachel sat on the planter.
Nathan joined her.
Across the road, a bus unloaded soldiers in physical-training uniforms. One dropped a water bottle. It rolled beneath the bus. Three people immediately began offering contradictory advice about how to retrieve it.
Rachel watched.
“David admitted he would have treated me differently if he knew who you were.”
Nathan looked down.
“That surprises you?”
“No.”
“Me neither.”
“That makes it worse.”
“Yes.”
Rachel looked at him.
“What did your testimony say?”
Nathan rubbed his palms together.
“That I received a summarized briefing about security supervision concerns. That I approved a limited process review rather than the broader review my chief recommended. That I did not read the underlying packet. That, in hindsight, I should have.”
“In hindsight.”
“I used the words available information.”
“Better.”
He glanced at her.
“I’m glad my suffering has improved your writing.”
Nathan smiled.
Then it disappeared.
“I also told them I created pressure to keep access incidents down after the breach last year.”
Rachel frowned.
“What breach?”
“A civilian contractor got into a communications building using an expired credential. Nothing happened, but it was serious. I told the security director I wanted zero tolerance for access violations.”
“And Mercer heard that.”
“Everybody heard it.”
Rachel stared at him.
“Did you mean lock up anyone who irritates him?”
“No.”
“But you rewarded aggressive numbers.”
Nathan’s jaw tightened.
“I rewarded fewer unauthorized entries.”
“Same problem if nobody asks how you got there.”
He looked at her.
She regretted the sharpness.
Not the point.
Nathan sighed.
“Yes.”
The word was small.
Rachel looked toward the bus.
The water bottle had been retrieved with a broom.
One of the soldiers held it overhead like a trophy.
His friends applauded sarcastically.
Rachel said, “You know what I hate?”
“Long list.”
“I hate that this makes sense.”
Nathan looked at her.
“David isn’t a monster,” she said. “Ethan isn’t a coward. You aren’t corrupt. And I wasn’t completely innocent.”
“Mom.”
“I didn’t say I deserved it.”
“Good.”
“I said I contributed to the temperature.”
Nathan leaned forward, elbows on his knees.
“People are going to use that against you.”
“I know.”
“They already are.”
Rachel turned.
“What people?”
He hesitated.
That was enough.
“Online?”
He nodded.
“How?”
“The story leaked.”
Rachel closed her eyes.
Of course it had.
“Local reporter?”
“Started with an anonymous post. Then a regional outlet called public affairs.”
“What does the post say?”
“That the commanding general’s mother got a security supervisor suspended because she didn’t like being questioned.”
Rachel laughed.
It hurt.
“Efficient.”
Nathan’s voice hardened.
“Public affairs is not commenting on an active review.”
“Good.”
“There are also people saying I interfered.”
“You did.”
“To order a release supported by the duty officer’s review.”
“I know.”
“But headlines won’t carry the footnotes.”
“No.”
Nathan looked at her.
“Do you want security at your house for a few days?”
Rachel stared.
“No.”
“Mom.”
“No.”
“You’ve gotten calls.”
“How do you know?”
He did not answer.
“Nathan.”
“Claire told me.”
“I’m going to kill her.”
“No, you’re not.”
“Fine. I’m going to criticize her cooking.”
“That’s worse.”
Rachel looked away.
“I don’t want soldiers outside my house because strangers are rude on the internet.”
“I didn’t say soldiers.”
“What did you mean?”
“Extra local patrol coordination.”
“No.”
He exhaled.
Rachel said, “If there is a specific threat, tell me. Otherwise, no.”
Nathan nodded reluctantly.
“Fine.”
“Thank you.”
“I hate when you say thank you like you won.”
“I learned from your father.”
“He used to salute me in arguments.”
“He thought it was funny.”
“It was never funny.”
“It was sometimes funny.”
Nathan smiled.
Then they sat together without speaking.
A truck backed somewhere nearby, beeping every few seconds.
May you like
Rachel wondered when she had begun measuring peace in intervals between alarms.
The final administrative findings were issued six weeks later.
