Chapter 2 - FIFTEEN MINUTES UNTIL EVERYTHING CHANGEDThe patrol cruiser smelled of disinfectant and old vinyl.
My wrists hurt.
My forehead hurt worse.
But the pain barely registered.
I was thinking about Sterling’s face when he saw the silver eagle.
He had not been afraid of the Pentagon.
That bothered me.
Men running isolated systems of abuse usually feared outside scrutiny.
Sterling reacted differently.
He reacted like someone who believed he had protection.
The cruiser crossed the base toward the Provost Marshal’s office.
Corporal Santino sat in the passenger seat.
His eyes kept finding mine in the mirror.
“You really a Colonel?”
The driver immediately snapped at him.
“Don't talk to her.”
I smiled.
“That depends.”
“On what?”
“Whether you want the truth before or after your commanding officer gets arrested.”
Nobody spoke again.
At the Provost Marshal’s office, they brought me inside.
The desk sergeant looked at my face.
Then my uniform.
Then the cuffs.
“What happened?”
“Major Sterling ordered her detained.”
“For?”
“Impersonating an officer.”
The sergeant looked directly into my eyes.
I gave him my full name.
“Elena Catherine Vance.”
His face changed.
That was enough.
Unlike Sterling, he had apparently read the classified notice distributed to senior law-enforcement personnel three months earlier.
He immediately ordered the cuffs removed.
I retrieved my credentials.
The young MPs turned white.
I didn't threaten them.
They were frightened young soldiers inside a poisoned command structure.
I wanted the people who built that structure.
“Secure line.”
The sergeant gave me the telephone.
I dialed a memorized number.
Three encrypted tones sounded.
“This is Vance.”
A voice answered.
“Authenticate.”
I gave the code.
There was a pause.
Then:
“We have the recording.”
Those four words changed everything.
“Sterling?”
“Confirmed.”
“And the secondary channel?”
Another pause.
That one worried me.
“Colonel, something happened twenty minutes ago.”
“What?”
“The financial server started wiping itself.”
My smile disappeared.
Someone knew.
“Can you stop it?”
“We're trying.”
“Deploy Clean Sweep.”
“Already moving.”
I looked through the office window toward the distant administrative building.
Someone had been watching Sterling.
Someone had realized his stupidity had exposed them.
“How long?”
“Eleven minutes.”
I hung up.
Then another telephone rang.
The desk sergeant answered.
His face went pale.
He handed it to me.
“For you.”
Nobody outside my team knew I was here.
I slowly lifted the receiver.
No voice greeted me.
Only breathing.
Then a man spoke.
“You should have stayed on the floor, Colonel.”
The connection died.
I stared at the receiver.
Sterling hadn't made that call.
He was still inside the cafeteria.
Someone else knew who I was.
Someone else knew the operation.
I turned toward the MPs.
“Take me back.”
“To Sterling?”
“Yes.”
May you like
I picked up my silver eagle.
“Before whoever is above him realizes I'm still alive.”
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