Chapter 3 - THE MAJOR FINALLY STOPPED LAUGHINGSterling was still shouting when I returned.
That told me everything about him.
A smarter man would have disappeared.
Sterling was too arrogant to understand danger until danger introduced itself personally.
I entered the cafeteria without handcuffs.
Silence spread across the room.
Sterling turned.
His expression collapsed.
“Why is she here?”
Nobody answered.
I walked toward the exact table where he had smashed my face.
My blood was still visible beside a bent tray.
“Thomas.”
He stiffened.
I had deliberately stopped calling him Major.
“You need to come with me.”
“You don't give orders on my base.”
“Actually, that's the problem.”
The distant chopping of helicopter blades began.
Windows vibrated.
Soldiers turned toward them.
Sterling's face drained.
Two Black Hawks descended toward the parade field.
Dark government SUVs simultaneously passed through the front checkpoint.
Sterling backed away.
“You planned this.”
“Yes.”
“You set me up.”
“No.”
I pointed toward the blood on the table.
“You did that yourself.”
The doors opened.
Federal investigators and military law-enforcement personnel entered.
Sterling reached toward his sidearm.
Three weapons immediately trained on him.
“Hands!”
Sterling froze.
Private Miller watched from beside Sergeant Hayes.
For the first time, the boy wasn't looking at Sterling with terror.
He was watching him become ordinary.
Sterling slowly raised his hands.
Agents removed his weapon.
Then the handcuffs closed.
I expected rage.
Instead, Sterling laughed.
Not confidently.
Desperately.
“You think this ends with me?”
I watched him carefully.
“Who protects you?”
Sterling looked toward the administrative corridor.
That tiny movement was enough.
I followed his gaze.
A man emerged from the shadows.
Silver hair.
Perfect posture.
Two stars.
Brigadier General Silas Thorne.
Base Commander.
The man who was supposedly in Washington.
He looked at Sterling.
Then me.
“Colonel Vance.”
His voice was calm.
Too calm.
“I wondered how long it would take you.”
My stomach tightened.
Thorne knew.
May you like
Perhaps he had known from the beginning.
And suddenly Sterling wasn't the most dangerous man in the room.
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