Chapter 6 - The Man Who Wanted SilenceBriggs was brought back under armed escort.
He refused to speak.
Then investigators showed him the photograph of Lena.
His confidence cracked.
He claimed the picture was not his.
Someone had placed it in his motel room.
Nobody believed him.
Until forensic technicians examined it.
Briggs’s fingerprints were absent.
Rourke’s were present.
That meant Rourke had possessed the photograph before his arrest.
But another print was discovered.
It belonged to Lieutenant Colonel Warren Pike.
Fort Halbrook’s former legal adviser.
Pike had retired eight months earlier.
He now worked for a private defense contractor.
That contractor had received more than $200 million in Army logistics contracts.
Several involved General Calder’s command.
The harassment scandal suddenly had a financial shadow.
Suppressed complaints had protected more than abusive soldiers.
They had protected careers.
Promotions.
Contracts.
Money.
Lena realized Vaughn had never been the machine.
He was merely one ugly moving part.
Then investigators searched Pike’s office.
They found nothing.
Too clean.
But as agents prepared to leave, one noticed an old photograph on Pike’s wall.
It showed Pike, Calder, Rourke and Briggs together at Fort Halbrook seven years earlier.
Four smiling men.
One command.
May you like
One history.
And perhaps one secret.
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