Chapter 2 - The Fallout
Word travels fast in military circles, but a public humiliation of this magnitude travels at the speed of light.
Within an hour, the gala was effectively over. General Holden escorted me out to his waiting SUV, leaving my father and sister surrounded by whispering, glaring officers.
As we drove away from the Key West Officers' Club, Holden poured me a glass of water from the vehicle's mini-fridge. "You disappeared well, Riley," he said softly. "The agency scrubbed your file so deeply even I couldn't find you. Why didn't you tell your father?"
"My father respects rank, General. He doesn't respect broken things," I replied, staring out the window. "When the agency told him I had a mental breakdown and deserted, he believed them. He didn't even ask for my side of the story. He just told me to pack my bags."
Holden’s grip on his knee tightened. "The gag order on Operation Sandstorm was lifted forty-eight hours ago. The targets you identified during your... captivity... have been neutralized. You don't have to hide anymore, Captain."
Back at the club, disaster was unfolding for the Vance family. Vanessa’s fiancé, Major Kyle Brooks, had been standing in the back row during the confrontation. Kyle was a combat veteran himself, a man whose unit had lost good people in Yemen.
According to texts I would later see, Kyle walked right up to Vanessa as she was furiously trying to spin the narrative to a group of shocked wives.
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"Kyle, babe, she's lying. She probably got those scars in a bar fight," Vanessa had pleaded, grabbing his arm.
Kyle looked at her with pure disgust. "Those are interrogation burns, Vanessa. She was tortured for this country while you were planning our engagement party." He unpinned the silver major’s oak leaf from his collar and tossed it at her feet. "The wedding is off. Don't ever contact me again."
