Chapter 6 - The Broken Alibi
I left my parents standing in stunned silence near the center of the ballroom and walked steadily toward the side corridor where Daniel had vanished.
The glittering chatter of the gala faded behind me as I pushed through the heavy double doors into the quiet, dimly lit administrative wing of the Fort Liberty conference center. The walls here were lined with historic photographs of past commanders and framed citations from decades of military history.
At the end of the hallway, standing beside a tall arched window that overlooked the courtyard, was Daniel.
He had his uniform jacket unbuttoned at the collar, his hands braced against the windowsill, breathing heavily as if he had just run a marathon.
“You shouldn't have run, Daniel,” I said, my voice echoing quietly against the hardwood floor.
Daniel flinched as if struck, turning around slowly. His face was slick with sweat, his eyes wild and bloodshot. The arrogant, polished officer who had posed for a hundred family photographs was completely gone, replaced by a desperate, cornered man.
“How did you do it?” Daniel whispered, his voice cracking. “The Pentagon sealed those records. The entire Eastern European incident was classified under a double-black seal. How did the general know?”
“The general didn't just read a file, Daniel,” I stepped closer, my gaze fixed on him. “I wrote the after-action report. Because while you were busy ordering your extraction squad to retreat and leave an intelligence bunker exposed to enemy forces, I stayed behind to secure the data.”
Daniel stepped back, hitting the glass pane behind him. “I was following strategic fallback protocols! The sector was overrun—”
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“You panicked,” I cut him off, my voice dropping into a razor-sharp whisper. “You tucked tail and ran, leaving your subordinate unit to die, and you lied in your command debrief to cover your cowardice. You told everyone the perimeter was lost when you were the only one who abandoned it.”
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