Chapter 3 - What My Brother Had Told Everyone
Rebecca stared at the message.
Kandahar.
A place she had not spoken about in seven years.
Not with Michael.
Not with Margaret.
Barely with William.
She handed the phone to her father.
“Do you know what that means?”
His eyes moved over the screen.
“No.”
Michael looked between them.
“What's Kandahar?”
Rebecca ignored him.
Her secure phone vibrated.
A call.
She moved into the kitchen.
“Hayes.”
A familiar voice answered.
“Rebecca, it's General Mercer.”
Four-star General Thomas Mercer was vice chief of staff and one of the few people who could call her directly without introducing himself.
“Sir.”
“You received the notification?”
“Yes.”
“Are you secure?”
“Negative. I'm at my parents' residence.”
“Leave.”
Rebecca looked toward the dining room.
“My family may be involved.”
A pause.
“How?”
“My brother communicated with Evan Cole.”
The silence on the line became heavy.
“For how long?”
“Approximately three months.”
“Jesus.”
“He also provided access to my father's private files.”
“Your father General William Hayes?”
“Retired.”
“I know who your father is.”
Rebecca almost smiled.
Mercer continued.
“A security team is already en route. Do not discuss Kandahar with anyone.”
“Sir, someone just sent that word to my brother's phone.”
Another pause.
“Get out of that house.”
Rebecca looked through the kitchen window.
Two dark vehicles were turning onto the street.
“Team just arrived.”
“Good. Rebecca?”
“Yes?”
“The promotion review is real.”
She blinked.
“But?”
“But that's not why I sent William the envelope.”
Her eyes went to the sealed papers.
“What is?”
“We believe someone inside Defense has been attempting to discredit you before an appointment.”
“What appointment?”
“I can't discuss it on this line.”
“Sir—”
“Report tomorrow.”
The call ended.
Rebecca stood alone for several seconds.
The smell of roast turkey filled the kitchen.
A pie cooled on the counter.
A Christmas carol played quietly from someone's forgotten speaker.
Everything ordinary had become surreal.
She returned to the dining room.
Michael looked up.
“So?”
“You're staying here until investigators speak with you.”
“Am I under arrest?”
“No.”
“Then you can't stop me.”
“Michael, please,” Margaret said.
He glared at Rebecca.
“This is what she does. Everybody bends because Colonel Hayes walks into a room.”
Rebecca sat across from him.
“No. This is what happens when you communicate with someone tied to a national-security investigation.”
Michael's expression faltered.
“What?”
“Evan Cole is not merely writing a story.”
William frowned.
“You know that?”
“I know enough.”
Michael sat slowly.
Rebecca leaned toward him.
“Tell me what you said about Kandahar.”
“I didn't say anything.”
“You must have said something.”
“I didn't even know you were there.”
Rebecca studied his face.
He was telling the truth.
“Did Cole ever mention Afghanistan?”
“No.”
“Did he ask about Granddad?”
Michael hesitated.
“Yes.”
William's head rose.
“What?”
“He asked about his papers.”
Rebecca felt the first piece click into place.
Their grandfather, Brigadier General Samuel Hayes, had served in intelligence before his retirement.
He had also been Rebecca's closest mentor.
He died twelve years earlier.
“What papers?” she asked.
“His letters.”
William stared at Michael.
“You told Cole about Dad's correspondence?”
“He already knew.”
“How?”
Michael looked toward Margaret.
Rebecca followed.
Her mother's face turned pale.
“Mom.”
Margaret whispered, “I sold some things.”
William stood.
“What things?”
“After Samuel died. There were boxes in the attic.”
“You sold Dad's papers?”
“I thought they were old letters.”
“Where?”
“An estate dealer.”
Rebecca felt cold.
“When?”
“About fifteen years ago.”
That didn't fit.
Granddad had been alive fifteen years ago.
Margaret realized her mistake.
William realized it too.
His voice changed.
“My father wasn't dead fifteen years ago.”
Margaret closed her eyes.
Michael stared at her.
Rebecca whispered, “Mom.”
Margaret sat down.
“It wasn't after he died.”
“When was it?”
“After he moved into assisted living.”
“You went through his house?”
“He told us to clear things.”
William's anger became visible.
“Not his office.”
“I didn't know.”
“What did you sell?”
“Books. Furniture. Boxes.”
“What boxes?”
“I don't remember.”
William stared at her.
“Yes, you do.”
Margaret began crying.
“There was a brown leather case.”
Rebecca and William looked at each other.
The missing case wasn't William's.
It had belonged to Samuel.
“You told me it was yours,” Rebecca said.
William shook his head.
“I kept it after Dad died.”
“What was inside?”
“Letters.”
“From whom?”
William didn't answer.
Rebecca's stomach dropped.
“Dad.”
“People he served with.”
“Names.”
William sat down.
“One was Daniel Mercer.”
Rebecca froze.
General Thomas Mercer's father.
Daniel Mercer had died eight years ago.
He had also been a legendary intelligence officer.
Rebecca's secure phone buzzed again.
Security team outside.
She went to the front door.
Three agents entered.
The lead investigator was a woman Rebecca knew.
Colonel Natalie Brooks.
“What happened to Christmas?” Natalie asked quietly.
“You're looking at it.”
Natalie scanned the room.
“Tell me everything.”
Rebecca did.
Not classified details.
Only facts.
Cole.
The study.
The brown case.
Kandahar.
When Rebecca mentioned Samuel Hayes and Daniel Mercer, Natalie's expression changed.
“You need to come with me.”
“Why?”
“Not here.”
Rebecca glanced at her family.
“Are they safe?”
“For now.”
“What does that mean?”
Natalie lowered her voice.
“The information being leaked isn't about your current command.”
“Then what is it?”
“Your grandfather.”
Rebecca stared at her.
“My grandfather has been dead twelve years.”
“That's what makes this worse.”
Natalie took her arm and led her toward the study.
William followed.
“I'm coming.”
Natalie stopped.
“Sir—”
“I held four stars before you made captain.”
Natalie almost smiled.
“Yes, sir.”
Inside the study, she closed the door.
“What do you know about Operation Lantern?”
William's face lost color.
Rebecca noticed.
“Dad?”
William sat.
“Where did you hear that name?”
Natalie looked at him.
“So you do know it.”
William rubbed his forehead.
“My father mentioned it once.”
“What was it?”
“He wouldn't say.”
Rebecca watched him.
“He told you something.”
William looked at her.
“He said that if Lantern ever surfaced, good people would be accused of terrible things.”
Natalie nodded slowly.
“That's happening.”
“Who?”
“You.”
Rebecca stared.
“How?”
“A digital archive appeared two weeks ago. It contains records suggesting money from a Cold War intelligence program was redirected into accounts tied to current defense officers.”
“My name?”
“Yes.”
“I wasn't alive when any of that began.”
“The records show inherited control through family trusts.”
Rebecca almost laughed.
“I have no family trust.”
“We know.”
“So the records are fake.”
“Most of them.”
“Most?”
Natalie took out a tablet.
“One document is authentic.”
She showed William.
He stared at the signature.
“That's Dad's.”
Rebecca leaned closer.
Samuel Hayes.
Underneath was another.
Daniel Mercer.
“What is it?”
“A memorandum creating an emergency contingency fund.”
“When?”
“1989.”
Rebecca looked at the amount.
Forty million dollars.
“What happened to it?”
“We don't know.”
William whispered, “Dad never had money.”
“That may be the point,” Natalie said.
Rebecca frowned.
“Explain.”
“If the fund disappeared, someone has spent thirty-seven years ensuring the men who created it look responsible.”
“And now they're using me.”
“Yes.”
“Why now?”
Natalie looked toward the envelope Rebecca had brought in.
“Because of tomorrow.”
Rebecca's pulse quickened.
“What happens tomorrow?”
Natalie hesitated.
“General Mercer should tell you.”
“Tell me what you know.”
Natalie looked at William, then back.
“You aren't only being considered for brigadier general.”
Rebecca waited.
“You're being nominated to lead the Defense Strategic Integrity Task Force.”
Rebecca stared.
“That doesn't exist.”
“It will tomorrow.”
Understanding landed slowly.
A unit created to investigate corruption.
Someone wanted the officer chosen to lead it destroyed before she began.
“And Kandahar?”
Natalie sighed.
“That's the leverage.”
Rebecca's hands went cold.
Seven years ago in Kandahar, she had made a decision that still visited her dreams.
A convoy.
Bad intelligence.
Civilians on the road.
An order she refused.
A superior officer furious enough to threaten her career.
And twenty-three people who lived because she disobeyed.
The official report had sealed much of the incident.
Someone knew.
“They're going to make it look like I committed misconduct.”
“Yes.”
“Who has the original file?”
“Very few people.”
“One was General Mercer.”
Natalie nodded.
“Another was your commanding general at the time.”
Rebecca knew the name before Natalie said it.
“General Charles Voss.”
William looked up.
“I know Voss.”
Rebecca turned.
“How?”
“He served with your grandfather.”
The room went silent.
Another piece clicked.
Samuel.
Operation Lantern.
Voss.
Rebecca took out her phone.
“Where is he now?”
Natalie answered.
“Retired. Richmond.”
William slowly stood.
“No.”
Rebecca looked at him.
“What?”
“Charles Voss was invited tonight.”
Her pulse stopped.
“What?”
“Margaret invited him.”
Rebecca opened the study door.
“Mom!”
No response.
She walked rapidly into the hall.
Margaret wasn't at the table.
Michael wasn't there either.
The front door stood open.
Snow blew across the threshold.
Rebecca ran outside.
Two sets of footprints crossed the yard toward the side gate.
Natalie's radio crackled.
One of the agents shouted from the driveway.
“Colonel!”
Rebecca turned.
He held up a phone.
Michael's.
A new message filled the screen.
BRING REBECCA TO THE OLD HAYES PROPERTY. COME ALONE OR YOUR MOTHER LEARNS WHAT HAPPENED TO SAMUEL.
May you like
Then the final message appeared.
CHARLES VOSS IS WAITING.
