Chapter 6 - The Man I Almost Married
Daniel sat across from me in a federal interview room.
No lawyers.
No mother.
No excuses.
“November twenty-first,” I said.
He looked at his hands.
“The contract authorization.”
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
“Did you put my name on it?”
“No.”
“Who did?”
“Rourke.”
“How?”
“Your authorization credentials were copied.”
“By whom?”
He hesitated.
“Daniel.”
“Colonel Shaw.”
My anger sharpened.
“He said he didn't.”
“He didn't know what he was copying.”
That was possible.
“Explain.”
“Rourke's people compromised Shaw's workstation. They needed him to access a restricted system while your credentials were temporarily authenticated.”
“So Shaw became the bridge.”
“Yes.”
“And you knew.”
“Afterward.”
“How long afterward?”
“Two days.”
“You've known for six months that someone forged my authorization.”
“Yes.”
I stood.
Daniel looked up.
“Maya.”
“You let me investigate this while knowing I was being framed.”
“I was trying to fix it.”
“You were protecting yourself.”
“Yes.”
His honesty stopped me.
He swallowed.
“At first, yes.”
I sat again.
“Keep talking.”
“My father worked with Rourke for years. When Dad died, I inherited the company and the arrangement. I told myself I could separate legitimate business from everything else.”
“You couldn't.”
“No.”
“So you participated.”
“I signed invoices.”
“Knowing they were inflated?”
“Yes.”
“Moved money?”
“Yes.”
“Shell corporations?”
“Yes.”
Each admission made the man across from me less recognizable.
“Why propose to me?”
His eyes met mine.
“Because I loved you.”
“That's difficult to believe.”
“I know.”
“Did Rourke tell you to date me?”
“No.”
“Did anyone?”
“No.”
“Were you using me?”
“No.”
“Then why hide my rank from Evelyn?”
He gave a broken laugh.
“I didn't hide it. I genuinely didn't understand it.”
I stared.
“You've attended military events with me.”
“I knew you were senior. I didn't understand how senior.”
“Four stars on my shoulders weren't a clue?”
“I thought those were… decorations.”
I stared at him.
He looked embarrassed.
Despite everything, I nearly smiled.
Almost.
Then I remembered the forged document.
“You should have told me.”
“I was afraid.”
“Of prison?”
“Of losing you.”
“You accomplished both possibilities by lying.”
He nodded.
“I know.”
Nathan entered.
“We have Rourke's location.”
“Where?”
“His estate outside Alexandria.”
“Warrant?”
“Being signed.”
Daniel suddenly stood.
“He won't be there.”
Nathan looked at him.
“How do you know?”
“Because he has another site.”
“Where?”
Daniel hesitated.
“I'll show you.”
The site was beneath an old Whitmore-owned warehouse near the Potomac.
Evelyn confirmed it.
Rourke had used it for private meetings for more than a decade.
By dawn, federal teams surrounded the building.
Daniel remained in custody.
My father stayed under protection.
I watched the operation from a mobile command vehicle with Tessa and Nathan.
Agents entered.
No gunfire.
No resistance.
Then Nathan received a radio transmission.
“We've got Vance.”
Charles Vance was arrested attempting to leave through a service tunnel.
Marcus Lawson was found upstairs.
Alone.
Rourke was gone.
I insisted on seeing Lawson.
He sat handcuffed inside an empty office.
The legendary general suddenly looked old.
“Maya.”
“Sir.”
He smiled faintly.
“Still respectful.”
“Habit.”
“You wore the stained uniform.”
“How do you know?”
“People send photographs.”
“You ordered Evelyn to destroy it.”
“No.”
“Daniel said—”
“Daniel knows pieces.”
“Then tell me.”
Lawson leaned back.
“Evelyn destroyed your uniform because she was frightened.”
“She admitted that.”
“But the note wasn't hers.”
I remembered her strange wording.
I ruined your uniform.
I wrote the note.
Had she been lying to protect someone?
“Whose handwriting?”
“Copied.”
“By whom?”
Lawson smiled.
“Rourke.”
“Why?”
“To make you focus on Evelyn.”
“Why would he care about my wedding?”
“Because he knew federal agents were preparing arrests.”
“How?”
“He always knows.”
“Where is he?”
Lawson's smile vanished.
“If I knew, I would trade that information for my life.”
“You're not facing execution.”
“I wasn't talking about prison.”
Rourke was cleaning up.
Shaw had been taken.
Daniel had been taken.
Lawson expected to die.
“Why didn't he kill Daniel?”
“Because Daniel has something.”
“What?”
“A ledger.”
My heart quickened.
“Where?”
“Ask your fiancé.”
“He says he doesn't know.”
“Then he's lying again.”
I left.
Daniel was transported back for questioning.
When I entered, he looked exhausted.
“Ledger.”
His eyes changed.
“Lawson told you.”
“Yes.”
“Where is it?”
“I don't have it.”
“He says you do.”
“My father had it.”
“Where?”
“I thought it was destroyed.”
“You thought?”
Daniel rubbed his face.
“The night Dad died, he gave me a key.”
Another key.
“What does it open?”
“I never found out.”
“Where is it?”
He looked at me.
“In the wedding ring.”
I stared.
“What?”
“The ring I was going to give you. There's a tiny compartment inside the case. I hid the key there.”
“Where's the ring?”
His face went pale.
“The bridal suite.”
Tessa and I returned to the ceremonial hall.
Federal technicians had already processed most of it.
The bridal suite remained sealed.
We entered.
The destroyed uniform hung where I had left it.
Flowers had wilted.
Champagne sat untouched.
Daniel's ring box rested on the dressing table.
I opened it.
Empty.
“Tessa.”
“I see it.”
Someone had been inside.
A window stood slightly open.
The evidence seal had been cut and replaced.
My phone vibrated.
UNKNOWN.
A photograph appeared.
The wedding ring.
Beside it lay a small brass key.
UNKNOWN: Looking for this?
Then another image loaded.
My father.
Bound to a chair.
This time it wasn't an old photograph.
It was live.
A third message arrived.
BRING DANIEL TO THE OLD AIRFIELD.
May you like
COME ALONE.
OR YOUR FATHER LEARNS WHAT YOUR MOTHER DID BEFORE SHE DIED.
