Page 137 of Exposé

The lock screen disappeared, and we swapped seats, my heart thundering in my ears as I took sparing glances towards the door. "How did you know the password?"

"I've been around to know things." She put her hands on her hips and hovered. "What is it you're looking for?"

"Something that will confirm my suspicions."

"About?"

I opened up his files, scrolling through them until I found a few locked folders labeled 'contracts, Operation Nightfall, and meeting notes’. "Dammit, I need to take these with me."

"Why?"

"I told you. Something isn't right with this assignment."

She sighed. "Actually, you didn't say anything."

I gritted my teeth. "Can you get me into these folders or not?"

Callie huffed and pushed the chair out of the way, me included, then typed in the passwords, her fingers flying to different keys in a blur.

"How do you know this?"

"You've already asked this question, and it was already answered. I have to go. If you get caught, I was never here. I never helped you."

I frowned, my throat constricting. "Don't you want to know why I'm looking into this?"

"It's obvious." She moved to the door and shook her head. "I hope she's worth it." Peeking around the corner of the door, she slipped out and clicked the door closed behind her, leaving me in absolute silence.

My knee bounced beneath his desk as I moved the mouse around, opening each file, my eyes skimming over confidential memos and emails.

I froze, my gaze stuck on the names I'd purged from my mind eleven years ago.

No, that's not right.

Scanning the disciplinary report, red coated my vision, my eyes burning.

United States Marine Corps

Office of the Inspector General

Military Disciplinary Action Report

Subject: Colonel Keith Brentwood

Rank: Colonel (O-6)

Unit: Special Operations Command (SOCOM)

Date of Report:March 17, 2013

Prepared by:Lt. General Marcus H. Donovan, Inspector General

Incident Summary:

On January 25, 2012, during Operation Iron Requital in the Kandahar Province, Afghanistan, Colonel Keith Brentwood was found to have intentionally withheld actionable intelligence from deployed Marine units under his operational command. This decision directly contributed to the compromised mission integrity of Viper Unit, 8th Reconnaissance Battalion, resulting in a fatal ambush and the death of Sergeant James Baker,Sergeant Victor Kuznetsov, Sergeant Cole Dalton, Corporal Darnell Hayes, Sergeant Elena Moreno, Corporal Drake Voss, and injury to Staff Sergeant Nathaniel Barlowe.

What?

I scanned over the summary one more time, my throat tightening as though the ghosts of my fallen brothers squeezed what little life I had left inside of me.

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