Chapter 4 - The Frame Job
The air in the hospital room grew dangerously thin.
Every military police officer in the room instinctively shifted their hands toward their weapons.
I stared at Major Hart, utterly baffled by the words that had just left her mouth.
“That is impossible,” I stated firmly.
“I have never authorized or received any black-ops funding from Calder Defense Logistics.”
Vivienne suddenly burst into a cruel, triumphant fit of laughter.
“Oh, Colonel, did you really think you could outsmart a family that has funded wars for three generations?”
Vivienne straightened her posture, the terror leaving her eyes as she reclaimed her power.
“We knew Nadia was investigating us months ago.”
“We simply let her find exactly what we wanted her to find.”
Grant looked confused, glancing between his mother and the tablet he had just unlocked.
Preston pulled himself up from the floor, wiping blood from his lip and grinning maliciously.
“You played right into it, Dad.”
“We forged the documents to make it look like you used your daughter's charity foundation as a front to steal military funds.”
“We just needed you to bring the Feds here tonight to officially enter the encrypted drive into government evidence.”
Major Hart stepped away from me, her weapon now fully drawn and pointed at my chest.
“Colonel Ward, I need you to surrender your firearm and step away from your daughter.”
I looked at Major Hart, a woman I had served alongside in three different combat zones.
“Livia, you know me.”
“You know I would never betray the uniform or steal from the Department of Defense.”
“The evidence is right here in black and white, Marcus,” she replied, her voice filled with regret.
I slowly raised my hands, realizing the trap was infinitely deeper than I had ever imagined.
Nadia grabbed the tablet from the tray, her eyes frantically scanning the live financial ledgers.
“Wait,” Nadia shouted, tapping on a specific line of code.
“These transactions aren't just historical records.”
“There is an active wire transfer happening right now, draining the remaining two billion dollars from the DoD reserves.”
Major Hart lowered her weapon slightly, peering at the screen.
“Who is authorizing the active transfer?”
Nadia’s hands trembled as she read the digital signature approving the massive theft.
“It's not Preston.”
“It's not my father.”
Nadia looked up, her face completely drained of blood.
“The signature authorizing the transfer belongs to my mother.”
Silence slammed into the room like a physical weight.
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“Your mother has been dead for five years, Nadia,” I whispered.
Before anyone could process the impossible revelation, all of our cell phones began to ring in perfect, terrifying unison.
