My sister threw red wine across my Army dress uniform in the middle of her engagement party, my father ordered security to drag me out, and her fiancé dropped a hundred-dollar bill at my boots like I was something he could buy

Inside the high-security briefing room at the Pentagon’s Inspector General division, the smell of burnt coffee hung thick in the air.

Agent Vance slid a thick, leather-bound dossier across the metal table, stopping it right in front of my service cap.

“The preliminary audit of Mercer Logistics is complete,” Vance said, taking a seat opposite me. “Every offshore account has been seized. The forged sub-contractor stamps match the digital signatures we found on the stolen communication chips.”

I opened the folder, scanning the financial flow charts that mapped out Julian’s entire criminal enterprise from a small desk in Singapore all the way to the ballroom floor in downtown New York.

“What about the secondary partners?” I asked, tracing a line from Mercer Logistics to a shell corporation registered in the British Virgin Islands. “Julian couldn't have pulled off a multi-million-dollar defense fraud without internal clearance.”

Vance grunted, pulling a smaller file from his briefcase.

“That’s why you’re here, Captain. The investigation is expanding. We have reason to believe someone inside the Pentagon procurement office signed off on the fraudulent safety certificates.”

I looked up from the dossier, my eyes narrowing slightly.

“Who?”

“Major General Harrison,” Vance said quietly. “Your direct superior in the logistics command division.”

The name didn't shock me. It explained too many things that had felt off over the past eighteen months—the rushed approvals, the skipped inspections, the sudden budget reallocations for obsolete communication gear.

“Harrison,” I muttered, leaning back in the metal chair. “He was the one who tried to block my transfer to the audit division last year.”

“Because he knew you’d look where other officers were told not to,” Vance said. “The arrest warrant is being drafted now. But we need an official internal review of the supply chain logs before we can execute the raid on his office.”

I picked up my service cap, placing it firmly on my head, and adjusted the silver captain’s bars on the collar of my uniform.

“Give me twelve hours, Agent Vance.”