Chapter 15 - THE TRAP
IG wanted Maya out of sight while they built the case.
Maya wanted the opposite.
“If they think I’m scared, they start cleaning everything,” she told Park.
“They already are.”
“Then give them something they think they need.”
Park studied her. “What exactly are you proposing?”
Maya placed a fake copy of Eli’s statement on the desk.
The original was safely with his attorney.
“This.”
Captain Cole frowned. “Bait.”
“Exactly.”
They set the room camera legally under investigative authority and let one rumor spread: Maya had recovered the missing original.
At 22:40, someone entered the barracks with a borrowed master key.
Maya watched from a surveillance room with Park, Cole, and two MPs.
The hooded figure entered her room.
Went straight to the desk.
Picked up the fake statement.
Then lowered the hood.
Connor whispered, “No way.”
It was not Rourke.
It was Sergeant First Class Aaron Pike, the battalion operations NCO.
A man Maya had barely spoken to.
The MPs moved.
Pike was detained before he reached the stairs.
At first he said nothing.
Then Park showed him the video.
His shoulders collapsed.
“Vance told me it was classified material,” Pike said. “He said Bennett stole it.”
“Did he tell you to break into her locker too?” Park asked.
Pike stared at the table.
“Yes.”
“What about her room tonight?”
“Yes.”
“Did he tell you to alter evaluation records?”
Pike hesitated.
Then nodded.
Maya felt anger rise, but Park kept going.
“Why?”
Pike’s answer was barely audible.
“Because Major Vance was in the room when Ruiz got hurt.”
Nobody moved.
Maya leaned forward.
“The old report named Rourke.”
Pike shook his head.
“The original named Vance too.”
Maya’s skin went cold.
The final report had not merely failed to reach the truth.
May you like
Someone had rewritten it.
And the officer who helped bury it was now trying to bury her.
