Chapter 13 - THE SILVER STAR

My father died when I was twenty-six.

His Silver Star was the only thing I owned that still carried the weight of his hand.

Ryan knew that.

He had watched me polish the display case every Memorial Day.

And he tried to sell it for cash.

Police recovered it from a pawnshop.

When the evidence technician handed it back weeks later, I had to sit down.

General Reed found me in my office afterward.

“You all right?”

“No, sir.”

He nodded.

“Good.”

I looked at him.

“That’s an odd response.”

“People keep thinking command means pretending nothing hurts.”

“It means knowing what hurts and still deciding correctly.”

For ten minutes, I let myself be a daughter instead of a colonel.

Ryan’s gambling debts exceeded two hundred thousand dollars.

Victor had been covering some of them.

That explained desperation.

Linda had her own motive.

She had opened credit accounts under Ryan’s name for years.

Mother and son were financially tangled so tightly neither could escape without me.

Then Victor supplied prosecutors with recordings.

He recorded Ryan because he never trusted him.

On one clip, Ryan said:

“If she gets command, we lose her.”

Victor answered, “Then make sure she doesn’t take it.”

Ryan laughed.

“Mom has an idea.”

My scalp tingled where the clippers had scraped me.

The assault had been discussed beforehand.

Not spontaneous.

Planned.

The prosecutor upgraded the theory of the case.

And counterintelligence pushed deeper into Victor’s network.

Three companies had paid him for “government access consulting.”

No evidence showed classified information had been transferred through Ryan.

But the intent was ugly enough.

That night, I received a certified letter.

Ryan was suing me.

For financial abuse.

He claimed canceling his cards had left him destitute.

Sarah read the complaint and laughed.

“Is that professionally appropriate?”

“No.”

She kept laughing.

“He wants leverage.”

“Will he get it?”

“No.”

She slid another folder toward me.

“Because tomorrow we file our response.”

Inside were four years of bank records.

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And a total at the bottom.

Ryan and Linda had taken $413,782.16 from me.