Chapter 2 - The Command Post
Within twenty minutes, the modest apartment had been converted into a tactical evidence scene.
Civilians in white forensic suits dusted the doorframes and photographed the bedroom. Two female military paramedics gently lifted Emily onto a soft stretcher, wrapping her in heated blankets as they prepared to transport her to the military hospital at Fort Sheridan.
Colonel Bennett stood near the kitchen island, watching a forensic technician bag a small glass vial found in the back of the medicine cabinet.
"What is that?" Thomas asked, his voice dead calm.
"High-dosage sedatives, sir," the medic reported, holding the vial to the light. "Prescribed under a false name from a pharmacy three counties over. It explains why Mrs. Vance was unable to stay awake during your scheduled calls."
Thomas closed his eyes for a single second, his chest rising and falling in a deep, agonizing breath. He remembered every time he had called over the past three months. Ryan’s smooth, reassuring voice on the speakerphone: "She’s just taking a nap, Colonel. Pregnancy takes a lot out of her."
He walked over to the stretcher where Emily lay. Her eyes were unfocused, heavy from the residual drugs still circulating in her system, but her fingers twitched toward him.
Thomas caught her hand, holding it tight between both of his.
"I’m sorry, Emily," he whispered, his voice cracking for the first time. "I was so focused on my deployment transition... I left you in the dark with monsters."
"Daddy..." Emily’s voice was barely a rasp. "Don't let Linda... take the baby."
Thomas’s eyes went cold as chipped flint. "Linda Vance will never see the light of day as a free woman again, sweetheart. I promise you that."
In the living room, Linda was being escorted out by two civil sheriff deputies. She was shouting, her face red and distorted with rage. "You think you can intimidate us because of that uniform, Bennett?! My brother is a senior partner at Miller & Hayes! We will sue you for every penny you have! We will take that child before it even takes its first breath!"
Thomas didn't even turn around to look at her.
"Vance," Thomas called out softly.
"Sir?" the Sergeant Major replied, standing at attention.
May you like
"Call Counselors Hayes and Miller. Tell them that if they accept Linda Vance as a client, I will personally initiate a Department of Defense audit into their firm's military contractor retainer accounts."
Sergeant Major Vance offered a grim, satisfied smirk. "Understood, Colonel. They’ll drop her before the squad car reaches the precinct."
