Chapter 6 - The Old Warning
Avery turned to the brittle pages near the back of the notebook.
Thomas Cole had trained at Fort Blackridge when Victor Raines was a young captain.
One entry described a qualification dispute.
A candidate named Staff Sergeant Caleb Dunn fired a perfect final group.
His target was later marked as belonging to another lane.
Dunn was disqualified.
He protested.
Three days later, he was removed from the sniper program for insubordination.
Thomas had written:
Target numbers altered after cease-fire. Raines controlled scoring tent.
A second note appeared months later.
Two ammunition boxes reassigned without chain-of-custody record.
Same lot discrepancy.
Same officer.
Avery felt the desert heat disappear beneath her skin.
Her grandfather had suspected Raines for years.
But Thomas died before Avery entered the Army.
He had never explained the notes.
Raines recognized the handwriting.
His face changed.
“Where did you get that?”
Avery closed the notebook.
“It was my grandfather’s.”
Raines took one involuntary step back.
Ward noticed.
“Did you know Sergeant Major Cole?”
Raines recovered quickly.
“Everyone knew him.”
But Avery saw the truth.
Raines did not merely remember Thomas.
May you like
He feared what Thomas had recorded.
👉 Her grandfather’s notebook suggested Raines had destroyed soldiers’ careers long before Avery became his target.
