Chapter 11 - THE REAL GENERAL
The true General Brooks was found inside a private Army hospital.
The man arrested earlier was Victor Brooks, a replacement trained for command.
Victor had ordered Harper’s phone calls and the home entry.
The real Brooks admitted founding part of Continuity House decades earlier.
He said the program began to protect covert families.
Then contractors turned protection into control.
He tried to shut it down.
Ashbourne replaced him.
Late resistance.
Earlier responsibility.
Both.
Laura recovered and told us why she took the drive.
It contained the identities of children still inside the program.
She planned to release them through independent courts.
Nathan wanted to bargain for Claire.
Harper wanted to protect Violet.
Everyone chose a different child.
The system survived by keeping adults isolated in private plans.
We formed an independent coalition.
Courts.
Child advocates.
Military inspectors.
Civilian investigators.
No single family member controlled the records.
Then Claire agreed to meet us.
She looked at me and asked:
“Are you the father who didn’t know, or the father who chose not to know?”
May you like
I answered honestly.
“Both.”
