Chapter 22 - GENERAL MILLER’S CONFESSION
I stepped from the darkness holding the replica drive above my head.
Miller smiled.
“Always predictable when family is involved.”
“You murdered twelve soldiers.”
“I made a strategic decision.”
“You sold their route.”
“I protected a larger operation.”
“You protected your bank accounts.”
His expression hardened.
Behind him, the private jet’s engines began turning.
“Place the drive on the ground.”
I obeyed.
One of the contractors retrieved it and connected it to a tablet.
“Files are authentic,” he reported.
Miller relaxed slightly.
“That footage made Ethan look guilty,” I said. “Why leave him alive?”
“Because he was useful.”
Ethan’s eyes narrowed.
Miller continued, enjoying the sound of his own explanation.
“Your brother spent two years gathering evidence while believing he had infiltrated my network. In reality, I allowed him to find exactly what I wanted foreign intelligence services to see.”
Ethan looked at me.
“He’s lying.”
“Not entirely,” Miller said. “You uncovered my domestic partners. But the people above me remain untouched.”
“Who are they?” I asked.
Miller laughed.
“You still think this ends with names and arrests.”
His pistol remained against Ethan’s head.
“The country needs men willing to perform unpleasant work. Wars do not survive public morality. They survive secrecy.”
“You didn’t serve the country,” Ethan said. “You auctioned it.”
Miller struck him across the face.
I took one step forward.
Three rifles turned toward me.
“Your father understood sacrifice,” Miller said. “He helped create the original Trident Seven unit.”
My chest tightened.
Our father had died when Ethan and I were teenagers. We had been told it was a training accident.
Miller reached inside his coat and pulled out an old photograph.
It showed our father standing beside Miller and four other officers beneath the same trident emblem.
“Your father discovered the funding network before either of you joined the service,” Miller said. “He tried to expose it.”
“What did you do?”
“What national security required.”
The words confirmed what his face had already revealed.
He had killed our father too.
Ethan surged against his restraints.
Miller turned the pistol toward him.
That was the opening Daniel needed.
A suppressed shot struck the runway light.
Darkness swallowed the hangar.
Gunfire erupted.
May you like
I ran toward Ethan as the private jet began rolling.
Then Miller grabbed the replica drive and disappeared aboard the aircraft.
