PART 9
The sound of the helicopters grew louder.
Deep.
Heavy.
Final.
Webb’s empire began burning before the sun touched the horizon.
Phones lit up across the formation.
Officers received orders.
Kestrel Ridge accounts were frozen in real time.
Two contractors tried to run and were tackled by military police before they reached their truck.
Webb reached for his sidearm.
Bad decision.
Every soldier behind him raised a weapon.
Not at me.
At him.
His hand stopped halfway.
I looked at him.
“Heat didn’t finish me.”
His face twisted.
“You think you won?”
“No,” I said. “I think your receipts did.”
Colonel Ostroski’s helicopter landed in a storm of dust.
She stepped out wearing sunglasses, a field cap, and the expression of a woman who had waited years to ruin the right man.
Webb tried to speak first.
“Colonel, this NCO—”
“Lieutenant Colonel Webb,” she cut in, “you are relieved of command.”
His mouth opened.
She continued.
“You are under investigation for conspiracy, fraud, falsification of military records, attempted murder, and coordination with unauthorized private armed personnel.”
The desert went silent.
Ostroski looked at the MPs.
“Take him.”
Webb stared at me as they cuffed him.
“You should have stayed quiet.”
I walked closer.
“For eleven years,” I said, “men like you mistook my silence for permission.”
Then I gave him the same two-finger salute I had given him when he drove away.
“This is me correcting that.”
May you like
By sundown, their empire had burned.
And all Webb left behind was dust.
ENDING QUESTION
If someone left you to die because you knew the truth, would you expose everything—or let survival be your only revenge?
