“I’m your lawyer.”
“And my father built the case against me.”
Reynolds flinched.
Claire regretted the words immediately.
He had spent months defending a client who would not explain why the evidence looked catastrophic.
“I’m sorry,” she said.
“Don’t be sorry. Tell me what is on it.”
Claire sat.
For the first time, she did.
Checkpoint Echo had never been merely a remote outpost.
Three weeks before the attack, Claire received a compartmented directive through General Vance’s operational channel. A covert extraction team would use the checkpoint as a temporary staging point to recover an intelligence asset from across the border. Claire’s soldiers were not read into the full operation. They were told only that unusual aircraft activity might occur and communications could be restricted.
On the night the checkpoint was attacked, mortar fire began twenty minutes before the extraction helicopter arrived.
Claire requested reinforcement.
Denied.
She requested immediate evacuation for the garrison.
Denied.
Then her father came over the encrypted receiver.
Leave the post immediately.
Claire refused.
Her people were still fighting.
Richard told her the directive was final.
Some losses are operationally necessary.
Minutes later, masked operators landed inside the perimeter. They were not rescuing the garrison. They were retrieving the intelligence asset and the mission package.
Claire tried to stay.
Two operators physically forced her onto the helicopter because she possessed classified mission authentication keys that could not be captured.
Miller saw what was happening.
He ran from communications under fire and shoved the flash drive into Claire’s hand.
“They’ll erase it,” he told her.
Then he turned back toward Hayes and Jenkins.
The helicopter lifted.
