Chapter 6 - A Veteran Who Didn't Want Rescue
Luis Beltran lived an hour inland in a house with a rusted bicycle beside the front steps. He had two young daughters and a wife who worked nights at a distribution center. A family picture hung crooked above their couch.
He didn't invite Nia inside until she explained she wasn't there on behalf of any command. She'd asked in writing to meet him, and he'd agreed only if Marcus came along.
“I'm not signing anything,” Luis said.
“No one asked you to,” Marcus replied.
Luis looked at Marcus's right hand and then away. “I saw the video of what happened at the lane. People have already been sending it around.”
Nia went cold. She had not released it. Other Marines might have filmed, too.
“Can you tell me who sent it?” she asked.
“Somebody sent a link to my wife. They put my name under it. Said I was the man who lied for the colonel.”
His wife, Carmen, appeared in the doorway. “You know what our daughter asked yesterday? Whether Daddy was going to jail for not telling the truth.”
Marcus sat beside Luis. “Nobody here gets to make that decision for you.”
“I gave a statement,” Luis said. “I knew parts were wrong. I also knew my mother had cancer and I couldn't lose my pay. Harlan didn't have to threaten me every day. One conversation did the job.”
He went to a cabinet and brought out a printed photograph, its corners soft from being handled. It showed the burned training lane and an emergency vehicle arriving. On the back, a time had been written in grease pencil.
“A range safety specialist took it,” Luis said. “She took more. Command got copies for the investigation. I never saw them in the final public packet.”
“What's her name?” Nia asked.
“Dr. Tessa Ward. She worked as a civilian contractor. She told me not to throw away anything with a timestamp.”
Carmen folded her arms. “And what are we supposed to do with that? Publish another picture and let strangers yell at us?”
Nia knew Carmen would hate the answer. “No. You decide whether to speak. If there's evidence relevant to a review, there's a way to submit it without making your family a spectacle.”
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Luis pulled the photograph back toward himself. For a long time he studied the date.
Then he said, “If I tell them what I said was false, I want my original statement put beside it. Not hidden again.”
