Chapter 6 - The List No One Asked For
The next morning, Army civilian analyst Dana Price found a problem more immediate than the old photograph. Homefront Passage had been given a list of soldiers approaching separation, including personal phone numbers that should not have been included in a marketing file.
“It came from an export someone made inside the transition office,” Dana told Major Shah. “Not a transfer approved for the vendor.”
The commander directed information-security staff to preserve the logs and follow the installation's breach-response procedures. An Army inquiry could examine how the list left the building; it could not seize Warren Vick's private servers without lawful process.
Sergeant Ellen Pruitt, the transition clerk, asked to speak with a lawyer before giving a detailed statement. Maya knew Ellen from late shifts when copier paper ran out and every commander wanted a report before dawn. She could not picture Ellen selling names.
In the corridor, Ellen stopped her. “Did you report me?”
“I reported the list.”
“Same result. Everybody thinks I took money.”
“Did you?”
Ellen stared as if slapped. “I thought they were a partner. Crane introduced them at three briefings. The instructions said to include people who'd asked for post-service help. I exported everybody. That was wrong, but I wasn't paid.”
Maya felt the familiar, dangerous urge to promise things. Ellen deserved a fair review, not a hallway verdict. “Tell the investigator exactly that,” she said.
Later, the commander spoke with Crane in private. Russell handed over a copy of his field-log entry from 2011. He did not call it a confession.
“I let a brochure exaggerate my part,” he said. “I'm prepared to correct that.”
“Why now?” the commander asked.
“Because it was easier not to before.”
The commander didn't congratulate him. “Then you should understand why this review cannot be managed through your personal relationships.”
That afternoon, Homefront Passage's attorney sent a letter demanding that the installation restore its access or explain the suspension. Warren also warned that employees might lose their jobs. People who had never approved a misleading advertisement would suffer if the company's revenue collapsed.
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When Maya heard, she remembered how quickly she had wanted the training-room banners removed. Her objective was to stop exploitation, not leave receptionists and counselors without pay. But the company controlled those decisions, and protecting them could not mean tolerating false consent forms.
As she left the building, Denise texted a photograph of an old cardboard box. On its lid Elias had written TWO VERSIONS OF THAT DAY. Inside lay the second picture, still in its original envelope.
