Chapter 9 - What the General Knew
Daniel Hale asked to meet with Colonel Ruiz present. Nora agreed after speaking with her attorney. They sat in a small conference room with the blinds open and a recorder visible on the table.
Hale looked older than he had on the parade ground. The cut on his cheek had almost disappeared. He began by saying he regretted raising his voice.
"I embarrassed you," he said. "I won't excuse that."
Nora waited.
"I also want you to understand what Sarah's message did to my family."
"I didn't create that message, sir."
"No. But you held it up in front of people who couldn't know what it meant."
She accepted the point without accepting his larger defense. "I should have protected that information. I also made three attempts to report the discrepancies privately. None resulted in a records hold before noon."
Hale turned to Ruiz. "My aide received those calls. He told me the captain was overreacting."
"Mercer says he forwarded the warning to your office," Ruiz replied.
Hale took a long breath. "Then I need to check my own account of that morning."
He admitted Sarah had warned him about Evan's business months earlier. Evan was her son from a previous marriage, but Hale had raised him since he was eleven. He couldn't reconcile the charming boy who'd made paper airplanes at the dinner table with an adult who might be cheating soldiers and veterans.
"I signed an operational statement saying the training was urgent," Hale said. "I didn't award a contract. I didn't control the selection."
"Your statement could still influence the process," Ruiz said.
"I know that now."
Nora heard the words he hadn't said: he had known his family was connected to a vendor and signed the statement anyway.
"Did you disclose that connection when you signed?" she asked.
Hale looked at the recorder, then at her.
"No. I told myself it wasn't required because Evan didn't own the prime contract."
Ruiz wrote that down. Whatever else he meant, the admission was significant.
At the meeting's end, Hale stopped Nora at the doorway. "I don't expect you to forgive me. But I want my wife to be safe."
"Then don't ask her to protect your version of events," Nora replied.
May you like
After he left, Ruiz showed Nora a notice received that morning. Evan Pierce had hired counsel and was alleging that Sarah stole trade secrets from his company.
The next move would not happen on a parade ground. It would happen to Sarah in court.
