Chapter 10 - What Truth Costs
Mara hadn't given the reporter Reyes's name, but there were few female majors with a connection to the old brigade. Social media did the rest. Strangers found photographs of Reyes's family and accused her of either lying in 2014 or lying now.
Reyes texted Mara once: You promised I could decide when I spoke.
Mara typed three apologies and sent only one.
You're right. I broke that promise.
The reporter had checked documents and labeled the allegations as unproven, but the public conversation no longer cared about distinctions. HonorLine issued a statement calling the accusations malicious. Bell appeared on television holding his Silver Star citation and asking viewers to remember the wounded veterans his foundation served.
Aaron stopped answering Mara's calls.
Her commander ordered her to report to an investigating officer about possible disclosure of nonpublic information. Mara disclosed the entire conversation with the reporter, including what she had said about the witness. She had not passed a classified document or described its contents verbatim, but her conduct still had consequences.
“Why did you speak to her?” Pike asked privately.
“Because I thought nobody was listening.”
“An investigation was starting.”
“It didn't feel like one.”
“Your feelings don't change someone else's right to choose whether to become public.”
That evening Mara found a voicemail from their mother. Aaron had shut his workshop early. His knee was badly swollen. More importantly, a stranger had come by with a camera and asked whether he was the soldier who had ‘really earned Bell's medal.’
Mara drove to his house but stayed on the porch until he opened the door.
“I made things worse,” she said.
Aaron held the doorframe with one hand. “Yes.”
“I thought if everyone knew—”
“You thought what? That I'd wake up healed because the internet picked a side?”
“No.”
“Then listen this time. I want the record corrected. I want those forms stopped. I don't want a parade.”
“I hear you.”
May you like
He stepped back. For a moment she thought he was letting her in. Instead he handed her the original photograph from his wall.
“Take this to the investigators,” he said. “And let me keep the rest of my life.”
