Chapter 8 - The Military CodeThe roar of a helicopter engine shattered the afternoon quiet.
Thomas stood on the dock, watching the dark green UH-60 Blackhawk hover over the marsh before settling onto the clearing behind the cabin. The rotor wash flattened the tall marsh grass, throwing salt spray into the air.
A man in a flight suit and a heavy leather flight jacket stepped out of the aircraft. It was Major General Charles Vance—no relation to the Mercer lawyer, but a man Thomas had served with for twenty years.
"Thomas," Vance said, his voice competing with the whining turbine of the idling helicopter. He didn't offer a hand. He looked at the cabin, then back at Thomas’s civilian clothes. "The Pentagon is buzzing. Richard Mercer’s old associates have been calling the Secretary of the Army. They’re claiming you used government transport—Staff Sergeant Miller and a command vehicle—to kidnap a civilian from a private residence."
"She is my daughter, Charles," Thomas said.
"She is also Evan Mercer’s legal wife," Vance countered, his face tight with professional worry. "They are threatening to court-martial you, Thomas. They want to strip your pension, your medals, your thirty-four years of service. They’re going to drag your name through the dirt in every military tribunal from here to West Point."
Thomas looked down at his calloused hands. He thought of the medals on his dress uniform, currently hanging in the closet of his quarters at Fort Belvoir. He thought of the ceremonies, the banquets, the speeches about "duty" and "uncommon judgment."
"Let them," Thomas said.
Vance stared at him, shocked. "You’d throw away your legacy? For what?"
"For my daughter’s life," Thomas said. "If the United States Army thinks a piece of ribbon on my chest is worth more than the safety of my child, then they can have the ribbon back. I didn't serve this country to protect men who beat their wives behind locked doors."
Vance was silent for a long moment. He looked at the cabin window, where Claire's silhouette was barely visible behind the glass.
May you like
"They're coming for her, Thomas," Vance said quietly, his tone shifting from general to friend. "Vance’s legal team has obtained a custody order from a friendly judge in Richmond. They’re going to use the local sheriff’s department to enforce it. They’ll be here by tomorrow morning."
"Then they had better bring more than a sheriff," Thomas said.
