Chapter 13 - THE ADMIRAL’S SECRET
Admiral Reed refused legal representation from Naomi.
He also refused to speak to investigators until he met me.
We sat across from each other inside a federal interview room.
His uniform had been replaced by a dark civilian suit.
The absence of his insignia made him look strangely vulnerable.
“Did Arthur pay you?” I asked.
“No.”
“Where did the five million dollars come from?”
“A classified operational fund.”
“Why was it connected to your account?”
“Because the account was created for an undercover asset.”
“Who?”
“Grace Mercer.”
I stared at him.
Reed had helped Grace remain hidden in Canada.
The money financed a witness protection network operating outside ordinary channels.
He had hidden the arrangement to protect agents investigating the officials named in the blue ledger.
Arthur discovered the account and manipulated the records to resemble a bribe.
“You knew Grace was alive,” I said.
“Yes.”
“You knew she was my mother.”
“No.”
“I knew only that she was a witness connected to Vale Maritime.”
“You let me believe she was gone.”
“I was forbidden to reveal her identity.”
“Rules always seem to protect the people who keep secrets.”
Reed accepted the accusation.
“There is more.”
The original South China Sea investigation had not been merely suspended.
Reed had sealed evidence showing that Arthur’s companies supplied the defective valves.
He feared that public disclosure would alert the foreign broker being tracked by naval intelligence.
The undercover operation later exposed an international weapons network.
But Arthur escaped prosecution.
Seven sailors remained dead.
“You chose the larger mission,” I said.
“I did.”
“And my crew paid the price.”
“Yes.”
His honesty hurt more than an excuse would have.
“I saluted you because you deserved it,” he said.
“Not because I did.”
He handed me the unredacted investigation report.
Releasing it would end his career.
It would also prove Arthur’s direct connection to the explosion.
“Why give me this now?”
“Because protecting the institution is no longer the same as protecting justice.”
At the next hearing, Reed testified without immunity.
He admitted sealing the evidence.
He explained the undercover operation.
He accepted responsibility for allowing Arthur to remain free.
Then he identified every document inside the original report.
Arthur’s attorneys called him corrupt.
Reed did not defend his career.
“I made a decision that saved one operation and endangered countless sailors,” he said.
“I cannot change that decision.”
“I can only stop hiding it.”
The judge admitted the report into evidence.
Outside the courtroom, the Department of Defense announced Reed’s forced retirement.
He left through the main entrance.
Dozens of sailors waited on the courthouse steps.
No one had organized them.
One by one, they saluted him.
Reed stopped when he reached me.
This time, I saluted first.
Before he could respond, a gunshot echoed across the plaza.
Marcus fell beside the courthouse fountain.
May you like
Blood spread across his white shirt.
On the rooftop across the street, Harlan Pike lowered a rifle.
