Chapter 11 - What General Vance Was Really WatchingMaya found General Vance three weeks later at a ceremony honoring several soldiers involved in the investigation.
Maya hated ceremonies.
Her father loved them.
Minh had bought a new gray suit.
It looked almost identical to the old one.
General Vance stood near the edge of the reception afterward.
Maya approached.
“General?”
“Specialist.”
“Can I ask you something?”
Vance smiled.
“You generally do.”
“The black case.”
Vance’s smile faded into something more amused.
“You found out.”
“It was a reflection.”
“Yes.”
“You knew?”
“Not immediately.”
Maya frowned.
“Then why did you stare at the car?”
Vance folded her arms.
“I wasn’t looking at the case.”
Maya waited.
“I was looking at Colonel Sterling’s brigade access sticker.”
“That’s it?”
“No.”
Vance looked toward Minh across the room.
“Your father’s information gave investigators a list of vehicles connected to suspicious equipment.”
“One was Victoria’s.”
“Yes.”
“But investigators had no proof Richard knew about the hidden compartment.”
“Correct.”
“So when you arrived…”
“I knew the car.”
Maya slowly understood.
“You stopped close to it intentionally.”
Vance smiled.
“Sergeant Brody is an excellent driver.”
“You wanted to see who reacted.”
“Yes.”
Maya felt a chill.
“And Richard?”
“He reacted before anyone told him why we cared about the vehicle.”
Maya remembered.
That moment.
His eyes moving toward the Mercedes.
Calculation.
Fear.
“He gave himself away.”
“Not enough for a conviction.”
“But enough to look harder.”
“Yes.”
Maya stared at General Vance.
“So my confrontation with Victoria wasn’t part of your plan.”
“Absolutely not.”
“My father’s report was.”
“Yes.”
“The hidden compartment was.”
“Yes.”
“And your arrival was basically a trap.”
Vance considered that.
“An inspection with observational advantages.”
Maya laughed.
“That sounds like a General’s way of saying trap.”
“Probably.”
Maya looked across the room at her father.
Minh was speaking with Sergeant Brody.
Brody appeared to be showing him something about the prosthetic joint.
Minh had already found a screwdriver.
Of course.
Maya smiled.
Then Vance spoke.
“There is something else you do not know.”
Maya looked back.
“What?”
Vance’s expression became serious.
“Your father asked us to remove you from that checkpoint.”
Maya froze.
“What?”
“When he learned a controlled operation might involve Victoria’s vehicle, he saw your duty roster.”
“You showed him?”
“No. His original CID contact mentioned that security staffing had changed. Your name came up accidentally.”
Maya’s face warmed with anger.
“He asked you to move me?”
“Yes.”
“And you didn’t?”
Vance looked uncomfortable for the first time Maya had ever seen.
“We intended to.”
Maya waited.
“But?”
“But your father called back.”
“When?”
“The night before.”
Maya looked toward Minh.
“What did he say?”
Vance smiled slightly.
“He said, ‘Forget what I asked.’”
Maya felt something tighten in her chest.
“Why?”
“Ask him.”
Maya groaned.
“You two enjoy doing that.”
Vance almost laughed.
Maya crossed the room.
Her father looked up.
“You broke Brody’s leg?”
Brody laughed.
“Trying to improve it.”
Maya pointed toward Minh.
“Come here.”
Minh sighed.
“What now?”
“You asked General Vance to remove me from the gate.”
Brody became suddenly interested in another conversation.
Minh frowned.
“She told you.”
“Yes.”
“I told her not to.”
“She told me you told her not to remove me.”
“That sentence is complicated.”
“Dad.”
He exhaled.
“Yes.”
“Why did you change your mind?”
Minh looked at his daughter.
The room around them seemed to fade.
“Because I was afraid.”
“Of what?”
“You becoming involved.”
“I did become involved.”
“Yes.”
“That doesn’t answer me.”
Minh folded his hands.
“When you were little, I protected you from everything.”
Maya softened.
“I know.”
“When you joined Army, I had to understand something.”
“What?”
“I cannot protect you from every difficult thing.”
He looked toward her uniform.
“And if I use someone important to move you away from difficult duty because you are my daughter…”
His voice became quieter.
“Then what did I teach you?”
Maya swallowed.
Minh continued.
“I wanted you moved because I was father.”
A small smile appeared.
“Then I remembered you were soldier.”
Tears appeared unexpectedly in Maya’s eyes.
“You could have told me.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“You would argue.”
“I am arguing now.”
“Yes.”
He looked pleased with himself.
Maya laughed.
Then hugged him.
General Vance watched from across the room.
Twenty-four years earlier, a young immigrant mechanic had picked her patrol cap out of hurricane mud.
Now his daughter wore her own.
The connection seemed almost impossibly neat.
But life occasionally created symmetry without asking permission.
May you like
Maya thought that was the end of the story.
She was wrong.
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