Chapter 3 - The Command I Left Behind
We moved into a conference room away from the reception.
Mother refused to sit.
Lauren stood across from her.
I stayed near the door.
Brooks remained because the security report was now an official matter.
Ramirez waited outside.
Lauren spoke first.
"Start talking."
Mother looked at me.
"You want to do this?"
"No," I said. "But you already did."
She exhaled.
"Rebecca was selected for assignments that required extraordinary secrecy."
Lauren folded her arms.
"I understand classified work."
"No. You understand classification. You don't understand disappearance."
Mother pointed toward me.
"For years, there were no photographs. No public command history. No biographies. No ceremonies. She couldn't explain where she was."
"That doesn't explain why you called her a failure."
Mother's eyes hardened.
"Because you were twelve when she disappeared."
Lauren went quiet.
"You kept asking where your sister was. You stopped eating. You waited beside the phone."
I remembered.
Lauren had been a child.
I had been twenty-seven.
Mother continued.
"I couldn't tell you Rebecca was operating in places where people died for knowing names."
"So you lied."
"I simplified."
I shook my head.
"You didn't simplify."
Mother looked at me.
"You told Lauren I abandoned the Navy."
"At first."
"And later?"
She didn't answer.
Lauren did.
"You kept saying it."
Mother finally sat down.
"For you."
Lauren laughed once.
There was no humor in it.
"For me?"
"You were constantly comparing yourself to Rebecca. She graduated first. Promoted early. Selected for command before anyone expected it. You worshiped her."
Lauren stared at her.
"So you destroyed her in my mind to build me up?"
"I gave you room to become yourself."
"No. You gave me a lie."
I interrupted.
"There's still something missing."
Mother looked at me.
"The report."
She went still.
"You could have called me."
"You wouldn't have answered."
"You didn't try."
"You would have walked into that auditorium and Lauren would have spent her command ceremony hearing whispers about you."
Lauren stared at her.
"That's what this is about?"
Mother stood.
"Do you know what happens when Rebecca Mercer enters a room full of senior officers?"
I almost laughed.
Apparently I didn't.
Mother continued.
"People remember."
She looked at Lauren.
"They remember operations they can't discuss. Careers she saved. Decisions she made. Officers she trained."
Her voice became quieter.
"And suddenly your ceremony becomes about your sister."
Lauren's face tightened.
"You thought I couldn't handle that?"
"I wanted one day to belong entirely to you."
"So you labeled her a threat?"
Mother had no answer.
Brooks spoke.
"Admiral Mercer, there's another issue."
Mother turned.
Brooks placed the preserved report on the table.
"The report contains information about Commander Mercer's arrival window."
I looked at her.
"Which shouldn't have been available to a civilian."
"Correct."
Mother's jaw tightened.
"I'm retired, Commander. I'm not incompetent."
"Then where did you get it?"
She remained silent.
Brooks continued.
"Because if someone currently serving provided protected travel information without authorization, we need that person's name."
Mother's confidence disappeared.
Lauren noticed.
"Mom?"
I said quietly, "Who told you?"
Mother looked at the closed door.
Then at me.
"Rear Admiral Thomas Vale."
That name changed the room.
Vale had been involved in my old command structure years earlier.
More importantly, he was currently responsible for oversight affecting Lauren's unit.
"Why would Vale give you my travel information?" I asked.
Mother swallowed.
"Because I asked him."
"Why would he agree?"
Another silence.
I understood before she answered.
"Because he wanted me kept outside too."
Mother stared at me.
Brooks straightened.
Lauren frowned.
"Why?"
Mother whispered, "I don't know."
I didn't believe her.
"Try again."
"Rebecca—"
"Mother."
For the first time, she couldn't look at me.
Then someone knocked.
Ramirez entered.
"Sorry, Commander. But you need to see this."
He handed me his phone.
A photograph filled the screen.
It showed Ramirez in a hospital bed after the fire fifteen years earlier.
Three people stood beside him.
One was me.
One was our commanding admiral.
And one was Thomas Vale.
Ramirez zoomed in.
"Remember what happened after that operation?"
"Some of it."
"He blamed the communications failure on my team."
I remembered now.
"I blocked the finding."
"Yes."
Lauren looked between us.
Ramirez continued.
"Your report proved the equipment had been improperly certified before deployment."
My eyes narrowed.
"Certification was Vale's responsibility."
Ramirez nodded.
"And tomorrow, he's scheduled to chair Lauren's first readiness review."
The room went silent.
Lauren whispered, "You think he wanted Rebecca gone because she knows what happened fifteen years ago?"
I handed the phone back.
"I think we're done guessing."
Mother looked at me.
"What are you going to do?"
"Nothing dramatic."
I picked up the preserved security report.
"I'm going to ask questions."
May you like
Mother almost smiled bitterly.
"That was always your most dangerous habit."
