Chapter 5 - The Man Behind the Leak
Richard Vale called Daniel at 1:12 the following morning.
Daniel sat inside a monitored office at Fort Kingston with Rachel, General Hayes, Colonel Reed, and two investigators behind the glass.
His phone rested on the table.
Rachel stood across from him.
“You don’t have to do this,” she said.
Daniel looked exhausted.
“Yes, I do.”
“You may incriminate yourself.”
“I already did that when I gave my mother access.”
The phone vibrated again.
Daniel answered and activated the speaker.
“Hello?”
Vale’s voice came through smoothly.
“Daniel, I heard there was trouble at the ball.”
“My mother was detained.”
A pause.
“For changing a guest list?”
“They found the drive.”
Vale remained silent for two seconds.
Then he said, “What drive?”
Daniel looked at Rachel.
She nodded for him to continue.
“The one she used to copy my files.”
“Daniel, listen carefully. Your mother is emotional. She may say things she doesn’t mean.”
“She said she gave information to you.”
Vale’s voice hardened.
“She asked for career advice. Nothing more.”
“The Army is investigating the leak.”
“That has nothing to do with you.”
“They suspended me.”
Another pause.
Vale lowered his voice.
“We should meet.”
“Where?”
“The parking structure behind Saint Matthew’s Hospital. Level four. Forty minutes.”
Daniel looked toward the investigators.
Rachel shook her head and pointed to a note she had written.
MAKE HIM ASK FOR THE DRIVE.
Daniel swallowed.
“What should I do with the flash drive?”
Vale answered too quickly.
“You still have it?”
“The MPs found one, but my mother made a second copy.”
Rachel watched Daniel carefully. That detail was false, designed to test Vale.
His response came immediately.
“Bring it.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“Why?”
“So I can protect you.”
“You mean protect yourself.”
“Do not become dramatic. Your mother made an arrangement that benefited everyone.”
“What arrangement?”
Vale’s patience disappeared.
“Bring the drive, Captain. Unless you want your wife to discover how much you hated living in her shadow.”
Daniel’s eyes lifted toward Rachel.
Vale continued.
“You complained often enough. Her secrecy. Her influence. Her reputation. You wanted your own future.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“I never agreed to espionage.”
“Big word for a man who left his passwords where his mother could find them.”
Vale ended the call.
The room remained silent.
Daniel stared at the phone.
Rachel spoke first.
“Did you talk to Vale about me?”
“Yes.”
“How often?”
“A few times.”
“What did you tell him?”
“That your position was hurting my chances.”
“Was it?”
“No.”
The honesty surprised her.
Daniel looked at the tabletop.
“I needed someone else to blame because I was afraid I wasn’t advancing fast enough.”
Rachel’s expression softened slightly, but not enough to erase the damage.
“You should tell investigators everything.”
“I will.”
General Hayes entered the room.
“We’ll send Daniel to the meeting wearing a recording device. Tactical teams will remain out of sight.”
Rachel looked at him. “Vale knows my operational history. He may expect surveillance.”
“Then we give him a reason to believe Daniel came alone.”
Daniel understood.
“You want Rachel nearby.”
“No,” Hayes said. “Her involvement is already beyond what I should permit.”
Rachel folded her arms.
“Vale helped compromise military systems and used my marriage as leverage. He knows details about my classified record that Victoria could not have accessed.”
Hayes stared at her.
“You think he had another source.”
“I think he targeted Daniel because of me.”
Daniel looked stricken.
“This was about Rachel?”
“Possibly from the beginning,” she answered.
The meeting took place forty-five minutes later.
Daniel parked on Level Four of the hospital garage. A cold wind swept between concrete pillars.
Vale arrived in a dark sedan.
He stepped out alone, wearing a navy overcoat.
“Where’s the drive?” he asked.
Daniel held up a small envelope.
“First tell me what’s on it.”
“Your future.”
“My mother is facing prison.”
“Your mother understood sacrifice.”
“She understood manipulation.”
Vale’s expression hardened.
“You sound like your wife.”
“Maybe I should have listened to her.”
Vale stepped closer.
“You have no idea what Rachel Monroe is. Her agency buried operations, changed identities, and decided which lives were expendable. Yet she comes home and plays the wounded spouse.”
Daniel’s hands tightened.
“You researched her.”
“I researched the obstacle.”
From behind a concrete pillar, Rachel listened through Daniel’s transmitter.
Vale continued.
“Her marriage made her vulnerable. Your ambition made you useful.”
Daniel’s voice remained steady.
“You leaked the committee briefing to your company.”
“I corrected an unfair procurement process.”
“You committed treason for a contract.”
Vale laughed quietly.
“Don’t use words you don’t understand.”
He reached for the envelope.
Daniel pulled it back.
“Say what you did.”
Vale’s face changed.
He realized.
“You’re recording me.”
He grabbed Daniel by the collar.
Rachel moved from behind the pillar.
“Let him go, Richard.”
Vale froze.
Daniel pulled free.
Vale turned toward Rachel.
“I wondered when you would stop hiding behind him.”
Rachel advanced slowly.
“This ends tonight.”
“You believe one recording will destroy me?”
“No. Your financial transfers, messages to Victoria, and illegal access requests will do that.”
Vale’s confidence faltered.
“You don’t have those.”
Rachel held up her phone.
“Your company’s legal counsel surrendered them twenty minutes ago.”
Vale stepped back toward his car.
Tactical officers appeared at both ends of the garage.
He looked at Daniel with disgust.
“You ruined your own career for her.”
Daniel answered quietly.
“No. I ruined it when I stopped being worthy of her.”
Vale was arrested without further struggle.
As officers led him away, Daniel looked at Rachel.
“Is it over?”
“The investigation is beginning.”
“I meant us.”
Rachel met his eyes.
“Yes.”
He nodded, though the answer clearly hurt.
May you like
“I understand.”
For the first time in years, Rachel believed him.
