“Master Sergeant. Colonel.”
My mother stood.
“Captain.”
Captain Hayes looked at the photograph on the table.
Her eyes narrowed.
No one spoke.
Finally, she shut the door behind her.
“Where did you get that?”
My father answered.
“Old file.”
Hayes stepped closer.
“Do you understand what you’re holding?”
“Yes.”
She looked at me.
“Madison, return to your room.”
I didn’t move.
My mother’s voice was calm.
“Captain, she deserves to know.”
Hayes looked at my mother.
“She deserves to stay alive.”
The room went silent.
My heartbeat slowed.
Alive.
Not safe.
Not enrolled.
Alive.
My father’s expression hardened.
“What happened?”
Captain Hayes placed a phone on the table.
The screen showed a paused security image.
A delivery entrance.
A shadowed figure.
A package.
“The Academy received an anonymous envelope thirty minutes ago,” Hayes said. “It contained a copy of the video, a list of names, and a note.”
She swiped the screen.
The note appeared.
Four words.
PARKER KNOWS TOO MUCH.
My mother inhaled once.
My father went completely still.
Captain Hayes looked at me.
“Do you?”
I stared at the message.
Parker knows too much.
Not Michael Parker.
