Chapter 1 - On Your Knees
Major Alexis Washington had spent twelve years learning how not to show fear.
At 4:47 on a cold November afternoon, that training was the only thing keeping Officer Danny Reyes from seeing exactly how furious she was.
Greenfield Fuel Stop sat beside a suburban Illinois highway, its fluorescent canopy glowing against a sky already turning gray. Pump Six clicked steadily beside Alexis’s dark Jeep.
She wore Army dress blues because she had come directly from an official meeting.
Her service ribbons were straight.
Her regulation bun was immaculate.
Her orders required her to reach a protected transfer point before 5:30.
More importantly, she was required to complete a secure check-in at 4:50.
She had three minutes.
Then a police cruiser appeared.
Reyes stepped out first.
His partner, Officer Kyle Marsh, followed.
Reyes approached Alexis with one hand resting near his duty belt.
“You own this Jeep?”
Alexis looked at him.
“Yes.”
“Registration.”
“It’s inside.”
“Get it.”
She opened the driver’s door.
Reyes suddenly grabbed her upper arm.
“Slow down.”
Alexis froze.
“I was retrieving what you requested.”
“Hands where I can see them.”
“They are.”
Kyle stood several feet away, watching.
Alexis noticed his hesitation.
Reyes noticed something else.
Her uniform.
His eyes traveled over the Major insignia.
Then the ribbons.
Then her face.
“What is this?”
Alexis stared at him.
“My uniform.”
“You military?”
“Yes.”
“What branch?”
She almost thought he was joking.
“United States Army.”
Reyes smirked.
“What are you supposed to be?”
Alexis felt something cold settle behind her ribs.
“Major.”
Kyle gave a short laugh.
“Major?”
Alexis looked at him.
“Yes.”
Reyes stepped closer.
“You have military ID?”
“Of course.”
“Show me.”
“My CAC is in my inside pocket.”
“Get it.”
Alexis moved slowly.
Two fingers.
Inside pocket.
Credential.
She extended the Common Access Card.
“Major Alexis Washington.”
Reyes snatched it.
He looked at the photograph.
Then at her.
“This supposed to impress me?”
“No.”
“Looks fake.”
“It isn’t.”
Kyle took the card and studied it.
Alexis turned slightly toward him.
“Verify it.”
Reyes’s hand closed around her arm.
Hard.
“You don’t give orders here.”
Alexis looked down at his fingers gripping her dress uniform.
“Officer, remove your hand.”
That was the moment.
Later, everyone would argue about exactly why Danny Reyes did what he did next.
His attorney would call it a rapidly evolving encounter.
His union representative would say Alexis’s tone escalated things.
Kyle would say Reyes looked insulted.
Alexis would remember something simpler.
He wanted obedience.
“On your knees!”
Reyes twisted her arm downward.
Alexis lost her balance.
Her right knee struck the concrete.
Then her left.
Pain shot upward through her legs.
People inside the convenience store turned toward the windows.
Alexis inhaled sharply.
“I’m an Army Major.”
Reyes pulled her wrists behind her.
“So you say.”
The first cuff clicked shut.
Alexis stared at Kyle.
“My ID.”
Kyle still held it.
“Verify it.”
He looked uncomfortable now.
Reyes closed the second cuff.
Kyle glanced at the card again.
“Major Washington?”
His tone carried disbelief.
Alexis’s eyes hardened.
“Twelve years active service. Verify the credential.”
Reyes leaned near her ear.
“You’re nobody here.”
Alexis went completely still.
Then her phone vibrated inside her uniform.
Once.
Twice.
A sharp secure notification sounded.
Kyle looked toward the pocket.
“What’s that?”
Alexis knew exactly what it was.
4:50.
SECURE CHECK-IN REQUIRED.
She said nothing.
The alert sounded again.
Reyes laughed.
“Someone worried about you?”
Alexis slowly raised her eyes.
“You should answer your radio.”
Reyes frowned.
“What?”
“You should verify my ID.”
Another vibration.
Then silence.
The secure check-in window expired.
Somewhere miles away, a monitoring officer watched Major Washington’s status change from GREEN to OVERDUE.
Alexis met Reyes’s eyes.
“You just missed your chance to keep this small.”
He laughed.
Then shoved her shoulder downward.
“Stay where you are.”
Alexis said nothing.
Because on the highway behind him, three black SUVs had just taken the exit.
They entered the fuel stop less than three minutes later.
The first stopped beside the police cruiser.
The second blocked the eastern driveway.
The third parked near Alexis’s Jeep.
Doors opened.
Men and women in government credentials stepped out.
Then Colonel Claire Mitchell emerged from the center SUV.
Her blonde hair was pulled into a severe military bun.
Her expression was worse.
She saw Alexis kneeling.
Saw the cuffs.
Saw Kyle holding the CAC.
And stopped.
“What,” Mitchell said, “is happening here?”
Reyes turned.
“This is a police matter.”
Mitchell held up official identification.
“Colonel Claire Mitchell, United States Army.”
Kyle looked at the credential in his hand.
Then at Alexis.
His face changed.
Mitchell pointed toward the cuffs.
“Release Major Washington.”
Reyes swallowed.
“I didn’t know.”
Alexis finally spoke.
Her voice was almost quiet.
“You refused to check.”
Reyes looked at Kyle.
Kyle looked at the CAC again.
The three SUVs idled behind them.
And for the first time since the confrontation began, Danny Reyes looked afraid.
But Alexis was no longer looking at him.
She was staring across the forecourt.
At a silver sedan parked near the convenience store.
Its driver had been watching everything.
The moment Colonel Mitchell arrived, the sedan pulled away.
Alexis knew that car.
She had seen it earlier that day.
Outside the building where she had received her protected-transfer orders.
Someone had followed her.
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And suddenly being forced onto her knees at Pump Six no longer looked like a random traffic confrontation.
It looked like an interruption.
