Chapter 2 - The Car That Left
Colonel Mitchell did not allow Reyes to remove the cuffs.
“Your supervisor will do it.”
Reyes stared at her.
“I can release my own detainee.”
Mitchell’s expression never changed.
“You just informed me you believed Major Washington’s federal military credential was fraudulent without verifying it. You are not touching her again until your command arrives.”
Reyes reddened.
“This is civilian jurisdiction.”
“You’re correct.”
Mitchell stepped closer.
“That is why I am not ordering your arrest. I am ordering my personnel to preserve what they witnessed while your department decides what to do with you.”
Kyle looked away.
Alexis remained on her knees.
The pavement hurt badly now.
Mitchell noticed.
“Alexis?”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re not.”
“I said I’m fine.”
Mitchell knew better than to argue publicly.
A Greenfield Police sergeant arrived seven minutes later.
Sergeant Olivia Grant took one look at the situation and stopped walking.
Alexis.
Dress blues.
Handcuffs.
Three government SUVs.
Colonel Mitchell.
Two officers suddenly unable to make eye contact.
Grant whispered, “Jesus.”
Reyes rushed toward her.
“Sergeant, she was acting suspicious.”
Grant looked at Alexis.
Then at the CAC in Kyle’s hand.
“Did you verify that?”
Silence.
Grant turned toward Reyes.
“Danny.”
“I was going to.”
“When?”
“He interfered,” Reyes said, pointing at Kyle.
Kyle’s head snapped toward him.
“What?”
“You had the card.”
“Because you handed it to me.”
Grant held up a hand.
“Enough.”
She approached Alexis.
“Major Washington, I’m Sergeant Grant. I’m going to remove the cuffs.”
Alexis nodded.
“Thank you.”
The cuffs came off.
Red marks circled both wrists.
Mitchell’s jaw tightened.
Grant saw them too.
“Medical attention?”
“No.”
“Major—”
“No ambulance.”
Alexis stood slowly.
Her knees protested.
She ignored them.
Mitchell handed her the CAC after Kyle surrendered it.
Alexis looked at Kyle.
“You could have checked.”
His shame became visible.
“Yes, ma’am.”
Reyes scoffed.
“Oh, come on.”
Kyle turned.
“Stop.”
Reyes stared.
“What did you say?”
“I said stop.”
It was the first time Kyle had openly challenged his partner.
Alexis noticed.
So did everyone else.
Grant ordered both officers’ body cameras preserved and separated them.
Mitchell pulled Alexis aside.
“You missed check-in by four minutes.”
“I was occupied.”
“I noticed.”
“Someone followed me.”
Mitchell’s face changed.
“Where?”
“Joint administration building. Silver sedan.”
“Plate?”
“Partial. Illinois. Seven-Kilo…”
Alexis stopped.
“Three-two.”
Mitchell immediately signaled one of the SUV personnel.
“Run it.”
The man moved toward his vehicle.
Mitchell lowered her voice.
“Are you certain?”
“I saw it twice before the gas station.”
“Why didn’t you report it?”
“I thought it was coincidence.”
“You don’t believe in coincidence.”
“Apparently today I experimented.”
Mitchell did not smile.
“What did the driver look like?”
“Male. Baseball cap. Forty to fifty.”
“Did he approach?”
“No.”
“Photograph?”
“No.”
Mitchell looked irritated.
Not with Alexis.
With herself.
Alexis had been under protected transfer because of what she had discovered three weeks earlier.
Officially, the matter concerned procurement irregularities.
Unofficially, it concerned twenty-three million dollars in Army logistics contracts that did not make sense.
Alexis had been serving on a procurement-integrity review team when she noticed that equipment listed as delivered to three Midwest installations had never arrived.
The contractor was Sentinel Ridge Systems.
The invoices had signatures.
Dates.
Receiving confirmations.
But the warehouses were empty.
At first everyone assumed clerical fraud.
Then one civilian auditor disappeared from work.
Not physically vanished.
He resigned overnight.
Closed his apartment.
Left no forwarding information.
Two days later Alexis received an anonymous photograph of her mother’s house.
That was when the case became protected.
That was why Mitchell had assigned secure check-ins.
Now a silver sedan had followed Alexis.
And a local officer had detained her minutes before she was supposed to reach the transfer point.
Alexis looked toward Reyes.
“You think he was part of it?”
Mitchell followed her gaze.
“We don’t know.”
“He didn’t ask where I was going.”
“Police stops don’t require conspiracy.”
“No.”
Alexis rubbed her wrists.
“But timing does.”
An SUV driver returned.
“Colonel.”
Mitchell turned.
“The partial plate matches a silver Chevrolet registered to Northline Asset Services.”
Alexis stared.
She knew the name.
Northline Asset Services was a subsidiary of Sentinel Ridge.
Mitchell’s face went cold.
“Get our legal team.”
The man returned to the SUV.
Alexis looked at Pump Six.
At the cruiser.
At Reyes.
“What are the chances?”
Mitchell answered honestly.
“Too low for me to ignore.”
Across the lot, Sergeant Grant was questioning Kyle.
Reyes stood alone near the cruiser.
His phone vibrated.
He checked it quickly.
Alexis saw his face change.
He deleted the message.
Then looked around.
His eyes met hers.
For one second neither moved.
Alexis knew that expression.
Fear.
Not embarrassment.
Not regret.
Fear.
Reyes put the phone away.
Alexis walked toward Mitchell.
“We need his phone preserved.”
“Why?”
“He just deleted something.”
Mitchell looked toward Sergeant Grant.
“Civilian chain.”
“I know.”
Alexis stepped toward Grant.
But before she reached her, Reyes suddenly spoke.
“I need my union rep.”
Grant frowned.
“You’ll get one.”
“And I’m not answering anything else.”
“That’s your right.”
Reyes looked at Alexis.
Then at the three SUVs.
His voice dropped.
“You people have no idea what you just stepped into.”
The forecourt went silent.
Alexis stared at him.
“You mean what you stepped into.”
Reyes said nothing.
But Kyle had heard him.
May you like
![92 The Girl They Called Broke Was a Billionaire’s Daughter—But Her Father’s Arrival Exposed a Secret Powerful People Had Buried for Years]](https://cdn.treeiq.biz/site_590/2026/11/clone-0-0915d882-53d7-4d17-b43a-a010ca1a1068.webp)
And whatever Kyle Marsh had believed five minutes earlier was gone.
Because now he was staring at his partner as though he had never really known him.
