Chapter 5 - The Circle Closes
The name hung in the damp air of the room like a physical weight.
Bull Crawford.
The arrogant, loudmouthed Marine who had kicked my chair out from under me in the bar just an hour ago wasn't just a random bully letting off steam after a drill. He was an operational asset tied directly to the illegal diversion of military hardware that David Vance had died—or disappeared—trying to expose.
“That’s impossible,” I said, though my mind was already racing, piecing together the impossible puzzle of how a regular Gunny could command that kind of influence. “Crawford is a standard fleet Marine. He commands a squad at the local base.”
“That’s what’s on his personnel file,” Henderson corrected, pulling a folded intelligence brief from his coat pocket and sliding it across the desk. “In reality, Crawford runs the enforcement arm for a private defense conglomerate called Meridian Security. They use active-duty Marines as a recruitment pool for off-the-books domestic security contracts.”
I looked down at the documents. The names, the transfer orders, the financial routing numbers—it was all there, signed off by senior officials whose signatures I recognized from my active-duty days.
“If David had this,” I said, “why didn't he go to the Inspector General?”
“Because the Inspector General’s office is compromised,” Henderson said bitterly. “David tried. That’s why a federal team cleaned out his apartment before you could reach it. And that’s why, when you walked into that bar tonight and humiliated Crawford in front of his men, you didn't just pick a random fight.”
Henderson paused, letting the weight of his next words sink in.
“You walked directly into their radar.”
Before I could answer, a sharp metallic sound echoed from the hallway outside—the distinct, unmistakable click of a tactical radio turning on, followed by heavy boots moving up the stairs in a coordinated, professional sweep.
May you like
Henderson’s face went white. “They tracked the burner signal.”
I drew my blade, the steel sliding from its sheath with a soft hiss, and moved toward the door, my eyes fixed on the frosted glass pane as shadows began to pool outside in the hallway.
