It was my father’s personal diary from his final year of service.

I opened the cover.

On the first page, in his neat, military handwriting, was a date.

July 14, 2018.

Beside the date was a handwritten paragraph, and pinned to the page was a single, folded sheet of paper.

I unfolded the paper, my flashlight shaking slightly as the beam hit the text.

It was an official memorandum, stamped with the faded red ink of the Department of Defense Joint Staff.

At the top, the classification marking had been roughly lined through with a black felt-tip marker.

My eyes scanned the first paragraph, the cold draft from the floorboards numbing my bare ankles.

“To whom it may concern,” the paper read, the ink slightly smeared at the margins.

“The following records document the unauthorized transfer of light ordnance from the Kandahar depot between February and May of 2018.”

“These transfers were authorized under a forged signature bearing my name, General Thomas Vale.”

My fingers tightened on the paper, the dry wood pulp crinkling in the silence of the room.