“I’m in the car,” I said, my breath rattling in my throat as I twisted the key in the ignition.

“The General knows about the logbook,” Merritt said.

“He is trying to secure a closed-session military tribunal for tomorrow morning at eight.”

“He wants to handle this internally, Eleanor.”

“I know exactly what he wants,” I said, shifting the car into drive and hitting the gas.

“He wants to protect the institution.”

“He wants to save the army from a public scandal during a congressional budget cycle,” Merritt said.

“Cole’s career will be over anyway, but it will be done behind closed doors where the public can’t see the bodies.”

“That is not enough,” I said.

I looked in the rearview mirror as I pulled away from the curb.

Cole was standing in the middle of the street, his hands flat against his thighs, watching my taillights disappear into the rain.

He did not run after me because he knew he couldn’t catch a moving vehicle.

But his hand was already reaching into his pocket for his own phone.