USAFA NORTH WING
The message was folded into an inspection checklist. No name. No seal. It was just a hand-delivered printout with routine bunk assignments and a single line at the bottom, typed in all caps:SHE MADE IT TO DENVER.
Krueger didn’t blink. He tore the paper once, tucked the piece with the message into his boot, and left the room without a word.
In the latrine, far stall, he locked the door and sat down. The tiles were cold. The walls smelled of bleach. His pulse ticked against the inside of his wrist.
Alive. Still breathing. That meant she was probably talking. Or she would be soon.
He exhaled through his nose and stared at the back of the stall door like it could offer strategy.This wasn’t panic. It was math.
One: There were no cameras.
Two: No physical evidence tied to him.
Three: Ezra wouldn’t talk. Ever.
Four: She had no proof, only suspicion.
And if she did have something…
He pulled out a burner from his waistband, one he’d prepped months ago. Powered off. No tower data.
He keyed in the number from memory. It rang once. Then a clipped voice answered, “Secure. Go.”
“Dad, I need a name pulled.”
A pause.
“Tell me the situation.”
“I’ve got a cadet under mental health review who just staged a medical incident off-base. She’s now in Chase Security custody, being treated like royalty.”
Another pause.
“Do I need to contact the folks at Wright-Patt AFB?”
“Yes, I need this at Joint Chiefs’ level.”
“Is this exposure-level or contained?”
“It’s heading for exposure unless you block it.”
Silence.
Then the general’s voice came back, low and flat, “Give me her name.”
“Shannon McKenna.”
A beat.
“I’ll handle it.”
Krueger ended the call and killed the phone. He dropped it into the chemical waste bin behind the dorm, where nothing ever came back out. He didn’t smile, but the tension left his shoulders as he walked back inside.
His father had survived four administrations, two scandals, and the collapse of an overseas theater. A cadet’s word wouldn’t bring down a man like that or his son. Not without bodies.
Shannon McKenna, for now, was still a ghost in a hospital bed. And if he moved fast enough, she’d stay one.
