My hotel phone received repeated calls from an unknown number.
I ignored them.
Eventually I listened to the voicemail.
Chloe.
Crying for real now.
“Harper, you need to call me,” she said. “Something’s wrong with the cards. They’re all getting declined. I don’t know what you did, but this isn’t funny.”
Delete.
This wasn’t a negotiation.
Day three, Richard left another message.
“The insurance company called,” he said. “Our coverage is being reviewed. You need to fix this.”
He still believed something had malfunctioned.
That I would step in and repair it.
Delete.
Day four brought silence.
That meant they were trying to patch things themselves.
Good.
Day five brought the real consequence.
I was on base near the formation area when an officer approached Vance.
Command presence.
Direct movement.
No warning.
The officer said something brief.
Vance immediately stiffened.
Then he stepped out of formation and followed.
