Confrontation at the Dining Table

Malik reached Rusk's table first.

Rusk snapped the laptop shut and swung it like a weapon. Malik blocked the strike, but two civilians grabbed him from behind. Soldiers scattered between fear and instinct, some trying to leave, others protecting the men who controlled their evaluations.

Emma pulled Owen upright. "Can you walk?"

"I think so."

Jake entered the cage and locked the door behind him.

"Give me the memory card," he said.

"You mean the one Daniel kept?"

His surprise confirmed he had not known about it.

"Collins told me you had tonight's recordings."

"He is using you to clean the evidence."

"He is protecting the unit."

"From what? Soldiers who say stop?"

Jake moved toward her. Owen stood between them despite the bruises forming across his ribs.

"Get out of the way," Jake ordered.

"No, Staff Sergeant."

It was the first time Owen had refused him.

Jake's fist tightened. Emma watched the decision reach his face. If he struck Owen now, the last excuse would disappear.

He shoved the private aside instead.

Emma caught Owen before he fell. Jake lunged for her phone. They collided against the cage, fighting for the device rather than victory. Emma trapped his wrist, but someone opened the cage door behind her and drove a shoulder into her back.

She hit the mat.

The attacker wore a dark hood. Mint gum sharpened the air.

The same man from the field house.

He kicked the phone away and reached for it. Jake grabbed his sleeve.

"Who are you?"

The hood slipped back.

Sergeant First Class Nolan Briggs stared at them.

"You?" Jake said.

Briggs struck Jake across the jaw with the heel of his hand. Jake fell against the cage. Briggs seized Emma's phone and ran through the equipment corridor.

By the time military police reinforcements entered, the emergency lights had returned. Rusk and Collins were gone. So were the laptop and betting phones.

Malik sat against the wall with blood on his lip. His body camera had been torn from his vest.

Collins returned twelve minutes later wearing his uniform. He claimed an anonymous call had reported an illegal gathering organized by Emma and Malik. Rusk's civilians identified Emma as the promoter. Pike said she had ordered the match.

Owen tried to contradict them.

Collins produced forms bearing Owen's signature. They described voluntary participation and named Emma as the person who recruited him.

"I never signed that," Owen said.

"It is your digital signature," Collins replied.

Jake remained silent.

Emma was placed in temporary detention for trespassing, assault, and organizing unauthorized training. Malik was suspended from investigative duty. The gym was sealed, but under Collins's authority.

At sunrise, Captain Morgan arrived with a civilian attorney and secured Emma's release.

"Headquarters accepted Collins's version," Morgan said. "The external copy of Daniel's video helps, but they say it could have been edited."

"Briggs took my phone."

"His wife reported him missing an hour ago."

Emma stopped walking.

"He did not take it for Collins," she said. "He took it because it showed Collins."

Morgan looked toward the gym. "Then where is he?"

Emma's answer came from a call on Morgan's phone.

State police had found Briggs's truck at the bottom of an embankment fifteen miles from the base.

The driver's seat was empty.

A trail of blood led into the trees.