My Marine Brother Threw My Visitor Badge Into the Gravel and Mocked Me in Front of His Entire Unit / Chapter 17 / 53

Chapter 17 - The Dying Breath

The mercenary pinned under Mia’s boot coughed, dark arterial blood bubbling past his cracked lips. He stared up at Mia with hollow, fanatical eyes, his hand feebly twitching against the floorboards.

"You're... too late, Major," the man wheezed, recognizing Mia’s rank insignia through bloody teeth. "The manifest was already transmitted from... the armory server... before Miller was picked up."

Mia pressed the muzzle harder against his collarbone. "Who ordered the strike on 412 Magnolia? Was it Al-Zilal himself?"

The man let out a wet, rattling laugh. "Al-Zilal isn't an Afghan phantom, you blind fool. He never was. He’s right here. American flag on his shoulder. Stars on his collar."

Dylan looked up from holding their mother, shock flashing across his features. "What did he just say?"

"Names," Mia demanded, her voice cutting through the man’s failing consciousness. "Give me the call-sign. Who received the armory data package?"

"The... Vanguard... Group," the man gasped, his body seizing in a sudden violent tremor as the trauma from Dylan’s hollow-point rounds took hold. "San Diego Harbor... Pier 4... tonight. Midnight tide."

His head rolled to the side. His pulse vanished against the cold brick.

Mia checked his carotid artery, then stepped back, engaging the safety on her rifle. She looked around the wrecked living room. Her father’s shadowbox lay on the carpet, its glass shattered, the Silver Star medal catching the morning sunlight that filtered through the shattered front window.

"Mia," Evelyn sobbed, Dylan helping her up onto the sofa. "What did he mean? Your father... they said your father’s crash was an equipment failure during a storm."

"It was a cover-up, Mom," Mia said softly, walking over and gently kneeling beside her mother. She brushed a lock of white hair from Evelyn’s forehead. "Dad found out that high-ranking officials in the defense procurement chain were selling surplus weaponry to foreign shell corporations. When he threatened to blow the whistle to the Inspector General, they diverted his flight path into an ambush."

Evelyn covered her mouth with both hands, tears streaming down her bruised cheeks. "David... my David died because he was trying to protect the country from its own leaders?"

"Yes," Mia said. "And they came here today to erase his evidence before we could find it."

Dylan stood up, walking toward the hallway leading to the garage. "The floor safe. Mia, is it still secure?"