Chapter 15 - I Went Back Without The Mask
Five months later, my photograph was gone from the Fort Grant memorial wall.
The screw holes were still there.
Nobody had rushed to fill them.
I liked that.
My service record had been restored.
Not my career.
I had resigned while legally dead under circumstances nobody had designed policy for.
The Army offered a process.
I had not decided whether I wanted it.
Vanessa remained out of command pending final findings.
She was still a general.
For now.
Her lawyers hated that phrase.
Julian Voss had not been convicted of anything.
His firm's contracts connected to the continuity network were suspended while federal investigators reviewed them.
Several people who had worked under him were cooperating.
Others were fighting.
Real investigations take longer than revenge.
Leah had given investigators five identities.
People she believed had been hidden without meaningful consent.
Three had already been found alive.
One wanted nothing to do with the government.
One had been dead for two years.
Six names remained with Leah.
That fight was ongoing.
I entered the canteen at noon.
No cap.
No mask.
Some people stared.
Most did not.
Soldiers have their own lunches to eat.
Vanessa sat at a table near the same place where I had thrown her onto the floor.
Civilian clothes again.
She stood when she saw me.
Then stopped.
“Can I?”
I knew what she meant.
Hug.
I shook my head.
“Not today.”
She nodded.
“Okay.”
I sat.
Leah joined ten minutes later.
No disguise.
She put her phone on the table.
“Investigators asked again.”
Vanessa looked at her.
“For the six?”
“Yes.”
“What did you say?”
“No.”
Vanessa inhaled.
I watched her catch herself.
“What do you want to do?”
Leah almost smiled.
“Better.”
“Answer.”
“I don't know.”
One of the six had sent Leah a message through an attorney.
I AM SAFE.
DO NOT USE MY NAME TO FIX YOUR CASE.
Another had no contact route at all.
Two had families still publicly mourning them.
Vanessa said:
“The families deserve truth.”
Leah looked at her.
“The people might deserve privacy.”
“They were declared dead.”
“I know.”
“That isn't something you can just leave.”
“No.”
Leah's voice sharpened.
“But neither is dragging a living person out of hiding because a committee needs a complete chart.”
I sat between them.
Bad position.
Vanessa looked at me.
“What do you think?”
I laughed.
“You both really want to start that again?”
She stopped.
Leah did too.
Good.
I took a drink.
Then Vanessa said:
“Fair.”
Leah looked toward the memorial wall.
My empty space.
“Your mother doing okay?”
“Some days.”
“Does she hate me?”
“She'll decide that herself.”
Vanessa nodded.
She and Laura had spoken once.
Twenty minutes.
Neither told me details.
I had survived not knowing.
Mostly.
Leah looked at me.
“Do you hate Julian?”
“Yes.”
“Simple.”
“Not really.”
He had exploited the dead-person system.
Protected some people.
Controlled others.
Let my false death continue because it benefited him.
Never created the fire.
Possibly never entered the first death record.
I didn't need him to have caused every bad thing before I could hold him responsible for his choices.
Vanessa stood.
“I have a meeting.”
“With?”
She looked at me.
I raised both hands.
“Sorry.”
She almost smiled.
“Review counsel.”
She looked at Leah.
“Dinner Sunday?”
Leah took time.
“Maybe.”
Old Vanessa would have heard yes beginning.
This one nodded.
“Text me.”
Then left.
Leah watched her go.
“You think she's changed?”
“Some.”
“Enough?”
“I don't know.”
She nodded.
Then:
“Do you think I should give them the six names?”
I stared at her.
“Do you want my answer?”
She thought.
“No.”
“Good.”
She laughed.
We finished lunch.
At the far entrance, two civilians entered wearing visitor badges.
For half a second my body tensed.
Then they walked toward a table.
Nothing happened.
No hidden woman.
No Julian.
No one calling me dead.
Leah stood.
“Rachel.”
“What?”
“I’m leaving town for a while.”
I looked at her.
“Running?”
“No.”
“You sure?”
“No.”
Good answer.
“Does Vanessa know?”
“No.”
“Are you telling her?”
“Maybe.”
I almost smiled.
Leah put on her coat.
No cap.
No mask.
At the exit she stopped.
“The six names…”
I waited.
“I made another copy before I gave Holt anything.”
My first instinct arrived immediately.
Where?
Who?
Give it to me.
I felt all three questions.
Asked none.
Leah watched my face.
“You want to know.”
“Yes.”
“Are you going to ask?”
“Not today.”
She smiled slightly.
“Painful?”
“Extremely.”
Then she left.
I stayed in the canteen.
My old memorial space was still visible across the room.
An empty patch on the wall where somebody once needed one version of me to remain permanent.
I finished my coffee.
May you like
Nobody told me what happened next.
For once, I didn't chase them down the hallway to make them.
