Chapter 3 - The Targets That Would Not Stay Honest
The audit began six weeks earlier.
Ammunition records from Pike’s range did not match actual inventory.
Thousands of precision rounds had supposedly been expended during training.
Target telemetry showed fewer shots.
Qualification scores appeared unusually high despite inconsistent grouping data.
Three recruits who initially failed advanced marksmanship were recorded as passing without completing documented retests.
Someone was changing results.
At first, headquarters suspected administrative negligence.
Then a civilian vendor reported that military ammunition matching Fort Benning lot numbers had appeared in a private tactical-training facility outside Savannah.
The rounds were expensive, traceable, and restricted.
Pike oversaw both range inventory and performance certification.
He also approved the vendor that collected damaged targets and spent casings.
That created the perfect route.
Live ammunition left the installation inside disposal containers.
False firing totals covered the loss.
Adjusted scores kept the program’s success rate high enough to prevent outside review.
Sarah was assigned to examine the logistics chain because she understood both inventory systems and range behavior.
She arrived without announcing the criminal inquiry.
Pike believed she was conducting a routine count.
He allowed her access to ammunition records but kept the electronic target logs restricted.
That was his first mistake.
His second was leaving the hidden drive beneath the ammunition-box lid after downloading altered score files from the range computer.
His third was assuming Sarah could not shoot well enough to notice that the recorded wind corrections did not match the actual target impacts.
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The targets were not merely measuring recruits.
They were documenting fraud.
