Page 76 of Broken Oath

Director Alan Madow remained protected behind layers of classified authority.

Senator Richard Vance had announced his intention to seek reelection.

General Robert Sheffield continued overseeing sensitive military operations.

Walter Graves had received a promotion.

Commander Jerry Rhodes had vanished from public view.

Mac Stenson had been placed on administrative leave after classified files were discovered on his home computer.

Every development created more questions.

None of them gave Rook what he needed.

Proof.

Sniper leaned against the table.

“What about Stenson?”

“Still under investigation,” Fathom said.

“For leaking classified intelligence?”

“That’s the official accusation.”

“You don’t believe it?”

“I believe someone wanted investigators to find those files.”

Rook looked at Stenson’s photograph.

The evidence against him had appeared too neatly.

No hidden accounts.

No suspicious travel.

No apparent motive.

Then classified mission files were suddenly discovered inside his home.

It looked less like a mistake and more like a frame.

“Someone may be cleaning up the list,” Rook said.

Fathom nodded. “Make Stenson the traitor, convict him in a closed hearing, and declare the mountain solved.”

Sniper’s expression hardened. “While the people responsible walk away.”

“Exactly.”

Rook looked toward Walter Graves’s photograph.

Graves had received a promotion less than five months after six SEALs were buried.

That didn’t prove anything.