Page 145 of The Deadly Shallows

“John’s dad was dishonorably discharged too,” Noah said.

“What?” Emmy spewed her root beer across Logan’s pressed white shirt. “Sorry,” she murmured.

“No problem.” He chuckled, handing her a handkerchief.

She used it to dab the fizz from her mouth. “Sorry, boss,” Emmy said.

“All good,” Noah replied.

“Are you sure about Frank Mirch?” Emmy said. “It took calling in some serious favors, but I got a copy of Frank Mirch’s military records.”

“I’m highly impressed,” Noah said.

“Well, don’t get too excited. Ninety-five percent was redacted, and I’m not exaggerating. The longest phrase I got was ‘trained at Camp Lejeune.’”

“Frank trained on my brother-in-law’s base?” Noah’s chest constricted. “If he wasn’t dishonorably discharged, it would give me great pause to know a killer lived on the same base as my sister, brother-in-law, and, most especially, the kiddos.”

“We know what Scott did to warrant discharge,” Emmy said. “Did John say what his dad did? It wasn’t in his file, or it was part of what was redacted.”

“He and his Raiders team were resting in between ops at an enemy internment camp in Afghanistan when a riot broke out among the detainees,” Noah said. “They were overtaking the few Marine guards, so Frank stepped in—put a maul to the head of the detainee stirring up all the trouble. Killed him flat. The body was disposed of. No one said a thing. Nothing came of it until his team returned to the States, and one of the men outed him. It almost went to trial, but that wasn’t something the US military or government wanted to come to light, so they quietly dishonorably discharged him and sealed his records.”

“I can only imagine how quiet they wanted to keep that,” Logan said.

“Needless to say, Frank didn’t take what he deemed a betrayal by his brother-in-arms and the military leaders he’d served for nearly thirty-five years well.”

“He fell off the map, so to speak,” Brooke said. “When Scott committed the heist, John believed it was payback for what the military had done to their father.”

“And the dad?” Logan asked.

“He was nowhere to be found while Scott was on trial. Nor has he visited him in prison, according to the man in charge. However,” Noah said, “Brooke has a theory.”

“It’s our theory, really.”

She’d come up with it. She was just being gracious.

“Please,” Noah said, indicating for her to go ahead.

“Jack Weaver, Scott’s defense attorney, said two pivotal things,” Brooke began. “One, Scott refused to ask his family to speak on his behalf. And two, Weaver believed there was a fifth man involved. Someone who knew the off-the-books cryptocurrency account existed in the first place.”

“Someone who’d participated in off-the-book missions and worked with the intelligence community on several key missions,” Noah said.

“Frank Mirch,” Mason said.

“We can’t be sure with his redacted record, but Marine Raiders are serious special ops. According to John Mirch, we know his father did tours in the Persian Gulf War, Operation Desert Storm, and Afghanistan. He was right in there.”

“So you think Frank was incensed at being ‘betrayed,’” Logan said, using air quotes, “knew about this cryptocurrency account, reached out to his son with brilliant computer skills, and got him to steal the money? They most likely worked with the three instructors, intending to use their skills for what they needed, then set them up to take the blame, but the three double-crossed Scott, leaving him holding the bag.”

“You’ve got it,” Noah said.

“So now all of this is payback for his son going to prison?” Rissi asked.

“Well, the money Scott stole disappeared after he was in custody, and it’s untraceable,” Brooke said. “We think Frank bided his time and used some of the money to plan and coordinate this entire offensive, if you will. He gets back at the military and takes out the three instructors who set up his son to take the fall in one fell swoop.”

“Unbelievable,” Em said, shaking her head.

Noah leaned forward, resting his hands on his knees. “What did you guys find at the farms?” He prayed they found Dwayne, who—if he was right—was Frank’s second-in-command.

Caleb filled him in on the compound they found on the farm in Skipper’s Corner.