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By the time I reached her building, I had my mind made up. The feds could fuck themselves for all I cared. I had served my country, and I deserved to be allowed my freedom of speech.
Doing so would likely end up with me prosecuted or perhaps losing my military pension, but as long as I had Jade by my side, nothing else mattered.
I walked straight up to the front door of her building and pressed the buzzer for her apartment.
“Yes?”
“It’s me,” I said.
“What are you doing here?”
The door buzzed and clicked. I opened it and went inside. On the way up to her floor in the elevator, I thought again about my decision to be honest with her about what I’d been a part of during my time while serving in Afghanistan.
My mind and my heart battled the whole way up. When I stepped out of the elevator, doubts hit me hard. Was I making yet another mistake?
I pushed the self-doubt aside and made my way to her apartment. She stood in the doorway, waiting as I approached. I saw a look of concern on her face.
“What are you doing here?” she hissed, stepping back into her apartment.
“We’ve got to talk. I don’t like the way our last conversation ended,” I said, walking in and closing her door.
“Me either.”
“Wow, you’ve really been working,” I said, glancing at all the papers scattered around her living room.
“You don’t know the half of it. It’s been crazy, but it’s all coming together.”
I took a deep breath.
“I’ve given it a lot of thought, and I’ll allow you to use me as a named source.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah.” I put a hand on her waist. “If we’re serious about our relationship moving forward, we need to work together.”
“You’re sure, you’re sure?”
I nodded.
“What do you need me to do?”
“Answer some questions and let me connect the dots. You need to read what I’ve written so far.”
She pointed to her laptop on coffee table in her living room. I walked over and sat down. After scrolling up to the top of the long article, I read what she had compiled so far.
The words on the screen moved me emotionally, something I wasn’t accustomed to happening. As I read, she sat down on the couch next to me, our legs touching.
“Damn…” I muttered.
“It gets worse. I told you it went high up.”
“They made tens of billions of dollars.”
“You can kind of see why they’ve kept the war going for over ten years now, huh?”
I shook my head, furious at myself for having been involved at the lower levels.
“How could I have been involved in this? The money was good, but we’re talking a couple hundred thousand dollars in return for risking my life over there…and these guys walk away with billions?”
