Chapter 4
The entire squad went silent.
Derek’s face changed.
First confusion.
Then anger.
Then fear.
The kind of fear that arrives when a man realizes the room has shifted and he is no longer standing where he thought he was.
“Sergeant Major,” Derek said quickly, “she slipped. I was trying to—”
Hayes cut him off.
“Don’t.”
The word landed harder than a shout.
Derek swallowed.
Ava stood in the mud, breathing hard, one arm held close to her side.
Hayes looked straight at Derek.
“Fall out.”
Derek went pale.
“Sergeant Major, with respect—”
“Now.”
No one laughed this time.
No one looked away.
Derek stepped out of the lane like his boots had suddenly turned to stone.
But that was not the end.
It was the beginning of everything Derek had been trying to bury.
Twenty minutes later, the squad stood under the covered training shed, soaked and silent.
Ava sat on a wooden bench while a medic checked her shoulder.
Derek stood alone near the equipment table, his face tight with rage.
Captain Laura Bennett arrived with two military police officers beside her.
That was when the whispers started.
The soldiers thought Derek was in trouble for the kick.
They didn’t know the camera had recorded more than one moment.
It had been mounted on the low training barrier since dawn.
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Hayes had put it there after three anonymous complaints came across his desk.
Read Part 5 to see the footage that destroyed every lie Derek had told.
