Chapter 7
Derek looked around, searching for one friendly face.
He found none.
Captain Bennett nodded to the MPs.
“Escort him to command.”
Derek’s shoulders collapsed.
For the first time since Ava had met him, he looked small.
As the MPs took him away, Sergeant Major Hayes turned to the squad.
His eyes moved across every muddy face.
“Let me make something clear,” he said. “Strength is not who can shout the loudest. It is not who can hit someone when they are down. It is not who can hide behind a uniform and call cruelty leadership.”
No one breathed.
He pointed toward the mud lane.
“Private Monroe was kicked to the ground. She got back up. She told the truth while the man who hurt her laughed in her face.”
Then he looked at Ava.
“That is the kind of soldier I want beside me.”
Ava lowered her eyes.
For the first time that morning, she looked close to tears.
Not because she had been hurt.
Because someone had finally said out loud what she had been trying so hard to earn.
The investigation moved fast after that.
By noon, Derek Cole was removed from training status.
By evening, the two soldiers who had helped him hide Ava’s gear admitted everything.
By the next morning, a formal report confirmed what Ava had been saying for weeks.
She had not failed.
She had been sabotaged.
Her rope climb time had been ruined by missing gloves.
Her navigation score had been altered by a false witness statement.
Her ruck march injury came from a loosened strap that cut deep into her shoulder after eight miles.
Every mark against her name was reviewed.
May you like
Then removed.
Read Part 8 to see Ava return to the same mud pit and take back everything Derek tried to steal.
