“You can’t blame yourself, Dad,” Mackenzie said, clutching his hand in hers. “You gave them an opportunity to stay back, but they did what they thought was right, regardless of the consequences.”
“They weren’t the only casualties that night,” he continued, as if he didn’t even hear Mackenzie. He was in a trance, telling the story he had probably wanted to share for decades. “As we approached the border, a small group of Serbian guards gained on us, haphazardly firing their weapons. It was every man for himself, all of us trying to cross the border into the safe zone as quickly as possible.
“It was chaotic as my team members followed me across the border and concealed ourselves in the heavy forest, all of us letting out a collective sigh. I looked at Harrison, thinking he had Viktor’s wife with him, and grew confused when I saw he didn’t. Several more shots were fired and there was a loud scream. I snapped my head in the direction of the commotion, still trying to hide myself, and saw Irena fall to the ground, clutching her leg.
“The Serbs grabbed her and tied her to a tree. Viktor began firing on the guards, who returned fire. It was ten men against one and, just shy of the border, he fell. He looked at me as blood poured from his chest. His eyes are still permanently ingrained in my memory, pleading with me to finally fire my weapon. I remember feeling the metal of my gun in my hand as I raised it, knowing I was at a crossroads. We were easily outnumbered. The mission was a failure. If I engaged, I risked losing more team members. If we walked away, at least I could ensure the rest of my men would make it home to their families. So I lowered my weapon, refusing to fire. There was one final gunshot and Irena’s body went limp as she remained tied to the tree. I remember being transfixed by the sight of blood pouring from the bullet wound in her head.
“Before we returned to camp, standing with Viktor’s and Irena’s dying bodies just feet from us, we swore to each other that we would never speak about that night. According to us, McKay and Cranston died due to a friendly fire accident during a training session. Harrison even went so far as to forge body transport documents so as not to raise a question about why we were unable to produce their bodies. It wasn’t our fault if they were misplaced. We left Viktor’s and Irena’s bodies because we couldn’t bring them with us.”
“Why didn’t you carry them back to camp with you? Maybe you could have saved them?” Mackenzie asked.
“I wanted to, but I had probably already caused a bigger mess than I could even sweep up. If I brought two bodies, two Serbians, to the closest army medic, there would be an investigation, an inquisition, and I knew it could lead to all of us receiving a dishonorable discharge for disobeying direct orders.”
“What happened after?” I asked, still absorbing his story and failing to see a connection to the embassy fire. “Did you return home?”
“Not right away. The army still wanted intel. Sources come and go all the time in the intelligence world. Just because we lost one contact on the inside didn’t mean our mission was over. We had to keep at it, confronting and bribing any known member of the Serbian forces, at least those we determined could be bought.”
“Bought? How?” My mind started racing, recalling how this man had been accused of selling military secrets and arms to enemy forces. Was this where he got his start in betraying his country?
“We had more weapons than we knew what to do with, and some of these Serbs were more than eager to get their hands on them. So we did a trade. Their information for some guns.”
I narrowed my gaze at him, questioning him.
“I know how it sounds.” He put his hands up defensively. “But if you let me continue, I can tell you who is responsible for the misdeeds of which I am being accused, okay?”
“You mean, you know who did all of those things?” Mackenzie blurted out, her eyes growing wide.
“Yes, little bug,” he responded, his voice soft and pacifying.
“Why didn’t you come forward if you knew who was responsible?” I asked. “Why stay hidden for all those years and take the blame?”
“I didn’t put the pieces together right away. Now, looking back, it was all so obvious, but maybe I didn’t want to see it. Maybe I didn’t want to think that someone I had grown so close to could do something so spiteful as to set me up for treason, which carries the penalty of death.”
“Who?” Mackenzie asked.
Francis sighed. “Harrison Mills.”
“Mr. Mills?” She stared in shock at her father, her mouth open as she tried to process that piece of information. “How? Why?”
“It’s probably my fault he got into everything like he did. During our time in Bosnia, I realized he was remarkably good at the art of persuasion, so he became our man on the ground. He was young, charismatic, just an all-around great person. He was the type of guy you’d drop everything to be around, and this personality even drew the enemy to him. He’d make the deals, while the rest of us worked different angles or tried to determine movements based on intel and coded messages he received. Nearly every day, we’d send him on his way with a truck full of weapons. He’d come back with an empty truck and pages upon pages of his notebook filled with intel. Some of it was good. Some turned out to be false leads.
“After two months, we were pulled out of Bosnia, all of us given an award of distinction for our service to our country while there. We never uttered a word about our one failed mission. To everyone, the operation was a complete success. However, I couldn’t help but think that I was at a turning point in my life so I decided to put in for a transfer to the Army Criminal Investigative Command. I thought with all my special ops and investigative training from the Rangers, it would be a good alternative. Plus, I found out there was a baby on the way.” He looked at Mackenzie and grabbed her hand in his. “I hated the idea of having to spend weeks or months away from my wife and daughter. I was given a role as a special agent before being transferred into Counterintelligence as a supervisory special agent, where I spent the next ten years of my life putting some really horrible people behind bars.”
“But something must have happened toward the end, right?” I asked, knowing there had to be more.
He nodded, releasing his hold on Mackenzie’s hand. “Roughly seven or eight years after I started working in Counterintelligence, I received notice of a new agent who would be part of my team. No information had been given to me, but my superior officer assured me he’d be a great fit since he had just spent the past fifteen years as a Ranger. I was thrilled about having another Ranger under my supervision. That evening, I went home and you could imagine my surprise when I saw Harrison and his family moving into the house next to mine. I hadn’t seen him since the debriefing after Bosnia. When he told me he was my new special agent, I couldn’t have been happier. I took him under my wing, showing him the ropes at Counterintelligence. I trusted him blindly, but I shouldn’t have.”
“When did everything start to spiral out of control?” Mackenzie asked. “Toward the end, I remember you were barely ever home.”
“I thought I was on to something. The clues were all there. Arms shipment going missing overseas, the weapons eventually ending up involved in some big shoot-out between notorious drug cartels and the DEA, among other incidents. I remember thinking about Harrison and his knack for making these kind of deals while we were in Bosnia. I even brought him into my office to question him, especially when I caught wind of an arrangement between someone on the inside and the U.S. ambassador to Liberia. The ambassador had agreed to turn a blind eye and provide tactical support to a large weapons trade that was about to happen with the rebels in Sierra Leone. In exchange, he’d get a percentage of the diamonds for which the weapons were being sold. Harrison swore to me the only time he sold military weapons was under my guidance. I believed him, but I couldn’t let this lead slip through my fingertips.” He shook his head in frustration. “I should have seen it all before, but I blindly requested and was granted permission to go to Liberia and investigate.”