Chapter 1 - THE MEDAL THAT SHOULD NOT EXIST
Colonel Marcus Vance held the tarnished medal beneath the chandelier.
For several seconds, he appeared unable to speak.
Maya stood across from him with one arm wrapped around her crying daughter.
The red mark from Victoria Sterling’s slap still burned across her cheek.
Her husband, Ethan Sterling, remained beside the banquet table.
He had finally lifted his head.
But he still had not moved toward her.
Victoria forced a laugh.
“You are frightening my guests over a piece of garbage.”
Vance turned slowly.
“That piece of garbage was awarded only twice in American military history.”
The nervous whispers stopped.
Senator Conrad Vaughn, whose financial empire was about to merge with the Sterling family’s company, lowered his champagne glass.
Victoria’s smile tightened.
“To whom?”
Vance looked down at the faded insignia.
A silver eagle surrounded a small black star.
Beneath it were three nearly invisible letters.
A.
H.
C.
“The first medal belonged to General Alexander Hale Cross.”
Several older guests reacted to the name.
Alexander Cross had once been one of the most respected intelligence officers in the country.
He had disappeared twenty-four years earlier after a classified convoy was attacked near the Texas border.
The government declared him dead.
His daughter and infant granddaughter vanished on the same night.
No bodies were ever found.
Vance raised the medal.
“The second belonged to me.”
Maya stared at him.
“You have one like it?”
Vance reached beneath his dress uniform and removed a matching silver pendant.
The two medals were almost identical.
Except Maya’s carried a small scratch across the eagle’s wing.
Vance touched that mark with one finger.
“I made this scratch myself.”
The room became silent.
Victoria looked toward the security guards.
“You heard enough.”
“Open the doors and remove her.”
“No one leaves,” Vance said.
“This banquet hall may now contain evidence connected to an unsolved military kidnapping.”
Ethan finally stepped forward.
“Kidnapping?”
Vance ignored him.
He approached Maya carefully.
“Where did you get this medal?”
“It was found with me.”
“Where?”
“Beside a highway outside El Paso.”
“When?”
“Twenty-four years ago.”
Vance’s face tightened.
“How old were you?”
“They estimated I was two.”
He looked into her eyes again.
Then he asked a question that made Senator Vaughn suddenly step backward.
“Did the police also find a red blanket with silver stitching?”
Maya’s breath caught.
“Yes.”
Vance closed his hand around the medal.
“That blanket belonged to General Cross’s granddaughter.”
Victoria’s voice became sharp.
“This proves nothing.”
Vance looked at her.
“It proves Maya was not abandoned.”
“She was taken.”
At that exact moment, Senator Vaughn moved toward the side exit.
A security guard blocked him.
Vance watched the senator’s face.
May you like
Then he spoke quietly.
“Someone in this room already knew who Maya was.”
