Gunning for the Groom Read Free Page A

want to be exposed.
    If she looked inside, there would be no going back, no way to undo whatever she learned. Holding back or walking away—those weren’t valid options, either. Not for Frankie.
    â€œDon’t have to like it, just have to do it.” She whispered one of the favorite motivators from her SEAL training as she opened the box. She didn’t have to act on it; she just had to know.
    An envelope marked Top Secret was no surprise, though surely the evidence against her father should rate a higher clearance level. Under the envelope she found a flash drive, half a map and two passports. Slipping the drive into her pocket, she discovered both passports had her mother’s picture beside different names and birth dates.
    Assuming John had gathered the evidence in this box on her father’s behalf, Frankie wondered how he’d gotten the passports away from her mom. Seduction or burglary? A small voice in her head suggested this field trip was a setup, and Frankie’s temper flared in bitter denial. John was a wild card, definitely, but she would not leap to any conclusions until she’d exhausted every lead.
    Frankie tamped down her frustration. The attention an outburst would bring was the last thing she needed here. She tucked the fake passports into her backpack and kept going.
    A smaller envelope held her father’s dog tags, and her heart stuttered in her chest. She looped the cool metal chain around her fingers. When she was little, her dad had often let her wear his tags when she played dress up with his boots and uniforms. If she’d had any doubts about John’s claims, the dog tags dispelled them. With care, she poured the tags and chain back into the envelope and added it to her backpack. Only one item remained, a small jewelry box covered in worn black velvet.
    Her fingers curled back into her palm. That box didn’t belong here. Her father had kept it on top of his dresser in the bedroom. The ring inside came out only for official functions.
    Frankie popped open the lid, praying she was wrong, that this was something else. It wasn’t. She bit her lip, staring down at her father’s class ring from West Point. Snapping the box shut, she pressed it close to her heart, as if somehow that would make everything that had gone wrong right again.
    This ring was central to her image of her dad, of the honor, dedication and commitment he’d given to every endeavor. She opened the box again, smoothing her finger over the heavy gold band. All her life she’d watched him, captivated by the stories he told as he polished it for special occasions. She’d caught him once just holding it, dazed, when he returned from a deployment. Her mother had told her later that one of his classmates had died.
    When had he stored it here and why? Frankie couldn’t think of a single answer to either question. “I’ll figure it out, Dad. I promise,” she murmured, sliding the ring box into a zippered inner pocket of the backpack.
    Finally, she unwound the red string tying the large envelope closed and shook out the papers inside. After-action reports were on top. She skimmed each page, noting the details that weren’t blacked out. The dates and locations matched what she already knew of General Leone’s final months in Afghanistan.
    She forgot everything else when she found the transcript of her mother’s statement about his activities in Afghanistan. Icy dread tickled the nape of Frankie’s neck and she steeled herself against the involuntary shiver. Sophia Leone had created a report that didn’t support her husband at all. She’d tossed him under the proverbial bus.
    What the hell? Her parents had always been a team. From Frankie’s first memory they’d been affectionate and happy, devoted to each other. They’d embraced life, taught her everything she valued about being in love and being loving. They’d exemplified respect,