Free Broken Honor by Patricia; Potter Page B

for all that had happened to her?
    But before he could consider that possibility further, one of the detectives turned to the security guards still in the room. “Take the colonel outside and wait with him,” he said.
    One of the policemen put a hand on Irish’s arm.
    Irish shrugged it off, then turned to Amy. “I want to help.”
    Her eyes met his again, and for a split second he saw the fear she’d been so valiantly trying to hide. Fear and suspicion. Then she turned back to the detective, effectively dismissing him.
    Irish turned and followed the security guards out. He’d lost this round.
    Dammit! How was he going to get her to trust him? And if not, how in the devil was he going to get those boxes? They had to be the key to something. Just what, he didn’t know.
    But someone must. He realized that now.
    For a moment he wondered whether he really wanted to pry into fifty-year-old secrets. What if his grandfather …?
    Also, his career might be on the line. His commanding officer would not approve of what he was doing.
    But now he had no choice. Someone else was in the game, and he, or she, had deadly intentions. If Irish had unintentionally opened Pandora’s box, then he was responsible for closing it again. Even if it meant ending his career. Or worse.

seven
    W ASHINGTON , D.C.
    Dustin Eachan looked down at the pile of messages. It had been an endless day, and he knew he’d been uncommonly distracted by personal worries. Usually, he could direct his attention to the immediate problem and wipe everything else from his mind.
    Not today.
    He’d asked his secretary to hold his calls as he’d tried to put together a list of options and recommendations concerning a coup in an African country. There were pleas for American help from the ousted government and a request for recognition by the new regime. He’d requested the latest intelligence on both parties and asked his staff to prepare alternative plans.
    Dammit, the process of putting together options and making recommendations just didn’t appeal to him today, and not only because there weren’t any good ones.
    He continued to flip through messages, stopping at two. One from a Colonel Flaherty, another from Sally with “Urgent” on it.
    Dustin looked at his watch. After seven. Sally should be home. He hesitated over Flaherty’s number. He knew a great deal about Flaherty. He had made the man his business since the Army officer first sought information from the commission, and none of what he’d learned made him feel good.
    Flaherty was a bulldog. A maverick who got results. He’d been promoted despite some less than glowing reports, perhaps thanks to important champions.
    That’s what worried Dustin.
    He’d done what he could to keep the commission report as low-key as possible. Then some damned reporter got hold of it, and now Flaherty was making waves that threatened to become a tidal wave.
    He didn’t need this now. His next career step would require congressional approval, and that meant extensive background checks, even more intense than those he’d already experienced. The opposition party would do whatever they could to block him. He’d made his share of enemies on the way up.
    His grandfather’s flawless reputation had helped him get where he was. So had his father’s.
    Now they could all be tainted by something that happened fifty years ago. There had to be a way of stopping Flaherty.
    He called Sally first.
    She picked up on the first ring. Dustin heard the panic in her voice.
    â€œDustin, thank God you called. A man named Flaherty called me. He said he was the grandson of … one of the other people named in the article. He said we may be in danger.”
    â€œDid he say why?”
    â€œThe granddaughter of General Mallory has been attacked, and it might have something to do … with the report about the train.”
    â€œThat’s