The Colonel didn’t smile. “We’re here about George Fletcher.”
Aaliyah gripped the doorframe. “George?”
“General Ashford received your letter,” Colonel Hayes said. “She wants to speak with you. Personally.”
“Now?”
“There is a car waiting downstairs. We have a flight scheduled for 0900 hours out of O’Hare to Washington D.C.”
“I have work,” Aaliyah said stupidly. “I have a shift at the hospital.”
“We’ve already contacted your employer,” the Colonel said. “Your shift is covered. Please pack a bag, Miss Cooper. You’ll be gone for two days.”
CHAPTER FOUR: THE PENTAGON
The flight was a blur. The car ride to the Pentagon was a blur. Aaliyah felt like she was floating, detached from reality. She was wearing her best outfit—black slacks and a white blouse she usually saved for church—but she felt underdressed walking through the massive corridors of the Pentagon.
The building hummed with power. People walked fast, carrying folders marked SECRET.
Colonel Hayes led her to a heavy oak door. OFFICE OF THE INSPECTOR GENERAL.
Inside, the office was spacious, lined with books and flags. Behind a massive mahogany desk sat a woman. She had silver hair pulled back in a severe bun and four stars on her shoulders.
General Victoria Ashford.
She stood up. She was smaller than Aaliyah expected, but she radiated an intensity that made the air feel thin.
“Miss Cooper,” the General said. She didn’t stay behind the desk. She walked around and extended a hand. “Thank you for coming.”
Aaliyah shook it. “General.”
“Please, sit.”
They sat on leather couches. General Ashford picked up the envelope Aaliyah had mailed. It was opened now.
“I knew George Fletcher for thirty years,” the General said softly. “He was the best helicopter pilot I ever saw. He flew me out of a hot zone in Mogadishu when my bird went down. He saved my life. He saved a lot of lives.”
“He told me he knew you,” Aaliyah said. “I thought… I thought he was confused.”
“He wasn’t confused,” Ashford said. “He was discarded.”
The General’s face tightened. “George worked Deep Cover operations. Black ops. When he retired, there was a clerical error in the transition of his files. His records were sealed so tight that the VA couldn’t access them. He applied for benefits, and the computer said he didn’t exist. He tried to appeal, but without his records, he had no proof.”
She looked at Aaliyah. “He was too proud to call me. He tried to fight the bureaucracy alone. And he lost. The system he served chewed him up and spit him out on a street corner.”
Aaliyah felt tears prick her eyes. “He was hungry. He was just hungry.”
“And you fed him,” Ashford said. She looked at Aaliyah with an expression of intense respect. “You didn’t know he was a hero. You didn’t know he saved Senators. You just saw a hungry old man, and you shared what little you had.”
The General opened a folder.
“George wrote everything in his notebook. He tracked every day you came. He wrote that you were the only reason he didn’t give up on humanity.”
Ashford pulled out a document.
“Next week, the Senate Oversight Committee is holding a hearing on Veteran homelessness and the failure of the VA record system. I am going to testify. And I want you to sit next to me.”
“Me?” Aaliyah whispered.
“I can talk about policy,” Ashford said. “I can talk about numbers. But you? You are the witness. You are the proof of our failure, and the proof of what decency looks like.”
CHAPTER FIVE: THE HEARING
