BREAKING NEWS
General Chase Osbourne of US Army Training and Doctrine Command was found dead in his residence last night. There has been no release of an official cause of death though sources close to the investigation….
Peter Mercer smirked and muted the small TV in the motel room from the edge of the couch where he perched holding the file Dr Laura Hart gave him at their last therapy session.
An eye-opening session that answered every question he had battled for thirty years. The file and visit to the cemetery wasn't the closure Dr Hart hoped for. Rather they reordered his priorities…and targets.
His father had been dead for many years yet the institution he worked for, that he would die for, hid that information from him until now.
He flipped through the papers in the file. Some had redacted lines in them. The official records stated his father, Frederick Mercer, died twenty-nine years ago during a classified ops overseas yet the file felt incomplete. Until he spoke with CG Osborne.
Someone at the top had hidden Fred's death from the world and especially from him. There was a reason the file and other paperwork were buried for so long and he would get to the bottom of it. Or die trying.
He rose and crossed to a section of the wall where documents and photos were pinned. A conspiracy laid out before his eyes but there was a shadow at the top. CG Chase Osborne was at the centre of it and he had to go first. That would rattle the coop and send the roosters scrambling.
And he would be waiting. But he wasn't alone—someone else, that shadow, was hunting alongside him.
His phone buzzed on the table. He looked at the screen as a text message from Laura Hart appeared — Mr Mercer, where are you? Please give me a call. I can help you.
Peter shook his head and wished he could have helped his father then. For most of his life, Fred Mercer had been the villain of his story. He wasn't even certain who the villain was but one thing was sure, the senior officers of the US army were hiding a truth that was powerful enough to survive thirty years of lies.
He put on his jacket and checked the silencer on his gun. It was time to do right by his father. He opened the door and stepped into the night.
I hope you enjoyed reading this short piece. It's inspired by the Freewrite #dailyprompt phrase "spill your guts".
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