CHAPTER TWENTY TWO
As Riley neared Quantico, she hoped the trip was going to be worth it. It wasn’t a visit she wanted to make. In fact, she felt a lump of dread in the pit of her stomach.
She checked in through the familiar front gate, but today she wasn’t taking her usual route. She was headed into the main Marine Corps Base that took up most of the big eighty-six-square-mile property.
As she went by, she gazed at the statue that symbolized pride and honor. It was a smaller replica of the Iwo Jima Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery—the statue of six Marines raising an American flag.
The sight did not make her feel warm and welcome.
She had far too many unpleasant memories of military life from her childhood.
She hadn’t been to this part of the base very often—which was odd, be
