Chapter 13 - The Fabricated Audit
By the following Monday, the storm Richard had threatened broke over the Pentagon with bureaucratic fury.
Rebecca was summoned to the Judge Advocate General’s administrative suite on the third deck. Entering the conference room, she found not only a senior JAG captain, but also an ethics investigator from the Office of the Inspector General, and seated in the corner with an expression of polite detachment, Captain Douglas Sterling.
"Commander Hayes, please take a seat," said Captain Eleanor Ramos, the presiding JAG officer. On the conference table sat a two-inch-thick dossier bound in manila cardstock, stamped with red administrative intake markers.
Rebecca did not sit. She stood at attention, shoulders squared, her eyes fixed forward. "Captain Ramos. May I ask why Captain Sterling is present at an internal personnel review regarding my office?"
Sterling offered a smooth, insincere smile. "As the senior liaison for the Vanguard Maritime Procurement Board, Commander, any ethical inquiry affecting the leadership of Aegis Sentinel directly impacts my operational readiness oversight. I am here merely as an interested observer."
"Commander Hayes," Ramos began, flipping open the folder. "At zero seven hundred yesterday, this office received an anonymous whistleblower disclosure accompanied by several years of private banking documentation, tax returns, and offshore wire receipts bearing your name and social security number. The complaint alleges that between 2018 and 2023, while deployed on high-readiness submarine escort duties, you engaged in unauthorized private fund transfers totaling over one hundred and ten thousand dollars, utilizing intermediary accounts linked to unvetted civilian accounts in Nevada."
Rebecca’s jaw remained firm. "Captain, those transfers were personal military pay and combat allowances wired directly from my Navy Federal Credit Union account to my father, Richard Hayes, to prevent the foreclosure of my late mother’s primary residence."
"That is your assertion, Commander," Sterling chimed in, leaning back in his chair with an air of theatrical concern. "However, the documentation provided by the whistleblower suggests something far more troubling. The dossier includes bank affidavits purporting to show that those funds did not originate from your Navy salary, but were routed through a shell entity named 'Sierra Vista Holdings'—an entity linked to private defense subcontractors bidding on the very drone platforms your task force is evaluating."
Rebecca turned her gaze upon Sterling. The accusation was monstrous. They hadn't just used her family’s financial records; they had actively forged intermediary documentation to make her familial support look like corporate bribery.
"Sierra Vista Holdings was a fraudulent LLC established by my brother-in-law, Kevin Cole, without my knowledge or consent," Rebecca stated clearly. "He used my name as an unauthorized guarantor while I was deployed at sea. I uncovered this fraud three weeks ago during an independent forensic audit conducted by certified fraud examiners in Washoe County, Nevada."
Ramos frowned, glancing between the file and Rebecca. "Commander, the documentation submitted to us contains what appears to be your electronic signature authorizing the transfer of funds through Sierra Vista Holdings into defense escrow accounts."
"A signature forged while I was submerged aboard the USS *Hampton* under radio silence," Rebecca countered, her voice ringing with absolute certainty. "I have complete deck logs, satellite clearance records, and a sworn deposition from the former county clerk detailing the illicit activities of Richard Hayes, Brenda Hayes-Cole, and Kevin Cole. Furthermore, I have already initiated formal legal proceedings against them."
Sterling’s smile wavered for a split second, a flicker of nervous calculation crossing his eyes.
"Commander Hayes," Ramos said, leaning forward. "These are severe allegations on both sides. If this dossier is forged, it constitutes a deliberate conspiracy to undermine a senior naval commander and commit federal perjury. However, under Defense Directive 5500, until the authenticity of these banking records can be verified, your security clearance for Aegis Sentinel must be placed on administrative hold."
"Negative, Captain," a deep, authoritative voice boomed from the doorway.
Every officer in the room stood up abruptly. Vice Admiral Harrison Vance stood framed in the threshold, accompanied by Special Agent Marcus Thorne of NCIS.
"Admiral on deck," Ramos announced.
May you like
Vance walked into the room, his eyes boring directly into Captain Douglas Sterling. "Cancel the administrative hold, Captain Ramos. Special Agent Thorne has spent the last forty-eight hours running a trace on the IP address and courier service that delivered that package to your office. It did not come from an anonymous whistleblower. It originated from the corporate offices of Vantage Point Group—specifically, from an account paid for by a defense consulting retainer signed by Captain Sterling himself."
***
