Ryan’s knees nearly failed.
“Critical?”
“She stopped breathing twice during the night.”
The words cut through the air.
Ryan gripped his car’s side mirror, suddenly seeing Claire as she had been that morning—pale, sweating, bent over in pain, whispering that something was wrong.
And he had laughed.
He had laughed and left.
Accountability Arrives
“I need to see them,” Ryan said. “I’m her husband.”
General Bennett’s expression did not change.
“No.”
Ryan looked up sharply.
“What do you mean, no?”
“You will not go near my daughter or granddaughter until Claire wakes up and decides whether she wants to see you.”
“That’s my child.”
“That child almost lost her mother because of you.”
Ryan’s face twisted with panic.
“You can’t keep me away from my family.”
General Bennett looked toward the street as another vehicle pulled up. Two military police officers stepped out.
Ryan’s stomach dropped.
“What is this?”
The general did not raise his voice.
“This is accountability.”
Ryan stepped back.
“I didn’t commit a crime.”
“No?” Bennett asked quietly. “You abandoned a woman in medical distress. You ignored repeated emergency warnings. And according to the recording from her 911 call, she told the operator her husband refused to help her.”
Ryan froze.
