Fire for Effect by Kendall McKenna Read Free Book Online Page A

center of the table. He had to give his assistant credit, she was good at setting up for meetings. Her work in other areas was mediocre, but Kellan wasn’t in a position to complain. She’d been provided by the FBI because they had needed someone quickly, who had the requisite security clearances. If he were honest, she wasn’t a bad assistant; she just wasn’t as good as his assistant at Keystone.
    “They took a cab so they can’t be lost,” Nick said, looking at his watch with a frown.
    “It’s more likely jet lag and the change in time zones,” Jonah remarked.
    Kellan tugged his sleeve up to look at his watch. It was only 0805, he wasn’t concerned. It was probably traffic. Nick was notoriously impatient. Kellan smiled as Maddy yawned noisily. She proclaimed herself to not be a morning person, yet still managed to always be the first one into the office each day.
    FBI Special Agent Marco Giammona picked up his cell phone when it vibrated. “Traffic,” he announced, “Chris says they’re getting out of the cab downstairs now.”
    Just as he’d suspected. “Thanks, Marco.” Kellan had been pleased when Marco had agreed to come work for him. He’d been impressed with the agent’s work and his testimony in the wake of the events in Diyala.
    A ruckus in the outer offices announced the arrival of Hirata and Hoffman. They were greeted warmly by the rest of the staff. For all they had done the majority of their work on the west coast, they had proven to be very, very good at their jobs. It was their work that had everyone gathered today to discuss what appeared to be a very ugly problem.
    “All rights, gents,” Kellan called the meeting to order. “And lady,” he said, smiling at Maddy, “let’s get started. Chris? Mirai? Who wants to start?”
    “I will,” Chris replied, handing out stapled packets of paper. “The Defense Secretary’s recent rejection of the petition to upgrade the Navy Cross to the Medal of Honor for Sergeant Miguel Restrepo appears to be problematic for two reasons. It’s yet another in a long line of denials that would clearly have been worthy of the MOH in previous conflicts. However, it’s the first time a scientific panel has been convened to establish and consider forensic evidence, and that all eyewitness testimony of Marines present during the incident has been disregarded completely.”
    “I can already tell that those two issues are linked,” Kellan said, skimming through the document and seeing a thorough investigation had been conducted. “Technology has changed everything about warfare. It’s reasonable to expect it to be utilized to determine the worthiness of a medal citation, and that it would affect the outcome of many of those decisions.”
    “That would be both reasonable and expected,” said Captain Hirata. “One would then expect that the criteria for all medals would be revised to accommodate the changes in technology, but they have not. The process for determination remains unchanged, yet we’re all aware that the application of those criteria has altered for some inexplicable reason.”
    “In Restrepo’s case, it appears as though a new standard was implemented with the intention of denying him the MOH?” Jonah asked.
    “In light of the fact that an independent medical panel reviewed the same information and reached a completely different conclusion, that seems likely,” answered Hoffman.
    “My next question would be whether technology has changed the nature of our combat to the extent that fewer opportunities for individual valor are available,” mused Kellan. “But we’ve already established that both battles of Fallujah, the regular clearing of houses at the platoon level, and the ongoing campaign to win hearts and minds negates that argument completely.”
    “That’s correct,” Hoffman confirmed.
    “Has a larger pattern emerged?” Kellan asked, sitting back in his chair and spinning his ink stick between his fingers to ease his