Chapter 6
Frank Dobbins had known something was wrong with the cuff links the moment Daniel ordered them.
Not because he understood technology.
Because he understood men.
Daniel wanted the set rushed.
Insisted on a private pickup.
Asked whether Emily would be present.
Asked whether Frank had seen her alone recently.
Asked whether military dress jackets had inner pockets near the left breast.
Every question sounded innocent enough by itself.
Together, they made Frank’s old instincts rise.
He had spent his Army years fitting uniforms in places where danger entered quietly. A man asking too many practical questions about another officer’s clothing was never only thinking about tailoring.
So Frank inspected the cuff links.
One was ordinary.
The other felt slightly heavier.
He did not open it.
He did not know how.
Instead, he called the only person he trusted with rank and sense.
Emily.
He told her there was a fitting issue.
He asked her to come early.
He put the matching cuff link in her pocket under the excuse of comparing engraving.
Then Daniel arrived before Frank could explain.
That was why he pulled her behind the curtain.
Emily understood the chain now as she watched Frank stand between her and Daniel.
A seventy-year-old retired sergeant with a measuring tape around his neck had done what entire security protocols sometimes failed to do.
He had listened to discomfort.
Daniel stared at him with hatred barely disguised as offense.
“You had no right to inspect private property.”
Frank shrugged once.
“You ordered custom hardware from a military tailor and asked too many questions about a colonel’s jacket.”
Evan’s eyes widened at the word hardware.
Emily saw it.
Evan had not known everything about the cuff links.
Good.
Useful.
Daniel hissed, “Frank.”
Emily moved the curtain another inch.
Her ribbons glinted in the mirror behind her.
“Captain Whitaker,” she said, “answer one question.”
Daniel looked at her eyes through the gap.
“What?”
“Were the cuff links meant for my uniform or my access?”
He said nothing.
The silence was longer than innocence allowed.
Evan whispered, “I didn’t know about that.”
Daniel turned on him.
“Shut up.”
Frank’s phone caught it.
Emily caught it.
Evan caught it too.
The lieutenant stepped back, suddenly understanding that his superior’s plan had deeper compartments than he had been allowed to see.
Emily did not feel relief.
Only confirmation.
Daniel’s scheme was layered.
Marriage.
Clearance.
Procurement files.
Instability narrative.
Cuff links.
Maybe more.
But not all of it would be revealed in this shop.
Not today.
Not before she had the recording secured through proper channels.
Emily closed her fist around the curtain edge.
“Frank,” she said, “send the audio to the address I gave you.”
Daniel’s head snapped up.
Frank smiled for the first time.
May you like
“Already did.”
Read Chapter 7 👉 Because Daniel thought Frank was only recording, but the old tailor had already made sure the file could not disappear.
