At twenty-nine, on a Thursday morning, Daniel Brooks adjusted his worn baseball cap as he entered First National Bank. The former serviceman carried himself with quiet confidence—shoulders straight, eyes alert, movements economical. Six months after his honorable discharge, he was settling into civilian life as a plumber, finding satisfaction in fixing problems with his hands. Growing up as the son of a war widow had shaped Daniel in ways he rarely discussed. His father, a Marine sergeant, had died in Afghanistan when Daniel was just seven. He still remembered how his mother struggled afterward—not just financially, but with the dismissive treatment she often received when dealing with bureaucracy. Those memories had instilled in Daniel a protective instinct toward those who served and the families they sometimes left behind.
