P Deutermann - Darkside

“Exactly, Mr. Hall. Back out, write up a report, print a single copy, and give that to me and the source file to Pren. Tonight, if you please.”

“I can do that, sir,” Jim said. “I’ve been keeping a running file. Are there any accountability issues remaining?”

The dant hesitated. “Just one, Mr. Hall. We’re going to address that via the Brigade Honor Committee. I understand you already approached the board regarding the individual in question.”

“Yes, sir, but that was not productive.”

“So Captain Rogers informs me. I think I can remedy that. Get me that report as soon as possible, Mr. Hall.”

“Aye aye, sir,” Jim said. “And that other matter? The tunnel matter?”

“We don’t need any more problems on our plate just now, Mr. Hall. The SecNav made that abundantly clear. In our view, the tunnel matter should go away in two weeks, right? Thank you.”

The circuit went down. A city cop appeared alongside in a cruiser and waved them out of the reserved parking spaces. Branner flashed her NCIS credentials at him and he nodded and drove off.

“Well, there it is,” he said. “We’ve been officially backed out.”

“You have,” she said. “I haven’t.”

“No messages?”

“Lots of messages,” she said. “But they all say the same thing: Call Harry Chang. No instructions, and nothing from the Academy directly.”

“Then we can still go meet with Markham.”

“I can. The question is, can you?”

He chewed on his lower lip. The Executive Department, at Branner’s request, had summoned Markham to a meeting in Bancroft Hall. Except she wasn’t going to show. Jim wondered if that fact would percolate up to the dant’s office at this hour. Was the left hand talking to the right hand? If he went with Branner, he’d be disobeying a direct order, which might cost him his job. On the other hand, the Academy appeared to be ready to come down on Markham. If Markham knew the truth about the Dell incident, this was no time to sweat the small stuff. Branner was watching him carefully.

“I’ll go. I think they’re going to railroad Markham. Not fair.”

“Unless she was indeed responsible,” Branner said. “Then you’re falling on your sword for nothing.”

“Shit happens,” he said.

She smiled at him and nodded. “Good call,” she said. “Maybe there’s hope for you after all.”

“Up yours, Branner.”

“In your dreams, cowboy.”

Hey. A little bird just whispered in my ear. Actually, it was a little E-mail intercept out of the deputy dant’s office. Someone’s been running her mouth. And now my name’s come up? The ghost of little Brian Dell getting ready to cause me trouble? I don’t think so. I think I have the cure for that shit. Everyone forgetting the video? On which you are absolutely the star? Which I can have out on the World Wide Web in a New York flash?

You think that I’ll just stand around if they corner me? Think I’ll just break down and cry, ask for forgiveness, tell them I’m a victim, too? Bullshit. I’ll take some di-rect and immediate effective action. I’ll take prisoners and I’ll execute their asses. I’ll take the high ground and tell the whole fucking Brigade what I think of them. And then, if I have to, I’ll show them all what a real man’s made of when his back’s to the wall. And I’ll do it in front of God and everybody. And you, too.

You said you wanted to go for a ride. Nobody forced you. You said you needed a rush, some thrills to make up for your oh-so-boring, so perfectly straight life. You came on to me, remember? We had a deal. So tell me you’re not going to try to stick it to me, not this late in our dark little game. Because, as we both know, I can stick it to you a whole lot worse than you can stick it to me.

Julie, baby: You bored?

They found Liz, Julie Markham, and Tommy Hays waiting for them in Liz’s darkly paneled conference room. They all sat down, and then Liz began to establish some ground rules. Branner waved her off. “We have more serious issues to talk about right now. Midshipman Markham, I’m still Special Agent Branner, and I have some questions for you about Midshipman Dyle Booth.”

At the mention of Booth’s name, Julie Markham’s face paled visibly. She looked sideways at Hays for a moment, as if to ask, How could you? Then Liz jumped in. “First, I need to know the background on all this,” she said. “They just got here, and I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Mr. Hays,” Jim said. “Tell Ms. DeWinter and Agent Branner what you told me about Dyle Booth.”

“No, don’t,” Julie told Hays. “Don’t say anything at all. We don’t have to say anything, do we, Liz?”

Liz frowned. “No, you don’t, but-”

Before she could explain, Jim interrupted. “I just got off the phone with the dant. He ordered me to back out of the Dell investigation. He said that there had been a SecNav determination as to what happened to Dell.”

“Then that’s it, isn’t it?” Julie said, trying for a confident look. “It’s officially over?”

“For Dell, it was over when he hit the concrete,” Branner said, producing a painful silence at the table. “But not for you, apparently.”

Jim leaned forward. “I asked if there were any outstanding accountability issues. The dant said there was one, and it involved you, Midshipman Markham.”

“Goddamn it, why?”

“You want the technical answer or the real answer?”

Julie looked again at Tommy Hays, who just shook his head in bewilderment.

“Let’s hear the real answer,” Liz said.

“The real answer is that a midshipman died in Bancroft Hall. Someone must be held accountable for that. The official ruling will probably be a DBM-accident. Plebe went up on the roof and fell off. Internally, they know there’s more to it. Within the Academy, they’re probably going to use a fig leaf, say that the system just overwhelmed a plebe. But we know that’s not the whole story, is it, Midshipman Markham?”

Julie just stared at him.

Branner leaned forward. “You told us you didn’t know Dell other than as a summer plebe. But isn’t it true you were secretly mentoring Brian Dell?”

Julie set her jaw and didn’t answer. Hays closed his eyes, as if he was expecting to be slapped. Liz asked Julie if this was true.

“It might be,” Julie said very slowly.

“ Might be? You told me you didn’t really know Midshipman Dell,” Liz said. “Other than as a plebe among plebes.”

Julie stared down at the table.

“Well, here it is, Julie,” Jim said. “The dant is going to fire up the Brigade Honor Committee. Somehow, some way, they’re going to pin something on you relating to what happened to Dell. If they don’t know about your helping Dell, they will once a BIO starts asking questions, right? Especially if he talks to Mr. Hays here. My guess is that you won’t be found directly responsible for whatever it is they’re going to ‘conclude’ about Dell’s death, but you’re going to get tagged with something.”

“That’s not fair!”

“It’s not fair, but it’s preferable to having the system get tagged. There’s always accountability, right? It’s the cornerstone of their whole program. So if it can’t be them, it’s going to be you.”

“Unless…” Branner began. Julie looked at her.

“For Christ’s sake, Julie,” Tommy Hays said. “Tell them. They think Booth may have done it. Tell them.”

Julie got out of her chair and went to the door. It was obvious she just wanted to bolt from the room. Jim saw Branner pushing her chair back surreptitiously, but nobody else moved. Then Julie turned around to face all of them.

“I’ve been on the Academy swim team since plebe year,” she said. “I’m a freestyler. So is Dyle. But I’m not in his league. Nobody is.”