Dale Brown - Strike Zone

The sergeant wasn’t being disrespectful, but it was clear from his demeanor that he wasn’t going to yield.

‘Is Ms. Gleason inside?’ Dog asked.

‘No, sir.’

Dog controlled his anger – though just barely. ‘Do you know where she is?’

‘No, sir.’

‘Carry on, Sergeant,’ he said, turning on his heel. He walked back to the entrance of the building, resisting the temptation – again just barely – to grab a radio from one of the security detail and radio Freah. He walked outside and started toward Taj when he saw two black SUVs approaching with their blue lights flashing. Danny was in the lead truck – sitting behind Cortend.

‘Captain Freah,’ said Dog as the door to the truck opened. ‘A word.’

Dog took two steps away from the walk and turned.

‘Why are Jennifer’s quarters under guard?’ asked Dog.

‘She, uh, the investigation turned up some questions.’ Danny spoke as if he’d just been to the dentist to have a pair of wisdom teeth pulled – and needed to go back the next day to have the other set removed. ‘Apparently, there were some conferences arranged by the Department of Energy that Jennifer neglected to fill out the proper forms on.’

‘What?’

‘I looked through the records myself.’

‘That’s what this inquisition is about? Paperwork?’

‘Technically, it’s a violation. At least. I have to check into it –’

‘Do so,’ snapped Dog, turning angrily toward the building.

Danny grabbed his arm.

‘What the hell, Captain?’

‘Colonel, we go back a bit, and I have a lot of respect for you. Tremendous respect, sir.’

Dog looked down at Danny’s hand, which was still grasped around his shirt.

‘You can’t interfere,’ said Danny. ‘You can’t – you can’t do anything that will look like favoritism.’

Dog continued to stare at his captain’s hand.

‘You can’t interfere, Colonel. I’m talking to you man to man. Right now – if there’s a security break.’

‘There wasn’t.’

‘That’s really not for you to say at this point. Don’t you see?’ Danny finally let go. ‘You can’t interfere, especially where Jennifer is concerned. You’re only going to make it seem as if there’s something to hide. It’ll be worse for her.’

‘Worse than what?’

‘Just worse.’

‘Where is she?’

‘Being interviewed.’

Part of him knew Danny was right. He couldn’t interfere – and hell, he didn’t want to. There was no need to. Contact violations – well, they couldn’t be ignored, certainly not. But undoubtedly there would be a good explanation. Jennifer was not a traitor.

No way.

‘You asked me to investigate,’ said Danny. ‘I am.’

‘It’s not you I’m worried about, it’s Cortend,’ said Dog.

‘Colonel, with respect, sir – a remark like that really could be misinterpreted, especially by someone who was looking to misinterpret it.’

‘I hate that tone of voice, Captain. I hate it.’

Danny stared at him. Dog couldn’t think of anything else to say. Danny was right; he had to consider how things looked – not because it might be bad for him, but because it might be bad for Dreamland. The last scandal here had nearly closed the place down.

And what would have happened to America if that had happened?

‘All right, Danny. I wasn’t going to interfere with the investigation,’ said Dog finally.

‘I know you weren’t.’

A black Jimmy with a blue flashing light charged across the base, kicking up twin tornadoes of dust behind it. Dog and Danny turned and watched it approach.

‘Got to be Ax,’ said Danny.

‘Yeah,’ said Dog, folding his arms. Sure enough, Chief Master Sergeant Gibbs rolled down the window as the SUV slammed to a stop a few feet away.

‘Colonel, Jed Barclay on the scrambled phone for ya,’ said the chief, hanging out the window. ‘Real important.’

Jennifer leaned back against the chair, waiting while the captain questioning her sorted through his notes.

Her head felt as if it had begun to tilt sideways. She hadn’t eaten dinner, and lunch had been half of a chicken sandwich. Except for two trips to the restroom – escorted, though at least the security people had the decency to stay outside – she’d been in the room for nearly six hours. At least she wasn’t hooked up to the lie detector anymore.

She felt as if she’d fallen down the rabbit hole in Alice in Wonderland . Cortend was the Queen, yelling, ‘Off with her head, off with her head.’

Jennifer rubbed her arms, trying to get some circulation going. She needed to stretch – she needed to run, just get the hell out of this rabbit hole, where everything she said was turned upside down.

‘You could make things easier,’ said the captain.

‘Excuse me?’

‘Cooperate.’

‘I am cooperating,’ Jennifer told him.

‘Why would you help the Chinese?’

‘I wouldn’t.’

‘Don’t get mad. I’m trying to help you.’

‘You’re not.’ Jennifer sat up straight in her seat. ‘You think I’m a traitor, don’t you?’

The captain didn’t answer at first. ‘I think you might need help,’ he said finally.

‘Oh, so you’re going to be my friend, right?’

He made a show of sighing, as if she were the one being unreasonable.

‘I’m not a traitor,’ she said.

The word sounded so odd, so foreign, that Jennifer had to say it again.

‘I am not a traitor.’

Until that point, tired and hungry, she’d been sustained mostly by anger. But now that foundation too slipped away. Jennifer Gleason had proven herself several times under fire, but this was something more fierce, more deadly. She’d never felt brave before – she’d just done what she had to do. It was easy almost, because she knew she could do it. She knew who she was – Jennifer Gleason, Dreamland scientist. And everyone at the base, everyone knew who she was. They trusted her, they liked her, and, in one case at least, loved her.

But the look in this man’s eyes told her that trust was gone. She felt her whole idenity slipping through a crack in her ribs.

Jennifer Gleason: traitor.

She wasn’t. She knew she wasn’t. But she worried that no matter what she did, she’d never convince anyone else of that again.

Not her friends. Not even Dog.

‘So, when you were in college,’ said the captain, putting his papers down. ‘Tell me about your friends.’

‘My friends?’

‘You had friends?’

‘What does that have to do with anything?’

The captain pursed his lips.

‘I don’t remember who my friends were,’ she said honestly. ‘At this point, I don’t know if I have any friends at all.’

‘There’s a joint exercise between ASEAN assets planned in the South China Sea, covering about a thousand square miles. More a goodwill exercise than actual combat training,’ Jed explained. ‘B-52s were requested. You’ll go instead.’

‘All right,’ said Dog, listening as Jed filled him in on the arrangements for Brunei. A State Department rep was already en route to help smooth over any protocol matters. It had been suggested than an officer on his staff be appointed to liaise with the government.

‘Brunei is not ideal,’ Dog told him. ‘It’s a long way to operate it.’

‘Yeah,’ said Jed, who obviously agreed. ‘The President wanted you to locate there. It kind of interfaced with some State Department initiatives.’

‘What would those be? Making nice to Brunei?’

Jed gave him an embarrassed laugh.