Danger Close (Shadow Warriors)

by Lindsay McKenna

  That night, the television networks had more than ample drama and commentary to report. An entire thirty-minute special was hastily presented at ten o’clock. Someone had dug through every bit of file film on the WLF, its formation, Lane’s boot camp media extravaganzas, interviews and actual footage from Thailand. Peter Herrington, whose GQ good looks now reflected the painful testimony he had heard, anchored the report.

  “Today could have been compared to covering Vietnam’s My Lai Massacre hearings. Corporal Cathy Fremont, a young and very frail looking woman of twenty-six, continued her gruesome chronicle of the exploits of Major Louise Lane. She told us of her own trials at the hands of her superior, and how the officers of Delta considered her a traitor to the WLF’s cause. The misery on her face was evident as she launched into the final chapter of her WLF experience. We have also heard from reliable sources that Corporal Fremont has been grieving for Captain Jim Boland, who ultimately gave his own life to try and save the three-woman patrol.”

  Herrington halted melodramatically, allowing the sympathy to sink into his millions of viewers. “From the jaws of death to the turbulent battleground of the powerful halls of senate hearings, Cathy Fremont today completed her opening statement. Corporal Fremont was seen silently crying as the entire hearing room came to its feet, clapping and cheering her wildly. Major Lane could be seen glaring at her the entire time. When this reporter tried to interview the WLF commander, her attorneys were yelling ‘no comment,’ and left the room as quickly as possible. Clearly, with the stage set on such an emotional basis, the examination and cross-examination by the senators are going to prove grueling for Cathy Fremont. Can she, as Colonel Mackey’s ace witness, take it?

  “Suffering from a serious leg wound, Corporal Fremont seems to shrink daily in body weight and energy. As an orphan, she was placed in a series of foster homes. Her past may leave her vulnerable to what lies ahead. Certainly, the opposition will try to tear Fremont down. We have a press release from Major Lane’s attorneys which purports that Fremont is on a personal vendetta against her and nothing more. According to Major Lane, the corporal is bent on embarrassing and belittling the WLF.”

  Herrington became grave as he stood outside the senate building washed in light and shadow. “We can only watch this historical drama unfold before our eyes with a certain sympathy for anyone who has endured the horrors of war. Just as there were casualties arising out of the Thailand conflict, there is sure to be a casualty or two in the senate hearings. Perhaps Senator Roman will try to break Fremont under a strong cross-examination. Is she telling the truth or is she on a personal vendetta against Major Lane? Is Fremont, as Lane already suggested, telling lies to embarrass the WLF movement? This is Peter Herrington reporting.”

  Al Fredericks placed his feet up on the dark walnut desk, smoking a cigarette and watching Mackey.

  “We’ve got trouble, Mac,” he said finally, breaking the stillness.

  “Oh?”

  “Yes. Senator Roman is the first on the list to begin questioning Fremont, and he’s an old Vietnam hawk from way back—salty as hell. He’s going to make it rough on Fremont. He’ll defend Major Lane down the line, regardless of what she’s done.”

  Mackey nodded. “I’m worried about the girl, Senator. She’s falling apart.”

  Fredericks shot him an irritated look. “Well, she’d damn well better straighten up! It won’t be good for either of us if she blows it.”

  The colonel’s back stiffened. “She’s in mourning. She’s borne the brunt of this hearing since its inception. Fremont is tired, emotionally, physically and mentally.”

  The senator got up, pacing. “What’s the latest on Boland?”

  “He came out of the coma five days ago,” Mackey answered. “I’ve given Dr. Cornell explicit orders to keep his status secret until we know for sure if he’s going to pull out of it. I’ve made sure all Boland’s attempts to call anyone, with the exception of his parents, are blocked. But at some point, I’m not going to be able to control him. I’m having Cornell monitor the situation closely and he’s in daily contact with me. Maybe it would help Cathy if she knew Boland was alive. Give her some hope. Some strength to go on…”

  Fredericks turned on his heel, jabbing his finger down at him. “Don’t you dare! Not now! I want a hundred percent of her focus on these hearings. If she realizes he’s still hanging on, she’ll want to ditch her part in the hearings and fly to Hawaii to be with him. If the captain is able, we’ll fly him here after he’s sufficiently recovered.”

  Mackey glowered at him. “I suppose it’s necessary,” he admitted. “Fremont’s so…” He groped for the right words. “She needs someone to lean on and Boland was the only one.”

  “What about Arnley? He’s close to her, isn’t he?”

  “Yes, but she doesn’t love him.”

  Irritably, Fredericks spun around. “Dr. Tucker?”

  “He’s a friend, that’s all.”

  The senator stubbed out his cigarette angrily. “Who would’ve thought a miserable love affair would throw a monkey wrench into something as important as these hearings?” he muttered.

  Mackey’s eyes narrowed. “You ever been in love, Al?”

  “What kind of a question is that?”

  Mackey walked toward the outer office door. “If you had been, you’ve forgotten how it feels,” he said softly. “I suggest you do everything in your power to try and soften Roman’s coming attack on Fremont. She won’t last. I’ve upheld my end of the bargain. Now, it’s up to you. I got you your witness. You have to protect her.”

  LOUISE SAT in civilian clothes consisting of a pair of dark blue slacks and a feminine light blue blouse with a bit of ruffle at her throat and on the cuffs of the sleeves. She sat relaxed on the dark green silk couch as Dr. Leonard Tucker quietly closed the door behind him.

  “Thank you for coming, Leonard. Drink?” She gestured to the antique sideboard in the lavish hotel room.

  Tucker was still in his Navy uniform and stood uncomfortably by the door. “I want nothing from you, Major.”

  Louise tilted her head, hearing the rasp of disgust in his voice. “I’m trying to be pleasant about this, Leonard. Don’t take your anger out on me. Now come in and sit down. You make me nervous standing there like you’re going to bolt. We have business to discuss.”

  He hesitated and then thought better of it. He wearily made his way to the couch and sat down. Folding his hands, he asked, “What do you want from me this time?”

  She rose and stood in front of him, her arms folded across her chest. “You lied to me, Leonard,” she began. “When you made that phone call to me and said Mackey and the senate were coming after me, you neglected one item.”

  Frowning, he rubbed his aching head. “Just what the hell did I leave out?”

  “Save your bark for someone who’ll appreciate it!” Louise snarled, letting her arms drop to her side. She crouched down in front of him, her lips pulling away from her teeth. “Now you’d better spill your guts on everything you know since you’re sitting in Mackey and Fremont’s corner.”

  He glared at her. How could someone who looked like a perfectly painted doll be so brazenly vicious? “I don’t know what you’re talking about! I’ve kept you informed on everything!”

  She held up her splayed fingers, ticking off the items one by one. “One, Senator Roman has been informed about the little stunt Mackey tried to pull by using Boland to get Fremont to carry a wire. We know Boland refused to go through with it. And so did Fremont. We’re saving this shocking little piece of evidence to hamstring Mackey and embarrass the hell out of him later.”

  “I haven’t heard anything else, Major,” he ground out. “I report things as I get them. There’s nothing new.”

  She lightly touched another finger. “Two, Fremont was involved with Boland. And I suspect on a personal basis.” Her eyes narrowed to slits. “How personal, Doctor? And don’t sit there blushing like a schoolgirl. It won’t work. I’ve been list
ening to Fremont. Every time she mentions that bastard Boland’s name, she goes soft.” Louise rose, her tone scathing. “You’re hiding something from me, Tucker. And I want it. Now.”

  He clasped his hands, staring down at them. Sweat trickled over his graying temple. Cathy didn’t deserve his deceit.

  “Doctor…how badly do you want your little mistake not to come to light?” she hissed.

  He jerked his head up, eyes burning with anguish and hatred. “Someday, Major, you’re going to get everything you deserve.”

  “But not now,” she parried grimly. “Now tell me.”

  “They fell in love with one another. It’s that simple.”

  Louise smiled and rested her chin against her hand. “That’s a very helpful angle, Doctor. Now I can get Senator Roman to break her with that. I was wondering why she looked like hell. A bullet wound will make you look pale, but she’s really down.” There was a smile in her voice. “She’s grieving over his death, isn’t she?”

  Tucker barely nodded and then heard Lane laugh that low, throaty laugh. Was this all worth it for his dream of starting up the clinic again in Maine? Cathy had been honest and trusted him like the father she’d never had. Tucker knew Lane would bludgeon Cathy with the information in the next few days. If Cathy came apart during the hearings, then it would make all her testimony look questionable and, therefore, rendered useless. The committee would believe Lane and she’d walk away unscathed.

  “Tell me everything you know about them, Doctor. And make it quick. I have to get this information to my attorneys and then to the senator.”

  CATHY SILENTLY sat, waiting the next morning for the hearing to open. Mackey tried to prep Cathy on Senator Roman’s methods. She gave him a distant smile and finished off a third Scotch in her hotel room.

  “What can he possibly do to hurt me any more than I have been already?” she asked bitterly, getting up and putting more ice in the glass.

  “He’s going to attack you. He’s going to make it seem like you’ve got little more than sour grapes with Lane and that it’s a simple case of revenge on your part. Fredericks and our lawyers are going to do everything they can to protect your vulnerability, but you’ll still be on the firing line with no way to climb down.”

  Cathy shrugged her shoulders. “It’s one more battle, right, Mac?”

  “Yes. An important one. We want Lane. We’ve got to convince the senators of her improper conduct as a commanding officer.”

  “I really don’t care anymore.” Cathy smiled sadly up at him and she saw he understood what she was saying. Finally, after minutes of barren silence, she moved to where he stood by the large, sliding glass door that led out to the balcony. Touching his arm, she whispered, “I’ll do my best, Mac. I’ll keep my act together. Don’t worry.”

  He patted her hand. “Lane’s a viper. She’ll do anything to discredit you, Cathy.” His voice lowered in anger. “I know she’ll have plenty of people lined up as character witnesses to testify on her behalf. They’ll lie through their teeth for her, because they believe in her cause.” He shook his head. “God only knows how far she can reach to manipulate others to put you in a bad light.”

  JACOB ROMAN’S gaze zeroed in on Cathy Fremont as they sat waiting for Fredericks to call the morning session to order. His alert dark eyes studied her. She was a picture of vulnerability in her uniform. A smile played on his granitelike lips. She was going to be easy prey after what Louise had given him last night.

  “The Chair now recognizes Senator Jacob Roman,” Fredericks announced, giving the older man a tight, anxious look.

  “Thank you, Senator,” Roman rumbled back, folding his hands together. He took the pose of a trial lawyer, which he had been, attentive and poker-faced.

  “Corporal Fremont, I noted in Major Lane’s opening statement she never once mentioned you as a so-called thorn in her side. In fact, you’re nonexistent in her statements. How do you account for this? Is this pure fabrication on your part because you’re easily hurt?”

  Cathy eyed the senator, holding her anger in tight check. “Senator, if I had something to hide, my testimony would show no inkling of that problem, whatsoever. Just because one tries to omit it, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. As for my feelings getting hurt easily, you’re wrong.”

  “But you’re very sensitive,” Roman led gently with a slight smile.

  “Yes, sir, I am.”

  “Even emotional at times?”

  “At times, yes, sir.”

  “To the point of hysteria?”

  “Objection!” Wagner said in her defense, leaning forward and gripping the microphone. “There is no indication of hysteria on Corporal Fremont’s part. Her sensitivity is not the question here, Senator.”

  Roman remained impassive. He didn’t want to enter into a debate with the attorneys—he had other fish to fry. He smiled condescendingly down at her. He tried another line, watching Wagner with studied indifference.

  “Corporal Fremont, I have your service record before me. I see your DI, Sergeant Rice, whom we heard from earlier in these hearings, noted that you were a loner. What can you tell us about that?”

  She swallowed. “Only that she’s wrong. I’ve never been a loner. I’m a group person who enjoys working with people. I’m team oriented.”

  “What about working under people and taking orders?” he snapped.

  “I have,” Cathy replied tautly, going on guard.

  “There are at least ten different comments here on your inability to take orders. Someone is lying here, Corporal, that’s obvious. Why couldn’t you take orders? Or are sergeants’ Rice and Rogers plus your officers all wrong and you’re right?”

  Mackey squirmed inwardly. Roman was going to put Cathy up against the wall and crucify her. He anxiously looked over at her.

  Cathy pulled the microphone closer, her face flushed. Why couldn’t they get to the heart of the problem instead of trying to tear her to pieces? It didn’t make sense and she swallowed hard. “There were times that I refused to obey an order out in the bush. Especially when Sergeant Thatcher wanted to march us into a known LA ambush. My responsibility as point was to protect the squad. I was not going to let them walk into an ambush and get slaughtered.”

  Roman waved his hand airily overhead. “Then you anointed yourself as savior to the women and disregarded the person in charge?”

  Cathy hesitated, hating him for dramatizing a specific incident. Between clenched teeth, she said, “My refusal of orders was based upon the criteria of the situation at that time, Senator.”

  “Did you get Sergeant Thatcher killed in that particular firefight because you wouldn’t obey her orders?” he pressed savagely.

  “That’s a lie!” Cathy cried out. “Thatcher insisted on moving into an ambush and I tried to talk her out of it.” Cathy jerked a look at Lane and then glared up at Roman. “I was so sure of ambush that when Thatcher insisted on moving ahead with the squad, I drew my Ka-Bar and held it to her throat to make her retreat before we all got killed!”

  A cry of surprise and rage rippled through Lane’s camp. One of the lawyers held Lane down so that she couldn’t stand. The room exploded. Wagner leaned over to Cathy, cupping his hand to her ear. “Why didn’t you tell us about that?”

  Cathy snarled, “Because I didn’t think it was important! Who’s on trial here? Her or me?”

  Wagner gripped her shoulder. “Roman’s baiting you. Don’t fall for it. He’s trying to swing the focus to you and bury the angle on Major Lane. Don’t elaborate on your answers. You hear me?”

  Cathy turned miserably to Tucker and she reached out, gripping his hand.

  Tucker winced physically as he saw anguish written in every plane of her face. He squeezed her hand. “Courage, Cathy, courage. Don’t let him take you down. You’re doing fine. Fine…” He saw his words have an immediate steadying effect on her, fortifying her. It left him shaken. Guilt scored his conscience as he sat there. He knew what was coming next and he gripped her
hand hard.

  Roman twirled his pen absently while the room quieted down. He dearly loved a good cross-examination. It was his bread and butter. Roman’s mild voice cut across the restive silence in the room. “Am I to understand you are admitting to threatening…even drawing a knife on one of your superiors?”

  “I felt the circumstances warranted such action, Senator. The women of the squad—”

  Roman’s eyes slitted. “By your own words, Corporal, you believe in doing whatever the circumstance warrants.”

  “In that situation, protection of the squad—”

  “Corporal, a simple yes or no will be sufficient. You had your chance to make your statement earlier. Now, just answer my question. Do you believe in taking the action the circumstance warrants? Yes or no?”

  “Yes, but not as you mean it,” Cathy protested, her voice strained.

  “Let the record reflect,” Roman boomed out in his imperious tone, “that my meaning is not the issue, but Corporal Fremont’s willingness to take whatever action warrants, as viewed by herself, is the issue.” He smiled at her. “Let’s pursue another issue, Corporal. What about this love affair with the now-deceased Captain James Boland? He was XO of Alpha Company and a member of Colonel Mackey’s staff.” His voice turned low and insinuating. “The way I understand it, the Colonel ordered him to woo you into wearing a wire once you were rotated back to Delta to gather so-called evidence against Major Lane. And then, thanks to Colonel Mackey’s generosity, you were both flown off to Hua Hin, a resort, to get acquainted on five days of R & R. And even had you transferred to the captain’s company for forty days?”

  The room again exploded into disbelief, only this time, it was Mackey’s side of the room. The lawyers looked blankly at one another for a moment.

  Mackey paled.

  Cathy gasped, her fingers moving to the base of her throat. That was secret information! How had Roman gotten a hold of it? Her eyes widened. She felt Dorn jostle her, grabbing for the microphone in front of her.