by Lauren Carr
“Seven?” the marine commandant asked.
Murphy counted off. “The five women in Reston, Emily Dolan in Starbucks, and Army Specialist Cecelia Crenshaw in Pennsylvania thirteen years ago, plus Pennsylvania State Trooper Nicholas Gates.”
“Is that all you have to say, Lieutenant?” Admiral Patterson asked.
Murphy swallowed. “Yes, sirs and ma’am. That is all.” Assuming an at ease position, he waited to be shot—even if only verbally.
A silence fell over the chamber once again.
The six men and one woman looked around the table at each other.
Finally, General Maxine Raleigh cleared her throat again. “You are quite impressive, Lieutenant Thornton. You are an eloquent speaker, too. You have passion.”
“Thank you, ma’am.”
“While I expected you to defend yourself, I must admit I underestimated you. I didn’t expect you to stand up for yourself the way you did. Usually, in a setting like this, the vast majority of young officers would have slinked out of here with their tails between their legs. You didn’t.”
Murphy detected a slight curl to the corner of the chair’s lips. “Congratulations, Lieutenant. You passed.”
A collective sigh of relief filled the chamber.
Looking across the line of the distinguished officers sitting at the table, Murphy saw that each of the chiefs was grinning. He didn’t know whether to be relieved or angry. “This was a test?”
“Smile, Lieutenant,” Admiral Patterson uttered a hearty laugh. “You just made me six hundred dollars.”
With effort, Murphy forced a good natured grin onto his face.
The chair turned serious. “I apologize for being so harsh, Lieutenant, but we needed to make sure you were immune to intimidation no matter what its source. From what we’ve seen, there’s no telling where this case is going to lead you.”
Murphy asked, “I’m still on this case?”
“Of course,” General Raleigh said. “You are an excellent investigator and an exceptional officer. You do the military … and the Phantoms … proud.”
Murphy fought the grin working its way to his lips.
“Unfortunately, we feel that the scope of this investigation is beyond your rank,” Admiral Patterson said. “While you have the guts to pursue the case wherever the evidence may take you, we feel that the team leading it needs someone with the authority and experience to carry it to completion.” He nodded his head in Bernie’s direction.
Standing up from where he was leaning against the wall, Bernie crossed the chamber, going behind Murphy, and across the room to the double doors through which Murphy had entered earlier.
The queasiness in Murphy’s stomach that had disappeared moments before returned. Until this time, he had basically been a lone wolf. As a Phantom, he had worked virtually every operation alone. While working as the liaison for NCIS, he worked freely without direct supervision, though he had to keep Hillary Koch happy.
He liked it that way. He liked either depending completely on himself or leading the team. Now, he was going to be working directly under someone new.
The clap of the footsteps on the hardwood floor approaching him from behind made the hair on the back of Murphy’s neck stand on end.
Suck it up, Murphy. Dad always accused you of not playing well with others.
The footsteps stopped when the navy officer halted to stand shoulder to shoulder with Murphy. Out of the corner of his eye, Murphy saw the flash of captain’s stripes on his shoulder board when his new leader raised his arm up to salute the Joint Chiefs.
“Captain Joshua Thornton, United States Navy, reporting for duty, ma’am and sirs.”
Chapter Nineteen
It took all of Murphy’s restraint to keep from turning to look directly at his father. He thought he was over five hours away in West Virginia prosecuting a major murder case. Instead, he was standing next to him on the seventh floor of the Pentagon before the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
“Lieutenant Thornton,” Admiral Patterson said, “I believe you are familiar with Captain Thornton.”
“Very much, sir,” Murphy replied.
“Captain Thornton,” Admiral Patterson said, “the Joint Chiefs appreciate you coming here on such short notice.”
“I was told that it was imperative that I make myself available for this assignment, sir.”
“We have come to believe that it is,” the admiral said.
The men on the panel turned their attention to the chair, who regarded the two navy officers standing before them.
Once again, there was a long silence before the general uttered a deep sigh. “Lieutenant Thornton, yesterday, you requested a copy of the case file pertaining to the death of Lieutenant General George Davis.”
Murphy felt his father’s eyes flick, only for an instant, in his direction before he returned to staring straight ahead.
“Please explain to the staff and the captain here why you made that request,” the general ordered.
“Because,” Murphy began slowly, trying to recall the details of his own reasoning for requesting the case file. “Because his daughter, Colleen Davis, was one of the women poisoned at the Baxter home in Reston. You see, in this case, according to friends and relatives, none of these women knew each other before that evening. There was no reason for them to be socializing with each other. But they had to have one thing in common to bring them all together. All that we could find was either a direct or indirect connection to the army. In Colleen Davis’ case, that connection was her father, who was killed in a helicopter crash. I can’t say for certain that it was what brought her to the Baxter home, because I have not seen the file.”
“Lieutenant General George Davis was a personal friend of mine, Lieutenant,” General Johnston, Chief of Staff of the United States Army said.
“I’m sorry, sir,” Murphy said in a soft voice.
“I have seen that file, Lieutenant.” General Johnston’s expression was stern. “The helicopter crash that killed him and five other good men was no accident. There was a bomb on board the chopper. The Department of Defense kept that information from the media because they were concerned that the public would panic if they knew terrorists were striking military targets here on our soil.”
“Permission to speak, sir?” Joshua spoke up.
“Yes, Captain.”
Joshua cleared his throat. “Do you believe these murders and the attack at the coffee shop last night was a terrorist attack?”
“No,” the army’s chief of staff said, “but we do believe it is a conspiracy of some sort. Witnesses of the helicopter crash swore that it exploded in the air. CID uncovered evidence of the bomb. Their best agent was assigned to the case. He found something—something so important that he called me at home. By then, I had been appointed to chief of staff of the army. The agent made an appointment to speak to me about what he had uncovered the next morning. That night, his home burnt down with him, his wife, and two children inside.”
Murphy could feel his father’s body stiffen where he stood next to him.
“If I may ask, ma’am and sirs,” Joshua replied after a long silence, “why us? I would recommend that this case be sent to the FBI.”
“Because we don’t know who is behind it,” General Raleigh said. “Whoever it is has deep pockets and resources.”
“Lieutenant Thornton just informed us that whoever is behind this also had a Pennsylvania state trooper killed,” Admiral Patterson said.
Joshua turned his head to look directly at Murphy’s profile. “Nick?” he whispered.
Noticing that Joshua had shaved his beard and cut his long hair, Murphy paused. After recovering from the shock, he offered a slight nod of his head.
“This conspiracy is running deep and wide and apparently stretches back many years,” General Raleigh said. “There�
�s no telling what level of authority the perpetrator may have reached. But we can almost be certain that he or she is connected to the army.”
“But doesn’t appear to be connected to the navy,” Admiral Patterson said. “Granted, Lieutenant Thornton, you seem to have caught this case completely by accident. We are going to keep this investigation in house here in the military—under the Phantoms. Captain Thornton will lead the investigation with Lieutenant Thornton taking second in command.”
“You are right, Captain,” General Raleigh said. “The FBI does need to be involved in this. However, we want this investigation to stay with the Phantoms until we can get a handle on who is behind it. Luckily, we have a Phantom within the FBI. She will be contacting you, Captain. The rest of your team, we are free to hand pick.”
“Thank you, ma’am, sirs,” Joshua said. “May I ask where this investigation is going to be taking place?”
Admiral Patterson chuckled. “Well, since NCIS Chief Hillary Koch got Lieutenant Thornton into this mess …”
It was all Murphy could do to keep from hugging his father after the Joint Chiefs had dismissed them and they left the chambers on the seventh floor. They may not have been in front of the chiefs, but they were still in the Pentagon with uniformed colleagues all about. Such public displays were not encouraged.
However, Murphy did allow himself to reach out his hand to squeeze his father’s shoulder while admiring his captain stripes. “Captain? When did that happen?”
“Middle of the night. Early this morning.” Joshua reached out to press the elevator call button to take them down to the fifth floor where the Pentagon’s NCIS offices were located. “CO called me after reading your report. I reminded her that I was retired and I’m in the middle of a court case.” He glanced over at Murphy. “She said nothing about your case being connected to Nick’s murder. Then, Admiral Patterson called a half hour later and asked what it would take to get me to drop everything and come out to Washington. Just off the top of my head I said a promotion to captain. Five minutes later, he called back and said I got it. They had a private military transport waiting for me at Pittsburgh airport at six o’clock this morning.”
The elevator doors opened. Before Murphy could reach out to hold the doors open for his father, General Sebastian Graham and the woman Murphy had seen him having breakfast with stepped out. General Graham’s and Joshua’s eyes met.
“Thornton?” The general extended his hand out to Joshua. “Get out of here. It really is you. I heard you retired.” He looked from one shoulder pad to the other.
“I was reactivated.” Joshua gestured to Murphy who was waiting behind the general. “This is my son, Lieutenant Murphy Thornton.”
“A chip off the old block, huh?” Startling Murphy, General Graham stuck out his hand to break a stare down that Murphy was having with Dolly, whose expression revealed that she recognized him as the same young lieutenant sitting nearby at the Ritz-Carlton. “Nice to meet you, Lieutenant. Where are you assigned?”
Aware of the general and his companion’s earlier conversation, Murphy replied, “A special naval task force. The subject is classified.”
“Aren’t they all?” the general said with a chuckle before gesturing at the brunette. “I’d like you to meet Dolly Scanlon, my personal assistant.” His expression was not unlike that of an adolescent boy proud of having the hottest date for the prom.
“Nice to meet you, Ms. Scanlon,” Joshua said while shaking her hand. “I take it you’re not in the military.”
While she shook her head, General Graham explained, “She’s my personal assistant. I’m afraid they have me so busy nowadays, plus my personal endeavors, that I had no choice but to hire my own assistant.” He puffed up with pride. “I’m sure you heard about my nomination to the Joint Chiefs—army’s chief of staff.”
“Yes, I did,” Joshua said. “Congratulations. You’ve earned it.”
When the elevator doors opened again, Murphy reached out his hand to hold them open. “Sir, we need to go now.”
Seeing that Murphy was in a rush, Joshua stepped onto the car. “What was that about?” he asked once the doors were closed while admiring the Bronze Star on Murphy’s chest. A proud grin crossed his face.
“General Graham is having an affair with that woman,” Murphy said. “I saw them at the Ritz-Carlton this morning.”
“I have no doubt about that,” Joshua said with a laugh. “I’ve known Sebastian Graham for over twenty years. He would not hire a woman who wouldn’t sleep with him.”
“There’s more. I believe he had an affair with one of our murder victims.” The elevator doors opened and Murphy stepped forward. He held the door open for Joshua to step off.
Joshua turned serious. “Are you sure about that?”
“I heard him and his assistant during breakfast,” Murphy said. “They had no idea who I was. The husband of one of our victims, Colonel Lincoln Clark, refused to allow us to take his son’s DNA for exclusionary purposes. Graham and Dolly were talking about how fortunate it was that we backed off. Then, they were talking about using last night to put pressure on the Joint Chiefs to order this investigation sent to CID so that Graham could control the outcome of the investigation.”
“Sounds like you overheard quite a bit,” Joshua said. “Why does Graham want to control the outcome of the investigation?”
“Either to cover up that he fathered Colonel Clark’s son, or worse, that he was behind the murders,” Murphy said with a sigh. “I got interrupted and didn’t hear the rest of the conversation.”
“But you heard enough.” Joshua patted him on the shoulder. “Go get the conference room ready for the case files. I’m going to go to security to make arrangements for a temporary clearance for Cameron.”
“Sure, Dad.”
Murphy turned on his heel only to have Joshua grip his arm and spin him back to face him.
“Don’t call me that.” The stern look in Joshua’s blue eyes struck the same fear that it did when he was a child.
“What?” Murphy breathed.
“Dad,” Joshua said. “When we’re in uniform and we pass that security gate, I’m Captain Thornton and you’re Lieutenant Thornton. We’re in a very unique situation, son. Everyone on our team is going to be aware that we are father and son. If I cut you any breaks, show you any leniency, then any career benefits you get from this case will be viewed as the result of nepotism. Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
Joshua narrowed his eyes at him.
Murphy stood up straighter. “Sir, yes, sir.”
“I have two goals, Lieutenant.” Joshua held up two fingers. “One is to make you hate me by the time we catch this killer. Two is to solve this case so that Cameron can have peace of mind and closure over Nick’s murder, and to get back to Chester in time to walk Tracy down the aisle.”
“That’s three,” Murphy said.
“Are you correcting me, Lieutenant?” Joshua replied in a firm voice that made Murphy start.
“Sir, no, sir.”
Joshua stepped up to glare into Murphy’s eyes. “How many goals do I have, Lieutenant?”
“Two, sir. One is to make me hate you, sir. Two is to solve this case to get closure for Cameron and to get back home in time to walk Tracy down the aisle. That’s two goals, sir.”
“Very good, Lieutenant.” Joshua stepped back. “Now go prepare the conference room and brew a pot of coffee. I need it. I was up all night. The judge declared a mistrial on my case and I had to cut my hair and shave my beard. In other words, I’m in a very foul mood.”
“You’re covering it up very well, sir,” Murphy said. “On the up side, sir, you did get a promotion to captain.”
“If I had known I was in a bargaining position, I would have insisted they let me keep my beard.”
“What do I say to Staff Chief Hillary Crotch—I
mean Koch, sir. Her name is Koch. Hillary Koch.”
To Murphy’s surprise, Joshua chuckled. “Crotch? I like that.”
“What do I say to her, sir?” Murphy couldn’t wait to ruin Hillary Koch’s day. He could sense her waiting to pounce on him when he came through the door, especially after being called on the carpet on the seventh floor.
A wicked grin came to Joshua’s lips. “Say nothing. Leave Crotch to me.”
“Well, I see they didn’t have security escort you out.” Boris Hamilton leaned back against the empty desk next to the coffeemaker while Murphy prepared the pot for brewing.
“No, they didn’t,” Murphy said.
“What happened?”
Hearing Murphy’s voice, Special Agent Susan Archer came rushing out of her office. “Are we still on the case?”
Over his shoulder Murphy saw that Wendy and Perry Latimore, who was hanging out at Wendy’s desk, were listening in. “Yes.”
“Since when do you drink coffee?” Wendy called over to ask.
“I don’t,” Murphy replied.
“Thornton!” Hillary Koch had stepped into the doorway of her office. “I want a word with you.”
“I’m sure you do, Koch.” Murphy hit the switch to turn on the coffeemaker.
When he turned around to go to her office, he found that she had sauntered across the office to stand before him with her hands on her hips. A smug grin filled her face. “I understand you got a witness killed last night.”
Murphy shot a glance beyond Hillary to where Perry avoided looking at him. In avoiding Murphy, Perry’s eyes met Susan’s glare. In an attempt to evade her, he turned in the other direction to meet Boris’s penetrating gaze.
“No,” Murphy said. “I did not get a witness killed. Yes, a witness was killed. Since I was the leader of the team who had her under surveillance, then I will take responsibility for failing to keep her alive. But, if you expect me to take responsibility for her murder—no I won’t take that, because I didn’t pull the trigger. The person behind that hit squad is responsible for her death and we intend to find whoever that is and make them pay for it.”
