“What did that bastard do to you, Merry?” Jodie asked anxiously.
Merry smiled wanly. “I’ll be fine, Jodie. I just turned my right ankle trying to dodge, while my late boyfriend was waving that flaming branch around. I probably could walk on it, if I had to.” She put a little weight on the right leg, winced, and exclaimed, “Oww! Well, maybe not just yet.” She gallantly failed to mention the burns, although the angry red patches on her left thigh, abdomen and right shoulder must have been very painful.
Steph had sustained some bruises and a nasty rope burn around her neck while being double-penetrated by the Carson brothers, but she assured Jodie that other than these fairly minor complaints and being somewhat sore, she was in good condition. Jodie was relieved to learn that Charlie had done nothing worse to her partner than what would have been considered no more than a light workout by a veteran “Cadet Cunt” like Robin.
They squatted on the ground near the tent where Billy had tossed the unconscious Dick Murphy. While they waited for Kate to come back, Steph and Robin went into the empty tent and brought out sleeping bags to cover their nakedness, as the clothing of all the women except Kate had been destroyed by Billy’s gang, and the nighttime air in the mountains was quite cool, even in May. They were huddled together under the opened sleeping bags quietly comparing their experiences with the hillbilly gang, when Kate came out to report on Murphy’s condition.
“It’s not good,” she said. “They hit him very hard with something, and he has a serious blunt force trauma. I would guess he has a fractured skull, a concussion and possibly a cerebral hemorrhage. He’s still unconscious, which may be for the best. My best guess is that if we don’t get him to a hospital within the next twelve hours, it’ll be too late, but…” her voice dropped “… if we try to move him the way he is now…” She left the sentence unfinished, but her face and the hopeless way she shook her head spoke volumes.
Murphy was closer to awareness than Kate suspected, as they discovered when they heard his voice coming from the tent, although it was too weak for any of his words to be comprehensible.
“Dick!” Kate exclaimed. She scrambled back into the tent and knelt beside him. He whispered something that only Kate could hear. She looked out from the tent and caught Jodie’s eye. “He wants to tell you something, General,” she said.
Jodie scuttled into the tent and knelt next to the stricken captain. His face was unnaturally pale in the glow of the flashlight. His eyes were closed and his breathing was uneven and shallow. “It’s Jodie. I’m right here, Dick,” she said.
“General Lawrence,” he said in a barely audible voice, “you have to get out of here, now. The gunfire and all the noise…” he trailed off.
Jodie waited to see if he was going to continue on his own, then gently prompted him. “Yes, Dick, you were saying?”
“There’s a chance we were heard… you can’t wait until morning to leave… too risky,” he said, pausing every few syllables to gather the strength to continue.
“Kate says it’s not safe to move you now,” Jodie answered, “so we’ll have to stay a little longer and wait until you’re strong enough to travel.”
He did not speak again for so long that Jodie thought he had lost consciousness again. She started to tell Kate that she was going back out to consult with the rest of the group, when injured man stirred. His voice was even weaker than before. He lacked the strength to control his tongue and lips well enough to form clear words, so that his speech was both labored and slurred. It did not require medical training to see that Cafferson’s intelligence man was almost at the end of his strength. His entire body strained with the effort to produce a few words. “Gen’ral, I’m not… gonna get… stron’er. I’m… done. Jus’ leave…” He faded out, then drew in a shuddering breath, and continued. “Leave me here… coun’ry… nee’ you…” He fell silent, and his tense body relaxed as he passed into unconsciousness again.
Jodie picked up Kate with her eyes and signaled with her chin to step out of the tent. They stood together by the entrance, and far enough away from the others that they could talk quietly without being overheard. Jodie said softly, “I can’t leave him behind if there’s the even smallest chance he might make it. You’re the only one of us who has any medical training…”(she had found this out during the long trip from Washington) “… so it has to be your call.”
Kate’s eyes went to the tent where Murphy was lying, then returned to Jodie. “Christ, General, how am I qualified to decide a thing like this? I took a three-week course in battlefield first aid. I know how to sew up an open wound, splint a broken bone, administer a shot of morphine, start an I.V., things like that. You’re asking me to make a decision that’s way above my paygrade.” Her voice, which was already low, dropped even further. Jodie had to move her ear close to Kate’s moth to make out her next few words. “Even if I knew enough to give you a reliable answer, I’d be the last person you should ask. Dick and I… we were… we’ve been…” She hesitated and fell silent.
Jodie was mystified for a moment, but she quickly worked it out. “Oh. Oh, Jesus, Kate. How serious was it?” she whispered, her eyes studying her friend’s face.
Kate’s face was set in an unreadable mask, as if she was working hard to suppress any hint of the emotions that tore at her inside. “We were going to be married in the fall, sir,” she answered, addressing Jodie as her superior officer rather than her friend, to keep the pain at bay by hiding behind military formality. “So you can see why my judgment can’t be trusted in this case, sir. So, with all due respect, I think it has to be your call, sir. I want you to know you can count on me to back you 100 percent, whatever you decide, General Lawrence.”
Jodie understood what Kate was trying to do. She patted the tall blonde’s shoulder and said, “Go back in the tent and stay with him until we decide what to do. I want to consult with the others and see what they think before we make any decision.”
“Yes, sir,” Kate said, looking up at the sky and all around, as if she detected something. “But I should remind you that every second of delay increases the chance that…”
“I’m pretty sure that five minutes won’t make much difference, one way or the other,” Jodie cut in. “Now, get in there with him, and stay there,” she said, pointing at the tent.
Kate nodded and ducked down to re-enter the tent, while Jodie returned to where Merry, Steph and Robin waited for her, and squatted down among them. She quickly summarized what she had seen and what Murphy had said, leaving out any mention Kate’s personal relationship with the intelligence man. “The floor is open for suggestions,” she concluded.
“I think he’s right. We should get you out of here right away, Jodie,” Robin said. “One of us can stay behind with Dick Murphy, but you’re the important one.”
“I agree,” said Merry. “I volunteer to stay back with him.”
Steph surveyed the others and shook her head. “Forget it, girls. We’re supposed to protect you, not the other way around. If anybody would be left behind, it would be me or Kate. But we’re not leaving anybody. Murphy knows the risks; we all do. We knew there might come a time when we would have to put our lives on the line to carry out the assignment. Anyway, as a practical matter, how would we get him to the hospital in time to do any good, if the only means of transportation is gone? I agree it’s too dangerous to stay around here any longer. We’ll put Dick in the vehicle and take him with us. Whatever happens to him after that is out of our hands.”
“I told Colonel Bransom that I would put myself under the orders of my security team, so I guess that means you and Kate are the hostesses of this cotillion, Steph,” Jodie said. She rose to her feet. “Let’s rig up a stretcher for Dick and get out of here, posthaste.”
“Never mind,” said Kate, who had returned unheard. In a voice as empty of emotion as the vacuum of outer space, she finished, “He won’t be needing it. Dick Murphy is dead.”
Jodie stood up and stretched out her ar
ms to hug her grieving friend. “Kate…” she began. She stopped in her tracks when Kate held up her hand.
“He’s dead and that’s it, General,” she said harshly. “We have to go on without him, and we need to go now. There’ll be time later to remember absent friends.”
“You’re right, Kate,” said Jodie. She surveyed the clearing. “But we can’t run off and leave this mess behind.” She waved her hand at the campsite and the bodies of Billy’s gang. “The second anybody finds this place and sees all the Army-issue gear, they’ll know we were here, and after that all they’ll have to do is follow the SUV’s trail to find us. We need to get as long a head start on pursuit as we possibly can get.”
“It’s not going to take Sherlock Holmes to figure out that somebody with a M-63 cooled all these hillbilly assholes, either,” Robin pointed out. “We need to do something with all the dead meat before we leave, stash it somewhere out of sight, at the very minimum.”
“Right, and we have to do it all on the double,” Jodie said, automatically taking command again, as she had on the first day at the Academy. “Robin, you break down the tents, and pack up all of our stuff. Steph, you go around and clean up any traces of Billy’s gang: their loose gear, the ropes, blood, whatever. The rest of us will drag the bodies…”
Chapter Seven: Lipstick on a pig
Suddenly the night was transformed to day, as blindingly bright searchlights lit the hilltop clearing. They heard the sound of rotors beating the air directly overhead, and a small tornado seemed to have settled on the campsite, making the tent walls billow out and blowing scraps and trash wildly in every direction. Out of the glare from above came instructions in a harshly amplified voice. “Do not attempt to escape. This area is surrounded. If you have any weapons on your persons, throw them down immediately, then place yourselves face down on the ground, with your hands on your heads. Move slowly and keep your hands in sight at all times. Anyone who fails to follow these orders may be shot without notice. There will be no further warnings.”
Kate slowly and carefully went through her pockets, and tossed away the extra magazines of rifle ammunition. Then she unbuckled the gun belt that held her holstered automatic and dropped it to the ground as well before she joined the others, who already lay prone in the dirt.
“This is the second time I’ve done this tonight,” Jodie told Merry, who was beside her, “and you’d think I’d be smart enough to put a sleeping bag down first, this time around. There’s one good thing about this, though,” she continued as a helicopter landed in the clearing and uniformed men began to leap out and run towards them.
“What’s that?” Merry asked, glad to hear that Jodie could see anything good in their current situation.
“After the way Billy and his boys dragged us around already, we can’t get much filthier,” she answered.
The soldiers had now surrounded them, and were roughly pulling their arms down behind their backs and locking handcuffs around their wrists.
“Yeah,” Merry agreed, as two of the men hauled her to her feet and began to march her away to the ’copter, “that is good.”
Whoever was in charge of the operation seemed to know exactly who they were after. Jodie, Robin and Merry were immediately placed together in the back of the helicopter, accompanied by four white-clad members of the Shore Patrol, the naval equivalent of the MPs. The helicopter lifted off without waiting for Kate or Steph.
“What happened to the rest of the people?” Jodie demanded. “Where are Lieutenant Swenson and Lieutenant Carroll?”
“None of your goddamn business, traitor, so shut it,” answered the Petty Officer 2nd Class on her left.
The leader of the squad, a grizzled Master Chief Petty Officer with three stripes, a rocker and two stars on his sleeve said, “Collins, you are speaking to a Lieutenant General, and whatever she’s charged with you will address her with the respect due her rank. Is that understood?”
The two-striper appeared ready to argue, but after one look at the expression on his superior’s face, he reconsidered. “Understood, Chief,” he answered.
“They’re just being taken in another copter, General Lawrence,” the Chief said to Jodie. “I’m sure they’ll be fine.”
“Thank you, Chief,” Jodie said. “I don’t suppose you’re allowed to tell me where we’re going, are you?”
He shook his head. “Sorry, sir, I can’t. But I can get you something to wear during the flight. Collins,” he snapped, “go find something for the prisoners to wear; blankets, ponchos, anything.”
“Aye, aye, Chief,” the P.O.2 said. He rose and moved off toward the front of the cabin.
The senior NCO watched his subordinate move off toward a storage locker near the front of the helicopter, and then he turned back to Jodie. “Collins is good at following orders, and he’ll swallow any bilge the Navy pumps out. But I don’t care what they say, General Lawrence, I know you would never be disloyal to this country.” He looked at Merry and Robin. “And the same goes for your friends. If it would do you any good, I would unlock those cuffs and let you all go free, and they could do what they wanted with me. But…” He held his hands out, palms upward, as if to say that he was powerless to help.
“Understood, Chief…” She leaned closer to peer at his nametag, “…Mayhew. I appreciate the sentiment, but…” She looked at his subordinates. “… I don’t want you to get in Dutch with your superiors.”
“Don’t worry about them, General,” he said, “the boys are all with me on this.” The members of his squad nodded. “That knothead Collins is the only one who buys the official line. That’s why I picked him for that little errand. If there’s anything we can do for you, short of springing you, just ask.”
“There is one thing, Chief,” Jodie said quietly. “Wherever they’re taking us, there’s a good chance none of us are ever going to come out again, at least not alive. So, I will ask you to remember us after we’re gone, and if we do disappear or turn up dead, and the official story is that we were killed by Chinese agents or some other bullshit, I want you, all of you…” she paused to look the Shore Patrolmen in the eye, one by one, before proceeding, “…to step up and to give that story the lie, and to tell the whole world that traitors in our own United States Navy were responsible. Then, even if we don’t survive, at least the sons-of-bitches who murdered us won’t get away with it. I know I’m asking you to risk your careers, hell, probably your lives …” she looked around at the SPs again, “…but unless somebody gets the truth out, this country is going to fall into the hands of real traitors.”
“You have our word on it, General,” Chief Mayhew said solemnly. He glanced at his men and they added their pledges.
It was still dark when they landed on the roof of a building which had a landing area marked around the edges with landing lights but was otherwise un-illuminated. They were inside some kind of large Naval facility, and the salt-smell in the air suggested it was either on the ocean or near a tidal estuary, probably, Jodie thought, in Maryland or North Carolina.
Now clothed in orange plastic emergency ponchos, the three prisoners were helped off the helicopter by the Shore Patrol squad and passed on to a security detail waiting on the roof. Just before they stepped onto the roof, Chief Mayhew murmured, “You can count on me, General Lawrence. I won’t forget.”
The men waiting to pick them up were dressed in civilian clothing consisting of dark suits, button-down shirts, conservative ties and expensive-looking shoes. They made Jodie think of FBI or Secret Service agents, but when the Chief asked for identification before releasing the prisoners to them, their leader flipped open a leather ID wallet and announced he was from Naval Internal Security.
The four suits herded the prisoners into a doorway on the rooftop, and then into an elevator. One of the Navy men produced a key, which he used to unlock a panel, and then pushed the sole button inside. As the elevator started moving, Jodie said, “So you guys are in Naval Internal Security? That’s interesting.
I wonder why I never heard of it before? What do you fellows do when you’re not helping a junta overthrow the government?”
The men ignored her. When the elevator stopped and the doors hissed open, Jodie had the feeling that they were far below ground in what she was reasonably certain was a secure, and possibly secret, naval facility. They were taken down a blank-walled corridor and into a windowless room.
Inside the room waited a Captain in a white naval uniform and several more men in suits, who Jodie supposed were more agents of the mysterious Naval Internal Security. The leader of the group who had brought the prisoners from the roof saluted the officer and said, “Captain Hall, we are reporting with the prisoners, sir.”
“Thank you, you are dismissed,” the Captain answered, returning the salute. He gestured to the three women. “You can sit on those chairs over there.”
He followed them over to the chairs and bent down to study Jodie at close range. Then he straightened up and shook his head. “It’s an amazing likeness. I suppose you learned how to talk just like the real General Lawrence as well.”
“Exactly like her,” Jodie agreed. “As it happens, that part was pretty easy, since I actually am Jodie Lawrence. And, if I may return the compliment, you do an excellent imitation of Captain Jonas Hall, a loyal officer whose father was a traitor.”
The Captain did not turn a hair. “Oh, you know who I am, do you?”
“After Admiral Hall was forced to retire, along with his partner in crime Admiral Carroll, you will recall there was a purge of the Navy Department,” she said. “A number of the members of the General Staff wanted your commission along with the others, because of the chief conspirator’s blood relationship to you, but General Cafferson wouldn’t hear of it. He said that there was not a scintilla of evidence that you were involved or even aware of the scheme; that your record was free of any suggestion of disloyalty and he was not about to make you suffer for the sins of your father. So, I’m a little surprised to find you cooperating with the criminals behind this coup, especially since whoever’s running the show is making such a dog’s dinner of it.”
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