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Vic D’Allessando said, “It’s okay, Lester. The general and the sergeant major are cleared.”
“Yes, sir,” Lester said.
“Well, son? What did you do on that mission?”
“Sir, Major Castillo, who was in command, assigned me to guard the helicopter.”
“For your information, Corporal, Major Castillo has been promoted to lieutenant colonel,” McNab said.
“If it is appropriate for me to say so, sir, it is a well-deserved promotion. Maj…Lieutenant Colonel Castillo is a fine officer under whom I am proud to have served.”
Vic D’Allessando was smiling widely at a thoroughly confused Sergeant Major Davidson.
“So you guarded the helicopter?” McNab pursued.
“Yes, sir. Until the situation got a bit out of control, when I realized it had become my duty to enter the fray.”
“‘The fray’? Is that something like a firefight?” McNab asked.
“Yes, it is, sir. Perhaps I should have used that phrase.”
“How exactly did you enter the fray, Corporal?” McNab asked. “When the situation got a bit out of control?”
“Sir, when it became evident that one of the villains was about to fire his Madsen through a window into a room into which Maj…Lieutenant Colonel Castillo had taken the detainee, I realized I had to take him out. Regrettably, he managed to fire a short burst before I was able to do so.”
“How did you take him out?”
“With a head shot, sir.”
“You didn’t consider that it would be safer to try to hit him in the body?”
“I considered it, sir, but I was no more than seventy-five meters distant and knew I could make the shot.”
“Is that all you did, Corporal?”
“No, sir. I took out a second villain perhaps fifteen seconds later.”
“With another headshot?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Just to satisfy my curiosity, Corporal,” McNab asked, “were you firing offhand?”
“Yes, sir. There just wasn’t time to adjust a sling and get into a kneeling or prone position, sir.”
“Colonel Castillo has told Mr. D’Allessando that there is no question you saved his life. Sergeant Major Davidson and myself are old friends of Colonel Castillo’s and we are grateful to you, aren’t we, Sergeant Major?”
“Yes, sir. We certainly are.”
“Just doing my duty as I saw it, sir.”
“The yare going to bury Sergeant Kranz at sixteen hundred today in Arlington. If Sergeant Major Davidson can spare you from your duties here, I thought perhaps you might wish to go there with Mr. D’Allessando and me.”
“Yes, sir. I would like very much to pay my last respects.”
“Have you a dress uniform?”
“Yes, sir. But I’m afraid it’s not very shipshape, sir.”
