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I got a ride and got out two hundred yards short of Bird's main gate, a few minutes past eleven in the evening, January fourth, after a little more than six hours on the road. North Carolina was pitch dark and cold. Very cold, so I jogged the two hundred yards to heat myself up. I was out of breath when I got to the gate. I was logged in and I ran down to my office. It was warm inside. The night-watch sergeant with the baby son was on duty. She had coffee going. She gave me a cup and I walked into my office and found a note from Summer waiting for me on my desk. The note was clipped to a slim green file. The file had three lists in it. The women-with-Humvees list, the women-from-Irwin list, and the main gate log for New Year's Eve. The first two lists were relatively short. The gate log was a riot. People had been in and out all night long, partying. But only one name was common to all three compilations: Lt/Col Andrea Norton. Summer had circled the name in all three locations. Her note said: Call me about Norton. Hope your mom was OK.
I found the old message slip with Joe's telephone number on it and called him first.
"You holding up?" I asked him.
"We should have stayed," he said.
"She gave the nurse one day off," I said. "One day was what she wanted. "
"We should have stayed anyway. "
"She doesn't want spectators," I said.
Joe didn't answer. The phone was hot and silent against my ear.
"I've got a question," I said. "When you were at the Pentagon, did you know an asshole called Willard?"
He stayed quiet for a long moment, changing gears, searching his memory. He had been out of Intelligence for some time.
"Squat little man?" he said. "Couldn't sit still? Always shuffling around on his chair, fussing with his pants? He was a desk guy. A major, I think. "
"He's a full colonel now," I said. "He just got assigned to the 110th. He's my CO at Rock Creek. "
"MI to the 110th? That makes sense. "
"Makes no sense to me. "
"It's the new theory," Joe said. "They're copying private-sector doctrine. They think know-nothings are good because they're not invested in the status quo. They think they bring fresh perspectives. "
"Anything I should know about this guy?"
"You called him an asshole, so it sounds like you already know about him. He was smart, but he was an asshole, for sure. Vicious, petty, very corporate, good at office politics, exclusively interested in number one, excellent ass-kisser, always knew which way the wind was blowing. "
I said nothing.
"Hopeless with women," Joe said. "I remember that. "
I said nothing.
"He's a perfect example," Joe said. "Like we discussed. He was on the Soviet desk. He monitored their tank production and fuel consumption, as I recall. I think he worked out some kind of an algorithm that told us what kind of training Soviet armor was doing based on how much fuel they were eating. He was hot for a year or so. B
ut now I guess he's seen the future. He got himself out while the getting was good. You should do the same. At least you should think about it. Like we discussed. "
I said nothing.
"Meanwhile, watch your step," Joe said. "I wouldn't want Willard for a boss. "
"I'll be OK," I said.
"We should have stayed in Paris," he said, and hung up.
I found Summer in the O Club bar. She had a beer on the go and was leaning on the wall with a couple of W2s. She moved away from them when she saw me.
"Garber's gone to Korea," I said. "We got a new guy. "
"Who?"
"A colonel called Willard. From Intelligence. "
"So how is he qualified?"
"He isn't qualified. He's an asshole. "
"Doesn't that piss you off?"
I shrugged. "He's telling us to stay away from the Kramer thing. "
"Are we going to?"
"He's telling me to stop talking to you. He says he's going to turn down your application. "
She went very quiet. Looked away.
"Shit," she said.
"I'm sorry," I said. "I know you wanted it. "
She looked back at me.
"Is he serious about the Kramer thing?" she asked.
I nodded. "He's serious about everything. He had me arrested at the airport, to make all his various points. "
"Arrested?"
I nodded again. "Someone ratted me out for those guys in the parking lot. "
"Who?"
"One of the grunts in the audience. "
"One of ours? Who?"
"I don't know. "
"That's cold. "
I nodded. "Never happened to me before. "
She went quiet again.
"How was your mom?" she said.
"She broke her leg," I said. "No big deal. "
"They can get pneumonia. "
I nodded again. "She had the X ray. No pneumonia. "
Her lower eyelids moved upward.
"Can I ask the obvious question?" she said.
"Is there one?"
"Aggravated battery against civilians is a big deal. And apparently there's a report and an eyewitness, good enough to get you arrested. "
"So?"
"So why are you still walking around?"
"Willard's sitting on it. "
"But why would he, if he's an asshole?"
"Out of respect for my record. That's what he said. "
"Did you believe him?"
I shook my head.
"There must be something wrong with the complaint," I said. "An asshole like Willard would use it if he could, that's for sure. He doesn't care about my record. "
"Can't be something wrong with the complaint. A military witness is the best kind they can get. He'll testify to whatever they tell him to. It's like Willard would be writing the complaint himself. "
I said nothing.
"And why are you here at all?" she asked.
I heard Joe say: You should find out who wanted you at Bird badly enough to pull you out of Panama and replace you with an asshole.
"I don't know why I'm here," I said. "I don't know anything. Tell me about Lieutenant Colonel Norton. "
"We're off the case. "
"So just tell me for interest's sake. "
"It isn't her. She's got an alibi. She was at a party in a bar off-post. All night long. About a hundred people were there with her. "
"Who is she?"
"Psy-Ops instructor. She's a psychosexual Ph. D. who specializes in attacking an enemy's internal emotional security concerning his feelings of masculinity. "
"She sounds like a fun lady. "
"She was invited to a party in a bar. Someone thinks she's a fun lady. "
"Did you check who drove Vassell and Coomer down here?"
Summer nodded. "Our gate guys list him as a Major Marshall. I looked him up, and he's a XII Corps staffer on temporary detached duty at the Pentagon. Some kind of a blue-eyed boy. He's been over here since November. "
"Did you check phone calls out of the D. C. hotel?"
She nodded again.
"There weren't any," she said. "Vassell's room took one incoming call at twelve twenty-eight in the morning. I'm assuming that was XII Corps calling from Germany. Neither of them made any outgoing calls. "
"None at all?"
"Not a one. "
"Are you sure?"
"Totally. It's an electronic switchboard. Dial nine for an outside line, and the computer records it automatically. It has to, for the bill. "
Dead end.
"OK," I said. "Forget the whole thing. "
"Really?"
"Orders are orders," I said. "The alternative is anarchy and chaos. "
I went back to my office and called Rock Creek. I figured Willard would be long gone. He was the type of guy who keeps bankers' hours his whole life. I got hold of a company clerk and asked him to find a copy of the original order moving me from Panama to Bird. It was five minutes before he came back on the line. I spent them reading Summer's lists. They were full of names that meant nothing to me.
"I've got the order here now, sir," the guy on the phone said.
"Who signed it?" I asked him.
"Colonel Garber, sir. "
"Thank you," I said, and put the phone down. Then I sat for ten minutes wondering why people were lying to me. Then I forgot all about that question, because my phone rang again and a young MP private on routine base patrol told me we had a homicide victim in the woods. It sounded like a real bad one. My guy had to pause twice to throw up before he got to the end of his report.
