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She said nothing.
"You disobeyed my direct order," I said.
She said nothing.
"Why?" I asked.
"Why did you give me the order?"
"Why do you think?"
"Because you're toeing Willard's line. "
"He's the CO," I said. "It's a good line to toe. "
"I don't agree. "
"You're in the army now, Summer. You don't obey orders just because you agree with them. "
"We don't cover things up just because we're told to either. "
"We do," I said. "We do that all the time. We always have. "
"Well, we shouldn't. "
"Who made you Chief of Staff?"
"It's unfair to Carbone and Mrs. Kramer," she said. "They're innocent victims. "
I paused. "Why did you start with Mrs. Kramer? You see her as more important than Carbone?"
Summer shook her head. "I didn't start with Mrs. Kramer. I got to her second. I had already started on Carbone. I went through the personnel lists and the gate log and marked who was here at the time and who wasn't. "
"You gave me that paperwork. "
"I copied it first. "
"You're an idiot," I said.
"Why? Because I'm not chicken?"
"How old are you?"
"Twenty-five. "
"OK," I sa
id. "So next year you'll be twenty-six. You'll be a twenty-six-year-old black woman with a dishonorable discharge from the only career you've ever had. Meanwhile the civilian job market will be flooded because of force reduction and you'll be competing with people with chests full of medals and pockets full of testimonials. So what are you going to do? Starve? Go work up at the strip club with Sin?"
She said nothing.
"You should have left it to me," I said.
"You weren't doing anything. "
"I'm glad you thought so," I said. "That was the plan. "
"What?"
"I'm going to take Willard on," I said. "It's going to be him or me. "
She said nothing.
"I work for the army," I said. "Not for Willard. I believe in the army. I don't believe in Willard. I'm not going to let him trash everything. "
She said nothing.
"I told him not to make an enemy out of me. But he didn't listen. "
"Big step," she said.
"One that you already took," I said.
"Why did you cut me out?"
"Because if I blow it I don't want to take anyone down with me. "
"You were protecting me. "
I nodded.
"Well, don't," she said. "I can think for myself. "
I said nothing.
"How old are you?" she asked.
"Twenty-nine," I said.
"So next year you'll be thirty. You'll be a thirty-year-old white man with a dishonorable discharge from the only job you've ever had. And whereas I'm young enough to start over, you're not. You're institutionalized, you've got no social skills, you've never been in the civilian world, and you're good for nothing. So maybe it should be you laying in the weeds, not me. "
I said nothing.
"You should have talked it over," she said.
"It's a personal choice," I said.
"I already made my personal choice," she said. "Seems like you know that now. Seems like Detective Clark accidentally ratted me out. "
"That's exactly what I mean," I said. "One stray phone call and you could be out on the street. This is a high-stakes game. "
"And I'm right here in it with you, Reacher. So bring me up to speed. "
Five minutes later she knew what I knew. All questions, no answers.
"Garber's signature was a forgery," she said.
I nodded.
"So what about Carbone's, on the complaint? Is that forged too?"
"Maybe," I said. I took the copy that Willard had given me out of my desk drawer. Smoothed it out on the blotter and passed it across to her. She folded it neatly and put it in her inside pocket.
"I'll get the writing checked," she said. "Easier for me than you, now. "
"Nothing's easy for either of us now," I said. "You need to be very clear about that. So you need to be very clear about what you're doing. "
"I'm clear," she said. "Bring it on. "
I sat quiet for a minute. Just looked at her. She had a small smile on her face. She was plenty tough. But then, she had grown up poor in an Alabama shack with churches burning and exploding all around her. I guessed watching her back against Willard and a bunch of Delta vigilantes might represent progress, of a sort, in her life.
"Thank you," I said. "For being on my side. "
"I'm not on your side," she said. "You're on mine. "
My phone rang. I picked it up. It was the Louisiana corporal, calling from his desk outside my door.
"North Carolina State Police on the line," he said. "They want a duty officer. You want to take it?"
"Not really," I said. "But I guess I better. "
There was a click and some dead air and another click. Then a dispatcher came on the line and told me a trooper in an I-95 patrol car had found an abandoned green canvas briefcase on the highway shoulder. He told me it had a wallet inside that identified the owner as a General Kenneth R. Kramer, U. S. Army. He told me he was calling Fort Bird because he figured it was the closest military installation to where the briefcase had been found. And he was calling to tell me where the briefcase was currently being held, in case I was interested in having someone sent out to pick it up.
