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“Yeah, you can get the president of the United States of America to order me to give it up. Other than that, fuck off.”
“You’re the only one left from that time at London AFS.”
“Last man standing,” cackled Daniels.
“So you’re the only one who can help us prevent something really bad from happening.”
“It’s lunch time. I can smell the onions. I’m going to the dining room.”
He wheeled his chair forward, managed to ease it past the bed and wall, and then maneuvered it through the doorway.
“For a blind guy, he navigates pretty well,” said Jamison.
“He’s obviously not going to talk,” said Decker.
Jamison said, “I’m surprised they haven’t come here and killed him, too. I mean, look at poor Beverly Purdy.”
“If Irene Cramer never gave him up, they probably would have no way of knowing.”
“But if they followed us here? And found out we asked him questions? That’s probably how Beverly Purdy died.”
“Good point, Alex. I’ll have some security put here to guard against that.”
He got up to leave but then glanced at the nightstand. He picked up Daniels’s ballcap.
Jamison joined him. “Shows the unit in the Air Force he was assigned to,” she said. “Lots of veterans have them.”
“Right, but that’s not all.” Decker pointed to a series of metal pins that were attached to the hat. “Look at these.”
“Places where he worked. Sort of like merit badges he earned,” observed Jamison.
Decker ran his eye over all of them, until they held on one.
He shoved the hat into his pocket. “Let’s get out of here before Daniels comes back and notices his hat is missing.”
“He said he can’t see.”
“He said a lot of things. I don’t believe any of them.”
“So what’s with the hat?”
“A clue. Maybe a really big one.”
“USACC,”SAIDDECKER.
They were driving back to London from the nursing home. Decker was holding the hat and looking at the pins. One in particular had drawn his focus.
“USACC? What does that stand for?”
Decker took out his phone and searched for the meaning. “United States Army Chemical Corps,” he said.
“But Daniels was Air Force, not Army.”
“He still has the pin. And that’s not all.” He unclipped several of the pins from the hat and held them up. “Beale Air Force Base, Rocky Mountain Arsenal, Camp Detrick, Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Some of them are Army, some Air Force. And Camp Detrick is in Maryland and now it’sFortDetrick.”
“So he spent time at all of them?”
“Apparently enough time to earn a pin.”
