Corps Justice Boxed Set: Books 1-3: Back to War, Council of Patriots, Prime Asset (14 page)

The determination in Cal’s
eyes made Brian wait to reply.
What the
hell am I getting into?

BRIAN
: Can
I ask another question?

CAL
: Sorry,
doc, that’s it. Either you trust me and you’re in or you can go
take a break in your room. I’ve made my decision and so have these
guys. You’re part of the family or you’re not.

Brian’s eyes flashed with his own cold anger
as he continued.

BRIAN
: I’ll
give you the benefit of the doubt that you weren’t trying to be a
total prick with that last statement and that maybe the booze is
talking a bit. I was going to ask you how I would fit into this
little operation.

Cal flashed another conspiratorial smile and nodded
to the team.

CAL
: I told
you he wouldn’t puss out, guys. He belongs here.

BRIAN
: Tell
me you didn’t just put me through some kind of test,
Cal.

CAL
: What
can I say, doc? Once a Marine, always a Marine. Didn’t your company
gunny give you shit until he knew you weren’t just another
swabby?

Brian chuckled as he reminisced.

BRIAN
:
Yeah. That guy rode my ass for months. Good guy though. He’s one of
the guys I saved.

MSgt Trent decided to chime in.

MSGT
TRENT
: Look doc, you might as well get
it through your head that this place is a lot like the Marine Corps
including Cal’s smart ass comments. We all give each other a hard
time, but in the end we take care of one another. You’ve probably
already heard some of the stories of some of us
second-chancers.

Brian’s eyes went wide as he stared at the
six foot seven mass of muscles.

BRIAN
(blurting): You’re a second-chancer too?

MSgt Trent’s chuckle sounded more like the
rumble of a mountain landslide.

MSGT
TRENT
: Yep. I’m a former screw-up just
like the rest of these boys. I had the misfortune of getting on the
wrong side of a prick Major. At the time I was working in the chow
hall with Fifth Marines. Long story short; turned out this guy was
not only looking at kiddy porn on our government computers, he also
made some inappropriate passes at my young female Marines. The guy
had the balls to do it right in front of me. He was a terminal
Major with close to twenty years in so I guess he thought he could
do whatever he wanted. Well, as soon as one of my Marines told me
what was going on, I confronted him. He denied it in one breath and
in the next told me that even if he was doing anything, it wasn’t
any of my business. I told him the next time I heard about him
messing with any of my Marines, he’d end up in the
hospital.

I hoped that would be the end of it. He wasn’t that
smart or lucky. A week later, I went into the walk-in freezer to
get some supplies. I open the door and find this Major with his
hand up the shirt of one of my female Marines pushed up against a
produce rack. It was pretty obvious she’d been struggling. The
prick had the nerve to tell me to leave. Instead I picked the
scrawny fuck up by the front of his cammies and threw him through
the door.

I’m not proud of what I did next, but he’d had his
chance. Let’s just say he ended up having an extended stay in the
hospital and won’t ever have the option of getting a woman
pregnant. The MPs showed up five minutes later and I told them the
whole story. While the regimental commander was sympathetic, he
couldn’t ignore the fact that I assaulted a Marine officer.

Next thing I know, I’m getting a visit from Travis
over there. He tells me who he is without getting into details,
then offers me a tryout here at SSI. Needless to say, I jumped at
the chance.

TRAVIS
(grandly): And the rest, as they say, is history.

Trent nodded thoughtfully and continued.

MSGT
TRENT
: Doc, nobody’s forcing you, but
if you’d heard anything today I want you to walk away with this:
This company and these guys will become your family. They’re fair
and will fight to the death for you once you’re here. Besides that,
the pay’s pretty damned good too.

He smiled as he finished and took a long
pull from his glass.

Travis, now visibly in the cups, picked up
where Trent left off.

TRAVIS
: I
guess what we’re saying doc is that this’ll be the last job you’ll
ever have.

Brian found it impossible to keep the look
of surprise off his face and reddened in embarrassment as the small
group of men smiled knowingly.

BRIAN
:
Wait, are you offering me a job?

TRAVIS
:
You’re not technically a second-chancer, but I think your record
and Cal vouching for you pretty makes you a shoe-in. Plus, Neil
told me he’d love to have some input from a medical combat vet on
some of the life-saving gear he’s developing.

BRIAN
: No
shit?!

Now Brian was completely floored. This
couldn’t be happening…could it?

TRAVIS
:
Well, you’d have to split the royalties from any new patents with
Neil and the company, but I don’t think that will be a problem.
That would be on top of your salary.

BRIAN
: But
you guys don’t even know me!

TRAVIS
:
Look, doc, we’ve been doing this for a while. We’ve obviously got
an eye for talent. Cal aside, everybody else around here is in the
top one percent of their peer group.

CAL
(smiling): Screw you, Trav. What my cousin’s trying to say is
that we’ve done our homework on you. We know about your awards. We
know about your perfect PFT and shooting scores. We know you’re
like us. I know this is a big decision, but we’re all in
agreement.

BRIAN
: What
would I do about my other job?

CAL
: Would
you rather be working there?

BRIAN
:
That’s not what I’m saying. They’ve been good to me and the pay’s
not bad.

CAL
(grinning): Come on, doc, you really want to go back to
changing bed pans after what you’ve seen around here? Plus, I’ll
twist Trav’s arm to take care of you on the salary side.

BRIAN
(thinking out loud): It does look like you guys have a pretty
good thing going around here. I guess I’m in.

Travis walked up to Brian and put his
non-drinking arm around his new employee.

TRAVIS
:
Then welcome to the family, my boy. I just have one more question
for you: you’re obviously a smart guy, super fit, a warrior. How
come you didn’t go to B.U.D.S and become a SEAL?

Without pause, Brian innocently
answered.

BRIAN
:
Because it only took me one time to pass the ASVAB.

The whole room exploded in laughter as
Travis shook his head in mock surprise.

TRAVIS
(lifting his glass in toast): Looks like you’ll fit right in
around here, doc.

+ + +

Dante cut the connection on his cell phone
and looked around at his newly assembled forces.

DANTE
: I
just got the address. Be ready to go tomorrow night after I do a
drive-by.

The hired guns all nodded and continued
preparing their gear for the impending mission. Dante looked around
the room appraising his beefed up crew. Bullet proof vests and
automatic weapons weren’t cheap, but they were effective. Things
were about to change. A war was coming.

That Marine’s about to feel some pain.

+ + +

The newly formed team spent the following
days going over “borrowed” police reports, courtesy of Neil.

TRAVIS
:
Some day you’re gonna have to show me how the hell you find this
stuff, Neil.

NEIL
: It’s
called plausible deniability, Mr. CEO. If I don’t tell you, you can
honestly tell your interrogators that you had no idea how I got my
hands on this stuff. Besides, I can’t show you all my
secrets.

TRAVIS
:
Fair enough. How about you give us a quick rundown of what we’re
looking at. My eyes are starting to hurt.

NEIL
: Ok,
here’s the gist. The local authorities haven’t come up with much. I
will give them credit though; they’ve put a lot of resources into
this investigation. Based on what Cal has told us, it looks like
their rendition of what happened in the alley is pretty spot on. On
the other hand, their search for West is lacking. They just don’t
have the resources. They’ve beaten the bushes and interrogated this
Shorty guy but haven’t come up with much. This kid was a new
recruit and didn’t have much knowledge of West’s hideouts and
operations. What they have gotten from him, they’ve exploited
pretty efficiently.

CAL
: So
what you’re saying is that we don’t have much to go on.

NEIL
:
Right. I’ve gone over everything they have and it really doesn’t
give us much help on finding West.

Cal turned to MSgt Trent who was carefully
studying a map of the Nashville area.

CAL
: What
do you think, Top?

Without turning away from the map, Trent
answered.

MSGT
TRENT
: I think we need to start
beating some bushes too. I’ll volunteer to start on the north side
of town.

CAL
: No
offense, Top, but you’re not the most inconspicuous of
detectives.

MSGT
TRENT
: Don’t worry about me, Cal. What
my size lacks in subtlety it more than makes up for in
intimidation. I figure West is probably not only in deep shit with
the cops, but also with some of his customers and rivals. The way
these guys work, they’re all thinly connected by financial
obligations and past favors. I’ll just pretend I’m looking for Mr.
West to pay back the money he owes me. I can be pretty convincing
when I want to be.

CAL
: OK.
Can’t say I have anything better. Neil, what do you
think?

NEIL
: I’m
with Top. We need to get some boots on the ground. He’ll blend in
best in that area anyway. I can give him some help with some
gadgets if he wants. Just let me know what you need,
Top.

CAL
: Trav,
I know you’re busy but can you spare some time to talk with some of
your contacts within the Metro Nashville Police
Department?

TRAVIS
: No
problem. I’ll see if I can swing a lunch with a couple of my
buddies. We’ve made some good friends on the force around here.
They’ve even spent some time in our simulators and on our live fire
ranges.

CAL
: Good.
See what you can find out about on-going operations to find West
and make sure they don’t think we’re jumping into this
thing.

Cal turned to Brian.

CAL
: That
leaves me, doc and Andy.

ANDY
: OK.
What are we doing?

CAL
: Now
that I’m getting around on my own power I want to go have a little
talk with Irene.

BRIAN
: The
girl at your condo?

CAL
: Yep. I
have a bad feeling that her walk through my condo wasn’t just
professional curiosity. Anybody have any other questions, comments
or concerns?

Travis raised his hand,

TRAVIS
:
Yeah, we may have one small issue. Just got a text from our legal
department. Seems as though we’ve gotten a couple of inquiries from
some local reporter. He was trying to find you and was looking for
a comment on the investigation.

CAL
: Just
tell them to blow him off.

TRAVIS
: I
did but I’ve heard about this guy. He’s a tenacious fucker. Young
and ambitious. Gave the local police hell earlier this year over
some alleged abuse scandal. Turned out to be nothing, but it really
gave the police a black eye. This guy smells a story.

CAL
: What’s
his name?”

TRAVIS
:
Henry Bellinger.

CAL
: Why do
I know that name?

TRAVIS
:
You’ve probably seen his name on any story condemning
conservatives, the military, or the police. He loves conspiracies
and is smart as hell.