Duty Bound (1995) (12 page)

"You're back, I see," Sergeant Major Dan Murphy said.

Ashley smiled. "You don't know how happy I am to see you, Dan. This place is a madhouse. Where's Tanner? I have us a ride home--the chopper is heading back to Fort Benning in thirty minutes."

Dan motioned toward the lake. "He should be comin' up from the site in a little while, but I don't think he'll be leavin' anytime soon. The guy you call the case agent in charge made him his assistant at the site. Come with me to the CP. I just ate and got to get back on duty."

"Duty?" she asked, taking his arm as he walked toward a large tent.

"Yeah, I've been helpin' coordinate the military-support side of this operation. Helluva note, Tan asks me to come along 'cause I know a little somethin' about the river, and I end up workin' my ass off as a damn REMF. Hell, I never got close to the river."

Ashley knew better than to ask the old vet, but did anyway. "What's an REMF, Dan?"

"Rear echelon motherfrigger . . . but it ain't really `frigger.' It's what we called the rear support weenies in da Nam. Us line dogs didn't care for 'em much 'cause they got three hots a day and slept in real beds. They got to go to the USO shows and play checkers with the Red Cross doughnut dollies while we were humpin' the boonies, snoopin' and poopin' for Charles."

Ashley couldn't help but smile, and squeezed his arm.

"So now it's Dan the REMF who's got three hots and a cot?"

Dan slapped at her shoulder. "I shouldn't even be talkin' to ya. You damn FBI people don't know shit about takin' care of your own."

"What are you talking about, Dan?"

Murphy's eyes narrowed. "I'm talking about how they treated Tan. I talked to him while we were waitin' for the support units to get in. You should have told me, Ashley. I woulda busted him out . . . I swear I would have."

Ashley felt a sinking sensation but held her eyes on him.

"Dan. I don't know what you're talking about."

Murphy looked at her a moment then took her arm and began walking again. "Come with me; I'll tell ya in the CP."

Stepping over cables and wires, they entered a large open-sided tent that smelled of sweat, stale coffee, and wet canvas. The sergeant major approached a long table filled with communications equipment. Seated at the table wearing headsets or with telephones pressed to their ears were Army, state, and federal men who received, analyzed, and transmitted information to others. Murphy spoke to a young sergeant. "It goin' smooth?"

The sergeant nodded. "Yes, Sergeant Major. They closed the search down a few minutes ago and will pick it up again tomorrow at oh-dark-thirty. The mess hall has been notified and we have a platoon erecting a couple more sleeping tents for the search teams."

Murphy waved his hand. "You're doin' so good I'm gonna let ya keep doin' it for another half hour. I'm goin' to be talkin' to the lady."

The sergeant grinned and bobbed his head. "Thank you, Sergeant Major."

Shaking his head, Dan led Ashley to the corner of the tent, speaking out of the side of his mouth. "Young ones don't know when they're gettin' scammed."

Overhead, Coleman lanterns hissed and cast yellow light on maps and charts taped to the tent frame as Murphy pulled up two folding chairs. He sat down heavily and shook his head as Ashley sat down on the other chair. "When they took Tan to Key West, it wasn't for any damn recovery leave; they took him to a damn loony bin."

Ashley began to shake her head, but the sergeant major's eyes locked on her. "Some people in your Bureau thought he had a death wish. Others thought the case had pushed him over the edge. Jesus Christ, Ashley, after all he went through and all he did, that's how you people treat him? Ya lock him up in a loony bin and sic shrinks on him?"

Lowering her head, Ashley spoke in a whisper. "I didn't know, Dan."

Seeing she meant it, Murphy leaned closer. "Ashley, why would they do that? You and I both know he hates hospitals.

It's a damn wonder he didn't really go nuts on them.'

Ashley slowly raised her eyes to him. "Dan, you're not going to like it or understand, but I think I know why. I guess I should have known when they questioned me during the debrief and wouldn't let me see him. It all makes sense now. Dan, you have to understand he killed five men and wounded two others in less than a minute. The operation looked like a suicide mission to everybody. They had to be sure he got through it all right without . . . well, you know.

It's standard policy--after an agent kills an assailant, they're to be checked out by a shrink--and I guess in this case they thought they were doing him a favor by sending him to Key West."

"Bullshit, now you're condoning what happened," Dan blurted. "A month of gettin' drilled by shrinks didn't do him any favors."

"I don't condone it but I understand why it was done.

Dan, Eli does things that make people feel very uneasy.

No, don't give me that look--it's true. Maybe it's his time in Vietnam or in Special Ops, but it's there; I've seen and felt it. When a situation heats up, he changes into somebody else. I saw it with my own eyes. It's like he doesn't feel the tension or fear that everybody else is feeling. That's the part that makes people uneasy when they're with him. You wonder if he cares. What makes it worse, he seems to like it.

I mean, he seems to feed off others' worries and fears, and it seems only to make him calmer. It drives you nuts to watch him think so clearly and spout commands like a damn machine while you're worrying about this and that and forget half of what you were supposed to be doing. Dan, I'm telling you it's scary. . . . You wonder . . . and I'm sure some people did wonder about him after the op went down."

Murphy sighed and lowered his head as if very tired.

"You know, Ashley, I'm as dumb as dirt . . . never made it past high school, and that was a struggle. But I'm goin' to tell ya a fact that's in no damn book and never was taught or even talked about in all my trainin' in the Army. I figgered you people in the FBI was better than us military types, but I guess you're no better than us. Ya see, I learned in Nam that some men have somethin' that others don't. I may be dumb, but I saw it right off. You ask any grunt who ever humped a ruck if what I'm tellin' ya isn't true. In every platoon you'll find one, maybe two, who have the gift. These men are special because they sense trouble comin'. In da Nam every grunt was tested sooner or later, and those that had it, knew it . . . believe me. They wanted to be the point men, ya know why? 'Cause they knew they were safer out front of everybody than they were being led by somebody that didn't have it. I'm tellin' ya all this because Eli had it. . . . You saying you felt uneasy tells me he still has it. We all felt uneasy being around him. We'd watch everything he'd do and pray `today' wasn't the day he'd see, hear, or feel somethin' we didn't . . . because if he did, we knew trouble was comin'.

The Tan man was what we called him, and it wasn't just another handle . . . it was out of respect. When you got scared, you looked to the Tan man. He was all calm like and all business and you knew he was figuring out a way to get us all out alive."

Murphy leaned forward, looking into her eyes. "He's not crazy or even close to it; he's just different and handles pucker time differently than most. I know I sound like some old drunk in a VFW tellin' war stories, but believe me when I tell ya it's no drunken war story; it's real. All of us who been out there in a life-or-death situation know--we know men like Eli have a gift--and you just pray to God that the enemy don't have one like him."

Ashley lowered her head. "I . . . I guess I knew. He's told me in his own way about it, but I wasn't listening. My dad was like him, you know. . . . Of course you don't, but he always said he had a special knack. Dan, my dad died one night in an alley. He was a detective, and he and his partner walked into the alley responding to a possible drug buy. Dad didn't come out alive . . . his knack wasn't enough. I believe what you're saying, but gift or not, Eli has used up his nine lives. He was lucky on our last op. It was a suicide mission, and everybody knows it."

Murphy stood and raised an eyebrow. "The one thing I learned about a fight, Agent Sutton, is there is no such thing as luck. It's all about experience, training, and skill. The best wins. If I were you I wouldn't be countin' the Tan man out just yet. He may be gettin' gray and he might even be thinkin' he's over the hill, but I don't think the men he killed and wounded would agree with you that it was just luck."

"Why's he angry at me, Dan?"

Murphy looked down at her a moment before replying.

"He's not angry at you, Ashley . . . he's just feelin' different about a lot of things. Almost dyin' does that to ya, you know? You think about life a little differently, and I think them damn shrinks got to him, makin' it even worse. After they released him he went to see his son. . . . Guess it was a waste of time. His ex wouldn't even let him get close, let alone talk to the boy. Tan wanted to make amends to his ex and try to work out a way where he could see his son, but I guess she didn't want to hear it, 'cause she called her lawyer. He's down, Ashley, real down. He came back to work early 'cause he said he needed to work and feel like he was doin' somethin' useful. It's all he knows, Ashley--the job. It's all he's got, and he wants to hold on for as long as he can."

Murphy leaned over and patted her leg with a tired smile.

"This operation has been good for him. Ya ought to have seen him in action this afternoon. Christ, ya woulda thought he was Patton, givin' orders the way he was doin'. Look at this. He did it all, got all this organized and the search goin' without a single snag. The damn shrinks told him to take it easy and reflect on life! Bullshit, they don't know him. This is what he needed, action, somethin' to make him get those wheels in his head turnin' and the adrenaline flowin' again.

Hey, speak of the devil! There he is, just walked in. Don't let on I told you what happened to him--I had to pry it out, and it wasn't easy."

Ashley patted the sergeant's ann. "My lips are sealed.

And Dan, thanks."

Ashley tilted in her seat to look at Eli, and felt the all too familiar goose bumps run up her arms and a tingling sensation in her stomach. Dan was right; it had been good for him. He looked tired but good. His tan slacks and chukka boots were caked with mud, and his sweaty khaki shirt clung to him like a second skin, showing the definition of his heavily muscled chest. His rugged face was splattered with mud, and on his head, pushed back, exposing his forehead, was a blue baseball cap with the letters FBI across the front. He looked tired but satisfied.

Eli saw Murphy waving and tiredly walked toward him.

He saw Ashley a second later.

She pulled another chair over. "I got relieved from my duty once the Atlanta rep arrived at the hospital--Janice is doing fine. How did it go at the recovery site?"

Eli sat down wearily and looked up at the hissing lantern.

"We found the boat at about three, but the divers had a hard time because of the low water visibility and later the darkness. It was a struggle for them because the hatchway was facing the current. It took a lot of work but the divers got the last body out about an hour ago. They'll refloat the boat tomorrow at first light."

A man wearing a thin plastic rain suit approached and lifted a clipboard. "Agent Tanner, I've got the prelim you wanted."

Eli nodded with his eyes closed. "Go ahead, Doc."

The M. E. spoke quietly. "All five of the victims were ID'd by Mr. Hilbert. Four of the five victims were shot repeatedly. I'd say based on the pattern of the wounds, it looks like automatic weapons were used. It also appears the wounds were the cause of death of each of the victims. It appears none of them died as a result of drowning. In the young female victim's back, we found one complete nine millimeter bullet that was not damaged. The bodies are being moved now to a helicopter, and I'll be able to tell you more after the autopsies are conducted. I do want to tell you, however, unlike the others, the senator took a burst in the face. It's my opinion whoever your killers are, they made sure with him. Too bad . . . he was one of the good ones. We'll start work as soon as we get back. I expect we'll have more details for you by tomorrow."

Eli nodded. "Thanks, Doc. Please fax your findings to the Atlanta office. I'll pass on your report to the case agent as soon as he finishes closing down the site."

Ashley waited until the medical examiner had left before speaking. "Tanner, this is bad, isn't it?"

Eli exhaled and shifted his eyes to her. "Yeah, it's going to be big-time."

Ashley nodded in silence; confirmation of the senator's death had just elevated the case to the number one priority of the FBI. "Big-time" was an understatement.

A tall agent wearing suit slacks, white button-down shirt, and regimental tie walked up and tapped Eli's shoulder.

"You're Agent Tanner, correct?"

"Yeah," Eli said warily.

The agent extended his hand without smiling. "I'm Agent Frost, Tampa office. I'm relieving you effective immediately. Headquarters has directed our office to finish up here.

You along with all the Atlanta office agents including the case agent in charge are being relieved by our office. I've already been back briefed by the CAC, and he told me you are to leave immediately for Columbus. Tomorrow you and any agents you may have brought with you are to report to the Atlanta office at 1000 hours for a meeting with the deputy director, who's flying in from Washington for the briefing. There's a Blackhawk helicopter waiting, Agent Tanner. Your job is done here."