The Final Line (32 page)

“That is patently false,” snapped O’Brien.

It was Hirata’s turn to sport a predatory smile. He withdrew a file folder from his briefcase, opened it, and began to read. Nygaard’s fitness reports reflected a lazy, aggressive, insubordinate Marine, even before Corey had been forced to deal with him.

As Hirata read, Corey openly watched Nygaard. As he had each time Corey had been forced to discipline him, Nygaard looked inconvenienced and at times disdainful. He rolled his eyes and shook his head, sometimes even smirking, as if amused by the memory of the behavior that had landed him in trouble. Corey’s anger unfurled inside of him like a tangible thing.

“Staff Sergeant?” Hirata startled him by suddenly asking. “Did you ever submit a fitrep for Sergeant Nygaard that was anything more than mediocre?”

“No, sir.” Corey didn’t hide his contempt.

Hirata leaned his arms on the table and looked directly at Corey. “How many incidents of fighting were you forced to deal with while deployed to Afghanistan?”

Corey counted back. “Seven, sir.”

“And how many of those incidents involved Sergeant Nygaard?” The captain’s tone told everyone in the room what Corey’s answer would be.

“They all did, sir.” When Corey glanced at Nygaard, the asshole had the temerity to look bored and disinterested.

Sitting back, Hirata asked, “Did you or your platoon commander ever have to discipline Nygaard for excessive violence directed toward civilians?”

Corey finally looked away from Nygaard. “Yes, sir.”

Hirata closed the folder. “I think you get my point,” he said to O’Brien as he replaced the folder in his briefcase. “We’re leaving, Staff Sergeant.”

Corey stood, grabbed his cover from off the table and followed Hirata out of the conference room. They strode quickly through the office, the two attorneys following them and demanding they return to finish the deposition. Hirata ignored them, and Corey followed his lead. At the elevators, the captain pressed the button.

“Don’t say a word until we’re in the parking lot,” he whispered to Corey.

They were silent on the ride down to the lobby. As soon as they stepped outside, they both settled their covers on their heads. Corey stayed silent as they walked, despite not seeing anyone around them. Hirata took his cell phone from a pocket of his briefcase and placed a call. Corey turned his phone on, ignoring the nagging hope that Sean had tried to reach him from New York.

He shook his head at the pleasant warmth that flooded him when he saw a missed call and a text message.

Knock ’em dead, Devil Dog!

Corey smiled to himself. He called Sean’s phone, unsurprisingly reaching his voicemail. He knew Sean had meetings with the play’s producers and writer, as well as with his own agent. It was still mid-afternoon in New York.

He climbed into the passenger seat of the car, fastened his seat belt, and sent Sean a text as Hirata started to drive.

Think it went ok, but would rather b in firefite.

Corey pocketed his phone as Captain Hirata spoke. “Kellan wants to meet with us when we RTB.”

“Yes, sir.” He liked Kellan but he really didn’t want to hash out any more of the fucked up details of that fucked up day in Ghazni.

The captain chuckled, but didn’t seem to be mocking Corey, so he let it go. He tuned out the phone conversations Hirata had via the vehicle’s Bluetooth. He was talking to staff at his J.A.S. office and Corey imagined he wouldn’t understand any of it.

Captain Hirata parked the sedan directly in front of the HQ building on base. As they walked toward the door, he smiled at Corey. “Don’t look so much like you’re on your way to face the executioner. The hard part is over, for you.”

“I wish I believed that, sir,” Corey replied with a sigh.

The captain nodded to the receptionist who smiled in return and picked up her telephone handset. As they entered the back offices, Corey could hear more activity than he had during his previous visits. Jonah stepped out of an office, looking smug. Captain Evans and Agent Hoffman followed soon after.

As Corey and Captain Hirata reached the conference room where all of the interviews had been conducted, Kellan Reynolds appeared in the hallway, just in front of Jonah.

“Hail the conquering hero,” he called, smiling broadly.

“I swear he missed his calling as a lawyer,” Hirata said with a chuckle. “I was almost superfluous. I had to shoehorn the fitness reports in at the end! He left me no openings to introduce them.”

Kellan slapped Corey on the shoulder. Corey glanced between Kellan and Hirata in confusion wondering who they were talking about.

Captain Hirata entered the conference room. “Let’s get this over with so the Staff Sergeant can get out of here. He’s practically vibrating with restlessness.”

Kellan gestured for Corey to precede him. Surprised, Corey did. Jonah closed the door when everyone was inside the conference room.

“So, our staff sergeant held off the evil lawyers?” Kellan asked.

“He drove O’Brien nuts,” Hirata replied, taking his notepad out of his briefcase. “He stuck to yes or no answers better than I’ve ever seen anyone do. At one point, O’Brien asked a question that was half right and half wrong and he gave an answer that addressed only half of the question. O’Brien about gave himself a stroke trying to drag clarification out of him.”

“Too bad the sack of shit didn’t stroke out,” Kellan said heatedly. Jonah snorted a laugh which made Kellan smile.

Hirata turned to Corey. “Did you drop Nygaard’s rank when referring to him just to be casual? Or were you trying to get a rise out of him?”

It took Corey several moments to realize the question was directed at him. “Using his rank is a sign of respect and he doesn’t deserve any. And yeah, I wanted to fuck with him.”

Everyone in the room laughed and Corey’s face flamed.

“O’Brien severely underestimated the staff sergeant and he got his ass handed to him,” Hirata continued. “He laid several verbal traps and Corey just stepped right around them without breaking a sweat.”

“It’s unwise to underestimate a Recon Marine,” Kellan said. “That’s where the smart ones seem to end up.” He grew serious, crossing his arms over his chest. “So what did you learn?”

“I don’t think they know the truth about the occupants of the vehicle, but it doesn’t matter,” replied Hirata, consulting his notes. “They need to perpetuate the cover-up, or their entire defense falls apart.”

“Well, they can have him back after his Court Martial,” said Kellan, “Because we’re shining a light on this cover-up. Officers and enlisted alike will be held accountable.”

“Because they’re unaware of what happened with the vehicle occupants, I also believe they’re unaware officers are involved in the cover-up,” Hirata continued. “It seemed as though they believe the staff sergeant did the covering up.”

Corey stiffened. He hadn’t realized that.

“So they’re going to try to say he was the only one who ordered Nygaard to enter the second structure and kill the occupants?” Kellan asked.

Corey couldn’t suppress his gasp.

Everyone looked at him with concern.

“Corey, I know you don’t have all of your memories back yet,” Jonah said, narrowing his eyes as he watched Corey intently, “but you
are
aware of what it is you’re remembering, aren’t you?”

Was he? Corey nodded stiffly. “It’s just the first time anyone has said it out loud.”

“Has anyone talked with you about what was done to the occupants of the white car?” Kellan asked.

“I know they were executed and not killed in combat,” Corey replied. “But no one has discussed details.”

“Which reminds me,” Hirata interrupted, “O’Brien is making the war crimes claim based on the treatment and transport of the bodies back to the base.” Everyone looked confused. “Nygaard either took personal photos, or he forwarded official Marine Corps photos, used to document the deaths of the combatants that day. It’s part of their defense that the bodies were desecrated and driven through the town on the hoods of the Humvees in a show of force and intimidation,” explained Hirata.

“Do we have sufficient evidence that this was not the case?” Kellan asked.

Hirata nodded solemnly.

“How close are we to initiating Courts Martial?” Captain Evans asked.

“Pretty close,” answered Hirata. “Chris wanted to make sure we understand just exactly who falsified documents.”

Agent Hoffman said, “There were changes made to documents, and some documents were typed by enlisted that seem to have been acting on orders and were unaware the information was false. I’m gathering evidence on the officers who knew what they were doing, so the enlisted don’t get caught up in the net.”

“Good,” Kellan replied. “And once we start the military legal proceedings, this mess with Nygaard goes away.”

“It goes away as far as Corey is concerned,” Hirata answered. “The D.A. isn’t going to stop prosecution, but the PTS defense will be dead in the water.”

“He can’t claim PTS resulting from the events at Ghazni,” Jonah summarized, “if he was the one perpetrating the atrocities. His violent behavior was already ingrained.”

“Just because Nygaard’s a violent asshole doesn’t mean he doesn’t really have PTS,” Corey said in frustration.

“You
do
have PTS, Corey. Are you going to go beat someone you claim to care about to death with your bare hands?” Jonah asked challengingly.

“No one doubts he’s got some level of PTS and TBI,” Kellan said quietly, a restraining hand on Jonah’s arm. “My final report will address the military’s need to acknowledge the prevalence of these conditions and provide easily accessible treatment. But his PTS doesn’t excuse anything he’s done; all the harm he’s caused.”

Corey sighed heavily. “Yes, sir.”

“Do we need the staff sergeant for anything else, today?” asked Kellan.

“No, he’s done for the day,” Hirata replied.

“Good. Thanks for your help, Corey,” Kellan said, heading for the door. “Jonah, see the staff sergeant out.”

As they headed for his Jeep, Corey said, “I don’t need a fucking babysitter, Jonah.”

“And I don’t fucking babysit,” Jonah replied snidely. “You gonna go see your new friend?”

“He’s in New York for the next couple of days.” Corey’s disappointment was a dull ache. “I’ll call him, but I’m sleeping alone tonight.”

“I’m not offering to sleep with you, but we can go grab dinner later,” Jonah said dryly.

Corey chuckled. “I’ve had the drinking under control for a couple of weeks now. The meds help with the sleep and the nightmares, so I don’t need the booze.”

“Glad to hear it,” Jonah said.

“I think I might see if Tyler Howe wants to get dinner,” Corey mused. “Since Nygaard has sucked both of us into his fucked up mess.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Jonah replied. “But call if you need me.”

§ § §

Corey flopped down in his rack, feeling serene and relaxed. He and Tyler each had two beers with dinner. Corey hadn’t felt the need for more. Even now, he knew he could sleep easily. He even doubted he’d have a nightmare.

Again, he read Sean’s last text message, received during his dinner with Tyler.

Bed still 2 big w/o u in it. Call when u & Tyler dun causing trbl

That warm feeling that twisted in his gut pleasantly was back. He pulled up Sean’s number and hit call.

“Did you have fun?” Sean asked in greeting.

“Yeah, we did,” Corey answered. “We also talked about the shit that’s going on. It was good.”

“How’d the deposition go?” Sean asked.

Soft strains of guitar music drifted over the connection and Corey closed his eyes with a sigh. The last of the day’s tension fled his body. “They said I did really well. Better than they’d expected me to, I guess. I don’t know what I did right, I just followed orders, like a good Marine.”

“Don’t sell yourself short, Corey,” Sean said firmly. “You’re smart, you understood the intent behind the orders. You understood the overall goal and you acted accordingly.”

“I guess,” he answered, pleased at Sean’s praise. Corey told him about the day’s events, the things he’d learned and what he was allowed to share about the investigation.

“I’m thankful none of this is going to fall out on you,” Sean said heatedly. “It’ll be over some day and you can move on. You won’t have the cloud of it hanging over your head.”

“I hope that day is soon,” Corey murmured. He listened to Sean strum the guitar for a time before he asked, “Are you still coming home tomorrow?”

“Yes! I’ll be home tomorrow night.” Sean paused. “Any chance of a welcome home?”

It was like Sean had read his mind. “Tomorrow is a long day for me, but if I can swing it, I’ll come over and welcome you home.”

“I’d like that. Speaking of which, thanks for not being an asshole about this trip.”

Something in Sean’s tone had Corey on high alert. “Why would I be an asshole about it?” What was there to even be an asshole about?

“Because you weren’t able to come with me, I’ve been gone for nearly a week, I’ve been too busy to answer all your calls and texts right away, and I’ve been spending time with people you don’t know.” Sean said that last one on a heavy sigh.

“It’s your career, you gotta do what you gotta do.” Corey shrugged, even knowing Sean couldn’t see. “I can’t always take your calls and answer texts right away either and you’re not a dick about it. You don’t know
anybody
I work with, except Tyler. You’ve got a goddamn life, so do I.”

Sean laughed. “I love that you know how big your dick is and don’t have to prove it.”

It was Corey’s turn to laugh. He really didn’t know how to answer. “Text me when you get on the plane and then let me know when you’ve landed, just so I know.”

“You got it.” Sean sounded pleased with Corey’s request.

Corey was asleep almost as soon as they ended the call.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Corey and his team of five Marines crouched in the tall grass, deep inside of Camp Pendleton. This was a training mission, so Corey was Team Leader. They had all passed the classroom portion of executing successful recon missions. Now, Corey had the job of showing them how to apply those lessons in a practical manner.