Читать книгу The Major's Wife - Anthony Whyte - Страница 9

CHAPTER

6

By the time the retired general touchdown in Enterprise, Alabama, not only didn’t the police have any further leads, but they also had failed to question the in-laws. The victim’s father’s emotions ran high when he saw an unmarked car driven by Sergeant Eubanks pulled to a stop alongside him. Folding the newspaper he was reading, the retired general returned the salute offered by Eubanks.

“Good afternoon, sir. I’m Sergeant Eubanks. I am your driver. Sorry about your loss, sir. May I help you with your bags?”

“No, thank you, Sergeant. I got it,” Vaughn King said, grabbing his duffel.

“Would you like to go to your quarters, and—”

“Take me to the morgue, please. Thank you, Sergeant.”

They drove in silence to the morgue. The retired general appeared more infuriated after seeing and identifying his son’s body. He seemed at a loss when he walked back to the car, and Eubanks asked, “Where would like to go—”

“Cut out all this saluting shit, and take me to the school’s Commandant. Now Sergeant!” King said, dismissing her salute.

The baby-faced Eubanks stood five feet ten inches tall. Athletically built, she appeared sculpted from bronze, with deep, gray eyes. An honor graduate from the Military Intelligence, her specialty being weapons and riot control, Sheryl Eubanks was an expert at high profile escort missions. After graduating from Yonkers high school, Sheryl Eubanks joined the army in 2003. Now faced with escorting the retired general, who appeared overly agitated, Eubanks tried to stay even keel.

“Are you allowed to wear jewelry with duty uniform, soldier?” King asked with a harsh tone.

“Yes, sir. It changes from command to command, but the female soldier is allowed—”

“I guess many things have changed in this man’s army, Sergeant,” King said, interrupting.

Putting the pedal to the metal, Eubanks arrived at the Aviation Center in no time. The general was on his cellphone when the sedan pulled to a stop in front of the school’s Commandant’s office. All the time, King wore a scowl on his face and was busy calling in favors to help find a resolution to his son’s murder. He was intense and didn’t mind grandstand that his son was a highly decorated aviator. Using this kind of tactic assured King that essential people would immediately jump at his request for assistance.

He was not in the best of moods, and Eubanks didn’t want to disturb his conversation. She quietly listened and waited. King highlighted the fact that his son came from a long line of highly decorated service members.

When he ended the call, Eubanks said, “Sir, we’re here—”

“Thank you, Sergeant. I’ll be right back,” King said, cutting her off.

Wrought with anger and frustration, the senior King got out of the vehicle. He hurriedly made his way inside his friend’s office, and Commandant of the flight school, General Dan Mason.

Sergeant Eubanks was on her cellphone, making a call as soon as King walked away.

“Captain Blackbird, I picked up the general from Enterprise airport, and he’s not in a very good mood… He’s on his way to see General Mason. I wouldn’t want to get in his way. He’s peeved. Over and out.”

King walked into the Commandant’s office and appeared lost. He looked for the appropriate office. He spotted the door with Brigadier General D. Mason’s name stenciled on it and headed in that direction.

“May I help you, sir?” an assistant, and a guard on duty tried to engage King.

“No,” King said, walking by the soldiers.

“You can’t go past this point without checking in, sir—”

Under their protest, King walked into Mason’s office just as two soldiers caught up with him. His office door opened, the general glanced up from a pile of papers on his desk.

“It’s okay, sergeants. This is retired, General King.”

“Sorry about that, sir. I didn’t know—”

“That’s alright, Sergeant. Please close the door.”

“Yessir!” the Sergeant saluted and followed the order, leaving both men staring at each other.

King and Mason were old friends, but this meeting was cloudy. The death of King’s only child brought grief to what should be pleasant. There were no smiles. Mason walked to where the devastated King stood, and the two friends embraced. It ended with a pat on his back. The stoic King walked to the desk and looked at all the decorations hanging on the wall.

“I went to the morgue, Dan. My son’s cold body is lying in the morgue,” King said in an emotional tone.

“We’re going to find the culprit or culprits. I promise you, Vaughn. We’ll do everything possible to find your son’s killer, and you’ll have justice. You have my word on that as a friend and admirer of you and your family’s loyalty to our great nation. I. We owe that much gratitude to you.”

“And is that why there we were agents from the Federal Bureau all over the airport? I noticed one tailing us in.”

“Oh yes, Vaughn. There’s heightened security around the base, extending to all your movements. We’re not ruling out a possible terrorist hit.”

There was a deadly silence. Mason went decades back with the King family and served with the retired general since he returned from the Vietnam War. They rose through the ranks together, and Mason was now the commander of Fort Rucker Army base. He was in charge of running the elite Army Aviation School, where King’s son was assigned. Mason felt a deep sense of responsibility to the family of his friend. He wanted to provide all the resources he could muster.

“If it was a terrorist hit, then why did it have to be Vaughn Junior? Why Dan?” King asked, shrugging.

Dan Mason waited through an intense silence then said, “I can’t give you the answer to that. But I can tell you that I feel terrible that it happened on my watch. And I’ll do everything in my power to bring the punks that did this to justice.”

The retired general glanced over at the accomplishments, framed, and displayed on the office wall. “He’s no punk, Dan. The man we’re looking for is a skilled killer. My son was shot in both knees that served to bring him down. Then there were bullets in his heart. The person who executed my son was skilled—sharp—an expert in ambush.”

“It sounds to me like you’re describing one of ours. Wait a minute. Are you saying that you think your son’s killer could be one of us? You mean army personnel killing a captain? But why?”

“That’s what I want you to find out, Dan. Those bullets were precisely aimed. They had to be fired by a person or persons who knew about tight grouping. What about the ballistics test?”

“We’ll have that in a day or so. Captain Blackbird is on her way in to brief you on the progress of the investigation.”

“What about that redneck father of his wife? Have the police spoken with him yet? I’m sure he has some interesting things to say. Dan, you know when I found out the type of family that my son was getting involved in. It’s no secret. I was very much against it. But I accepted them on behalf of my son.”

“Why were you against the marriage, Vaughn? Diana seems like a good wife. She’s very active in the community and well respected in our military community. Especially considering all the care she has been providing our returning soldiers and their families.”

“Diana is fine. It’s that bigoted father of hers. That’s my concern. Maybe…ah –”

“We’ll go the whole nine yards to have this wrapped up in a snap, Vaughn.”

“Okay, I’d like to be updated on every inch of this investigation. Please make sure I’m up to date.”

“No problem. As I said, Captain Blackbird is our liaison on the investigation. I’ll have her reporting to me and—”

“No, have the captain communicate directly with me. And Dan, I just want you to know that with the help of some important people in the NSA, I’m deploying a little trap of my own.”

“And what will that be?”

The knock on the door interrupted the discussion. Both men looked in the direction of the doorway. Commandeering their attention was a statuesque, six feet tall Black captain. Blackbird was the epitome of good looks with the beautiful face of a model jumping from a fashion catalog. Her youthfulness belied her knowledge and expertise. Vaughn King raised his brow, nodded at Blackbird, and glanced at Mason. Then his eyes went back in the captain’s direction.

With a knowing nod, Mason said, “Oh, Captain Blackbird… You’re just in time. Come in and meet General King.”

“Nice to meet you, sir. And my condolences to you, and your family, sir.”

“Good to meet you, and thank you, Captain Blackbird,” King said.

“General Mason, you asked to see me, sir?”

“Yes, General King. Captain Blackbird is one of our finest army investigators. You can feel assured that she will do everything to bring your son’s killers to justice.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“Captain, the general just arrived and would like an update on the ongoing investigation,” Mason said.

“Yes, sir. So far detectives Sharkey and McAlister, the lead detectives on the civilian side, are following up on a report of an incident at the Blue Oyster—”

“An incident…? What kind?” King echoed.

Captain Blackbird went on to explain and brought a distressed, but attentive King up to date. He thanked her and held his eyes to the ceiling. Then the retired general stared off, seemingly looking through the walls. Mason waited then reiterated the query.

“Vaughn, do you care to share that strategy now or—?”

“This’ll be just like Operation Just Cause—the same tactics we used down in Panama to get Noriega out—”

“Are you familiar with this, Blackbird?” Mason asked Blackbird.

“I’m familiar with our sonar waves technology…”

“Great, except in our case, we’ll modify the strategy to include our control of the media as part of our dispersing agent… It will operate on a twenty-four - seven basis until that sonofabitch is flushed out in the open. Once we’ve done that, we’ll hammer fast and quick in getting an indictment. Eventually leading to a conviction.”

“Hmm, I don’t see any problem with that, sir. We can immediately enlist AFN, and I’ll get on the landline with our CNN and BET contacts. We’ll be able to spread to national in no time, and we also have numerous print media on our hands. So signals can immediately start going out,” Captain Blackbird said.

“Sounds good, let’s use them immediately. But let’s focus on a local nonstop blast. I’m talking twenty- four -seven coverage. I already have my people at the State Department and NSA laying the groundwork,” King rejoined.

“I know you’ll want to hear what’s going on immediately. Captain Blackbird and her staff at criminal investigations can facilitate that. I’m sure,” Mason said, nodding in agreement.

“And please keep a tight lid on this part of the investigation. Not even the civilian investigators should know about this. Top secret,” King said, speaking directly to Captain Blackbird.

“Yes, sir. Will do as ordered, sir.”

“Very good. We’re all on the same page.”

“All right, captain. The general will be staying at the officer’s quarters.”

“I’ll have a security team setup there,” Captain Blackbird said.

“Are there any questions, captain?”

“No, sir.”

“All right. I’ll get all the appropriate information to you. Thank you, captain.”

Captain Blackbird stood at attention and saluted. Then sharply, she wheeled out of the office. The two old friends waited until the door was closed. Then they began talking.

“Dan, are you sure about her?”

“Yes, I am sure, Vaughn.”

“I must be getting old because that captain looks like she should still be in college.”

“Blackbird is top of her class. You saw her. She’s a super soldier and a damn good investigator. Blackbird comes with all the right intangibles, dependability, loyalty, and high character. She comes with very high accolades from General Murphy over at Military Intelligence.”

“And Sergeant Eubanks, nothing against your choice, but a female who looks somewhat high school senior—”

“Vaughn, don’t let that pretty, young face fool you. She’s a superior driver, and knows how to use her weapon very well.”

“Then, if she’s so damn good, why do you need all these FBI guys to back her up?”

“Vaughn, we had nothing to do with those agents. They come complements of Homeland Security. They’re still treating this as a possible terrorist strike. So Eubanks is assigned to drive you anywhere and accompany you.”

“All right. Since you vetted and endorse Eubanks, then I’ll put away my concerns. Thank you again, Dan,” the retired general said, reaching to shake his friend’s hand.

“Before you go, Vaughn. I don’t know if this is the right time, but I want to know if you would like to help plan, ah, your son’s interment services?”

The retired general stood six feet, two inches tall. He kept his salt and pepper hair neatly trimmed on his head. He was ruggedly built and had served as a tank battalion and infantry commander. King had survived to exit at the top where most men failed or just plain bottom out. Even though he was a strong man, King appeared shaken to the core with the idea of burying his son. A drained expression stayed. It was clear that King was reluctant to participate.

“Yes,” he managed, swallowing hard. “Give me a call, and we’ll do it. Maybe tomorrow, huh?”

“That’s fine, Vaughn. One thing is you can be sure that your son will have a full-scale honorable military funeral,” General Mason said.

“Thanks again, Dan,” King said.

There was a hint of gloom as the retired general quickly turned to walk out of the office. Mason watched his friend and jumped to attention. Then he gave the command.

“Staff, attention!” Mason ordered.

He raised his right arm in a salute. Soldiers and civilian staff members stood and remained standing until King left the office. When King, then the Commandant of the aviation school, said, “Staff, at ease.”