‘One of ours?’
Willard nodded.
‘Who?’ I said.
‘No need for you to know.’
I kept quiet.
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‘You got anything to say?’ Willard asked me.
I thought: He won’t testify at the court martial. That’s for damn
sure. That’s what I’ve got to say.
‘Nothing to say,’ I said.
‘What do you think I should do with you?’
I said nothing.
‘What do you think I should do?’
You should figure out the difference between a hard ass and a
dumb ass, pal. You should figure it out real quick.
‘Your choice,’ I said. ‘Your decision.’
He nodded. ‘I also have reports from General Vassell and
Colonel Coomer.’
‘Saying what?’
‘Saying you acted in a disrespectful manner towards them.’
‘Then those reports are incorrect.’
‘Like the UA was incorrect?’
I said nothing.
‘Stand at attention,’ Willard said.
I looked at him. Counted one thousand. Two thousand. Three
thousand. Then I came to attention.
‘That was slow,’ he said.
‘I’m not looking to win a drill competition,’ I said.
‘What was your interest in Vassell and Coomer?’
‘An agenda for an Armored Branch conference is missing. I
need to know if it contained classified information.’
‘There was no agenda,’ Willard said. ‘Vassell and Coomer
have made that perfectly clear. To me, and to you. To ask is
permissible. You have that right, technically. But to wilfully
disbelieve a senior officer’s direct answer is disrespectful. It’s
close to harassment.’
‘Sir, I do this stuff for a living. I believe there was an agenda.’
Now Willard said nothing.
‘May I ask what was your previous command?’ I said.
He shifted in his chair.
‘Intelligence,’ he said.
‘Field agent?’ I asked. ‘Or desk jockey?’
He didn’t answer. Desk jockey.
‘Did you have conferences without agendas?’ I asked.
He looked straight at me.
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‘Direct orders, major,’ he said. ‘One, terminate your interest
in Vassell and Coomer. Forthwith, and immediately. Two,
terminate your interest in General Kramer. We don’t want
flags raised on that matter, not in the circumstances. Three,
terminate Lieutenant Summer’s involvement in special unit
affairs. Forthwith, and immediately. She’s a junior-grade MP
and after reading her file as far as I’m concerned she always will
be. Four, do not attempt to make further contact with the local
civilians you injured. And five, do not attempt to identify the
eyewitness against you in that matter.’
I said nothing.
‘Do you understand your orders?’ he said.
‘I’d like them in writing,’ I said.
‘Verbal will do,’ he said. ‘Do you understand your orders?’
‘Yes,’! said.
‘Dismissed.’
I counted one thousand. Two thousand. Three thousand. Then
I saluted and turned around. I made it all the way to the door
before he fired his parting shot.
‘They tell me you’re a big star, Reacher,’ he said. ‘So right
now you need to decide whether you keep on being a big
star, or whether you let yourself become an arrogant smart-ass
son of a bitch. And you need to remember that nobody likes
arrogant smart-ass sons of bitches. And you need to remember
we’re coming to a point where it’s going to matter whether
people like you or not. It’s going to matter a lot.’
I said nothing.
‘Do I make myself clear, major?’
‘Crystal,’ I said.
I got my hand on the door handle.
‘One last thing,’ he said. ‘I’m going to sit on the brutality
complaint. For as long as I possibly can. Out of respect for your
record. You’re very lucky that it came up internally. But I want
you to remember that it’s here, and it stays active.’
I left Rock Creek just before five in the afternoon. Caught a
bus into Washington D.C. and another one south down 1-95.
Then I removed my lapel insignia and hitched the final thirty
miles to Bird. It works a little faster that way. Most of the local
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traffic is enlisted men, or retired enlisted men, or their families,
and most of them are suspicious of MPs. So experience had
taught me things went better if you kept your badges in your pocket.
I got a ride and got out two hundred yards short of Bird’s
main gate, a few minutes past eleven in the evening, January