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“What?”
“I looked through the records myself.”
“That’s what this inquisition is about? Paperwork?”
“Technically, it’s a violation. At least. I have to check into it—”
“Do so,” snapped Dog, turning angrily toward the building.
Da
“What the hell, Captain?”
“Colonel, we go back a bit, and I have a lot of respect for you. Tremendous respect, sir.”
Dog looked down at Da
“You can’t interfere,” said Da
Dog continued to stare at his captain’s hand.
“You can’t interfere, Colonel. I’m talking to you man to man. Right now—if there’s a security break.”
“There wasn’t.”
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“That’s really not for you to say at this point. Don’t you see?” Da
It’ll be worse for her.”
“Worse than what?”
“Just worse.”
“Where is she?”
“Being interviewed.”
Part of him knew Da
No way.
“You asked me to investigate,” said Da
“It’s not you I’m worried about, it’s Cortend,” said Dog.
“Colonel, with respect, sir—a remark like that really could be misinterpreted, especially by someone who was looking to misinterpret it.”
“I hate that tone of voice, Captain. I hate it.”
Da
The last scandal here had nearly closed the place down.
And what would have happened to America if that had happened?
“All right, Da
“I know you weren’t.”
A black Jimmy with a blue flashing light charged across the base, kicking up twin tornadoes of dust behind it. Dog and Da
“Got to be Ax,” said Da
“Yeah,” said Dog, folding his arms. Sure enough, Chief Master Sergeant Gibbs rolled down the window as the SUV slammed to a stop a few feet away.
“Colonel, Jed Barclay on the scrambled phone for ya,” said the chief, hanging out the window. “Real important.”
Dreamland Visiting VIP Office Two
1820
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JENNIFER LEANED BACKagainst the chair, waiting while the captain questioning her sorted through his notes.
Her head felt as if it had begun to tilt sideways. She hadn’t eaten di
She felt as if she’d fallen down the rabbit hole in Alice in Wonderland. Cortend was the Queen, yelling,
“Off with her head, off with her head.”
Je
“You could make things easier,” said the captain.
“Excuse me?”
“Cooperate.”
“I am cooperating,” Je
“Why would you help the Chinese?”
“I wouldn’t.”
“Don’t get mad. I’m trying to help you.”
“You’re not.” Je
The captain didn’t answer at first. “I think you might need help,” he said finally.
“Oh, so you’re going to be my friend, right?”
He made a show of sighing, as if she were the one being unreasonable.
“I’m not a traitor,” she said.
The word sounded so odd, so foreign, that Je
“I am not a traitor.”
Until that point, tired and hungry, she’d been sustained mostly by anger. But now that foundation too slipped away. Je
But the look in this man’s eyes told her that trust was gone. She felt her whole idenity slipping through a crack in her ribs.
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Je
She wasn’t. She knew she wasn’t. But she worried that no matter what she did, she’d never convince anyone else of that again.
Not her friends. Not even Dog.
“So, when you were in college,” said the captain, putting his papers down. “Tell me about your friends.”
“My friends?”
“You had friends?”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
The captain pursed his lips.
“I don’t remember who my friends were,” she said honestly. “At this point, I don’t know if I have any friends at all.”
Dreamland Commander’s Office
1850
“THERE’S A JOINTexercise between Asean assets pla
“All right,” said Dog, listening as Jed filled him in on the arrangements for Brunei. A State Department rep was already en route to help smooth over any protocol matters. It had been suggested than an officer on his staff be appointed to liaison with the government.
“Brunei is not ideal,” Dog told him. “It’s a long way to operate it.”
“Yeah,” said Jed, who obviously agreed. “The President wanted you to locate there. It kind of interfaced with some State Department initiatives.”
“What would those be? Making nice to Brunei?”
Jed gave him an embarrassed laugh.
“All right. If we have to go there, we will,” said Dog.
“Listen, by the way, the Navy’s still kind of pissed at you. There’s a joke going around that an admiral has offered a reward for anyone who accidentally shoots down a Dreamland aircraft. At least I think it’s a joke.”
“Look, Jed, I have a lot going on over here.”
“I’m sorry. The, uh, the President authorized this ASAP, so he wants you there, uh, right away. The exercises actually start tomorrow.”
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“Tomorrow?”
“Well, the time difference, it’s like fifteen hours and that makes tomorrow today here—”
“We’ll get there,” said Dog, hanging up.
The phone no sooner hit the cradle than Rubeo walked in.
“The entire situation is piffle,” said the scientist between his teeth.
“Which piffle?”
“The Colonel Cortend show. Piffle. It’s a witch hunt. They hate scientists,” continued Rubeo. “I’ve seen this before. They railroaded Oppenheimer on trumped-up charges that he was a communist.” Rubeo snorted. “The man wins the war for them and they cashier him.”
Dog didn’t know the particulars about the Oppenheimer case, and he certainly wasn’t going to ask about them now.
“No one’s getting railroaded,” he said.
Rubeo shook his head, flustered by his anger. The scientist’s emotion had a strangely calming effect on Dog, as if Rubeo had somehow taken charge of being mad.
“You know they’re questioning Je