Wade didn’t want to go through another long description of the last two days, but thought he’d better answer her call. How did the Agency find out about the sniper incident so fast?
He looked through the bedroom door at the bed that seemed to be calling his name. He put his hand up to hold his head and closed his eyes for just a moment’s rest, to catch a mental breath. As soon as his head rested in his hand, he was asleep.
After a few minutes of sleep, Wade’s body twitched like someone had applied a small electric shock. His eyes flew open, realizing he had never made the return call to Megan. For the first time in the last two days, Wade realized he was losing the battle with exhaustion. Without thinking, Wade dialed Megan’s number, hoping she had calmed down and was rested. In his condition he had no use for hysterics.
“Hi, it’s me.”
“My God. Are you all right?”
“I’m fine.”
“What the hell happened?”
“I’m really exhausted. Can I give you the short version now and the details tomorrow, after I get some rest? I just remembered I have an economics test tomorrow.”
“I was going to remind you of your test. First tell me what happened.”
Wade gave a brief summary of the incident, and asked her how she’d heard about it.
“It was a big deal at headquarters. The head of the Agency was on a call for over an hour with the base commander at Benning. All I heard was that you performed well in the situation. Some Special Forces guy is AWOL, and there’s a big investigation going on.”
Megan had a list of questions ready for Wade, but she could tell he was running on fumes. Now that she’d heard his voice and knew he was okay, additional details seemed less important than his rest. She realized he had to focus on sleep now and the exam tomorrow. She also knew that he had a paper due on Thursday. Perhaps she would wait until he got some rest before reminding him. Megan sensed that she was losing him.
“Now don’t go to sleep on me quite yet.”
“I’m sorry. I really need to get some rest.”
“Get some sleep and call me after the test tomorrow.”
“Thank you.”
He hung up the phone and crawled into his bed with his clothes on. No other sound registered in Wade’s brain until the alarm went off at 4:30 the next morning.
Two days later, Wade had just learned that he’d passed his economics test, and was working to finish his second paper when his phone rang.
“Hello?”
“Hi, it’s Yari. I was just thinking about you. It’s good to hear your voice. Did you get the note I left on your bed at Fort Benning?”
“Yes, I sure did. Thank you very much.”
“Well, I wanted you to know how much I appreciate you saving my life.”
“You’re welcome. You were really a trooper throughout the whole miserable exercise.”
“No, I wasn’t — but it’s kind of you to say so and to have put up with me during the exercise. I was out of my league during the whole training. I know I held the team back. You guys were good enough to keep me around. The truth is that I’m no longer involved in field work, and I don’t think the NSA is keeping that program anymore.”
“What happened to you and the other team members after I got stuck with Colonel Miller and the forensics team?”
“They brought us back by Army truck and debriefed us, and then told us to clean up, strip the barracks, and get on the next bus to the airport. They said there was another training group arriving right behind us. The team wanted to wait for you, but we were ordered on the bus.”
“I was hoping to stay in touch, but I never got the other team members’ contact information.”
“I have all that information, and can give it to you anytime. What happened to you after we left?”
“I had to stay at the site and go over everything with forensics. I was then debriefed by Colonel Miller and a psychiatrist, Major Jarvis. They kept me in debriefing for quite a while. When I was finally released, they offered me a ride to the airport. At the time I left, they were getting ready to question Blue Team and start the forensics investigation. I also heard that Lockhart was AWOL from his unit.”
“Are you speaking from a secure phone?”
“No, just the one from my apartment.”
“I’m calling on one of the NSA’s secure lines, so we should be okay. I’m also having our conversation encrypted, so we can speak freely.”
Yari paused, and then continued. “I don’t know if you know this, but the day after we left, they found Lockhart’s dead body in a motel about forty miles from the base. He was found with a bullet in his head — apparent suicide.”
There was silence on the line as Wade tried to process that information. “You’re kidding. Where did you hear that?”
“I’m not at liberty to discuss sources right now, but the information is reliable. Remember, Wade, the NSA has access to information other people don’t have.”
“That’s unbelievable. Do they know any more about what happened?”
“Unofficially, I’m still working on that angle. As it turns out, there was a CID Army Intelligence plant in Orange Team. I don’t know why, but this CID person was there the whole time we were. He was apparently keeping an eye on Lockhart.”
“That’s interesting in itself. Why were they watching Lockhart?”
“I think the base knew more about Lockhart than they were letting on.”
“But what exactly did they suspect or know about Lockhart?”
“Perhaps Lockhart had a mental condition, or maybe he knew something about the Army they didn’t want to get out. I’m just guessing, but I know they were all over, watching Lockhart while he was in training.”
“If they suspected something, why wouldn’t they just bring him in?”
“I don’t know, but my guess is that something went wrong with Lockhart. I think he might have found out about the CID plant in his group or flipped out or just turned on everyone, including us. It makes sense that it was probably Lockhart who took the shot at me. From what I’m hearing, it sounds like he slipped out of camp the night of the incident without CID knowing where he had gone. That’s all I know right now.”
“That’s unbelievable! We’re in the middle of something serious here, and we didn’t have a clue about what was going on.”
“It almost got us all killed — starting with me. I’m still having nightmares. Listen, you didn’t hear any of this from me. I just wanted to give you that update. If you ever want to contact me, call my secure number. If I don’t answer, leave a message, and I’ll get right back to you.”
Yari proceeded to give Wade his secure number. “I’m in touch with all of our team members. Max especially sends his regards.”
Wade was at a loss for words as he processed Yari’s new information. A moment passed while Wade tried to put the pieces together in quiet thought before Yari broke the awkward silence.
“Look, I don’t mean to break this off, but I’m in the middle of a hot international incident at work right now, and I really have to go.”
“Not a problem. Please keep me posted.”
“Will do, partner. By the way, the detective handling the murder investigation is out of Atlanta. He goes by the name of Gabriel Morrison, or ‘Gabe’ for short. Fort Benning and Morrison are having a dispute over who controls Lockhart’s body.”
“Take care. We’ll talk soon, partner.”
Yari hung up the phone while Wade kept the receiver to his ear, still in shock over what he’d just heard. He stared at the blank wall across his room and tried to put together pieces of the disjointed puzzle. We’re on an Army base in the middle of a so-called normal training exercise. A Special Forces sniper fires on us, trying to kill one or more intelligence officers. The sniper goes missing and is now dead. A CID covert operative is a plant in the exercise. The base may have known about this all along. Who else is involved? How and why did Lockhart really die? Why are they fighting over the body? How does my agency know so much about the damn event? Why is Megan asking all these detailed questions about me and the event?”