Dublowski looked at Thorpe. "She didn't like to drink and she didn't do drugs. She went out with those people because there were only so many kids in her class. But when she saw how bad it was getting, she must have left. We'd talked about it. I'd told her that her mom or I would always come and get her no matter where she was, no matter what had happened, if people were drinking or doing drugs. But she must have thought she could walk back to post. It was only about two miles to the gate.
"Shit, I don't know. That's guesswork on my part. We called the MPs, but they said the kids had gone off post and they'd have to check with the Polizie. The MPs didn't seem to believe me. The Polizie didn't really give a damn about some American kids.
"It's different over there now, Mike. Now that the Germans are no longer worried about the big red machine rolling through the Fulda Gap, they don't want us. The Polizie weren't too concerned about some American family member being missing. I made the MPs call in CID, Criminal Investigations Division, but there was no sign of foul play, so CID couldn't really do anything. As far as everyone was concerned, Terri just ran away. Hell, we even got investigated by Social Services to see if maybe we had been abusing her and that had caused her to leave."
"You haven't heard from her?" Thorpe asked.
Dublowski's voice was insistent. "She didn't run away, Mike."
Thorpe had known Dublowski a long time, but he also knew that even a parent couldn't tell what a kid would do.
"Something bad happened to her," Dublowski said in a low voice. "I know it and Marge knows it. I don't give a shit what anyone says, she wouldn't have run away. Everything was going right for her. She was accepted into college back here in the States, exactly the school she wanted. She was all excited about it and planning to come back in the fall. She was happy. We were happy."
Thorpe remained silent, dark, troubling images floating to the surface of his memory.
"Marge took it bad. Still is," Dublowski said. "She's been on medication ever since. Won't come out of the house."
Thorpe remembered Dublowski's wife. A small, quiet gray-haired lady who had suffered his long absences with grace and a smiling face. She'd lived through her husband's combat tours, but Thorpe could well imagine that something happening to Terri was a vulnerable area, one she had never been prepared for. He knew firsthand the devastation a career in Special Operations could have on a family and it was the biggest reason he had taken — tried to take — early retirement after Louisiana.
"Is anyone checking into it?" Thorpe asked. "Maybe she's back in the States. Maybe she got…" He paused as Dublowski gave him a look that froze his words, then the sergeant major's face crumpled and tears formed at the edges of his eyes. That startled Thorpe more than anything.
"I'm sorry, Mike, it's just that everyone always says, hey, she'll turn up one day. Everything's all right." His voice was harsh. "Well, it isn't. And it won't ever be. Something bad happened to her and nobody cares."
They both looked up as they heard a helicopter. The Huey was cranking up to head back to the rig. Giles was waving for Thorpe to come.
"Hey," Thorpe said, putting a hand on Dublowski's back. "I'll talk to you at the debrief."
Dublowski shook off the tears and got his voice under control. "I'm not staying for that. I have to go back to Bragg immediately. My commander will take the debrief."
"Well, then I'll see you at Bragg in a week," Thorpe said.
Dublowski wiped a sleeve across his eyes and straightened up, the professional soldier returning. "What are you coming to Bragg for?"
Thorpe reached out and touched the US ARMY sewn above Dublowski's right breast pocket. "I'll be back in uniform, doing my time."
"You're shitting me. I thought you retired."
"I thought I did too, but Department of the Army disagrees. I took the early out that was so graciously offered me, but it turns out that I wasn't eligible, even though the officer who signed the paperwork said I was."
"Hell, I think they just wanted to get rid of you after all the shit you've been involved in," Dublowski said.
"You got that right," Thorpe said. "I guess by the time the papers hit some pencil pusher's desk in the Pentagon, they decided I still owed Uncle Sam some time to get my money."
"Anyway, I've got to finish out a couple of tours in the reserves, which means I have to get what the reserves call a good retirement year. So for this year, I've got an ADSW tour for sixty days coming up at Bragg."
"ADSW?"
"A reserve term. Active duty, special work."
"What about Lisa?" Dublowski asked. "And Tommy?"
Thorpe looked at his watch. "They're gone."
"Gone?" Dublowski's face showed his confusion and growing outrage. "She left you after you got off active duty? I thought—"
"She didn't leave me," Thorpe said. "Listen, I'll talk to you when I get to Bragg."
"Where are you going to be?" Dublowski asked.
"That's up to the guy who handles reservists for SOCOM," Thorpe said. "Your guess is as good as mine."
Dublowski pulled a card out of his wallet and handed it to Thorpe. "Marge and I aren't listed, but here's my home and work numbers. Give me a call when you get in town."
"Will do," Thorpe said. He shook hands and walked to the chopper and got on board with Giles, Parker and the other men who worked for Giles. Thorpe looked out the side as they lifted. Dublowski was still standing at the railing, gazing out at some far point on the horizon.
"What's wrong with Dublowski?" Giles asked, ever the watchful commander, looking out for his men. He had saved Thorpe's ass on more than one occasion, including getting him this job to occupy his time. Giles also knew Dublowski from Desert Storm.
Thorpe kept his eyes on the figure at the railing. "His daughter disappeared in Germany."
"Disappeared?" Giles asked.
Thorpe shrugged, not from uncaring but from ignorance. "I don't know the exact story. I'll find out when I go to Bragg and talk to him."
"Tell Dan he needs anything, call me," Giles said.
"Right, sir."
"You need anything, call me," Giles said, poking Thorpe in the chest.
"Haven't I always?"
"No."
Thorpe forgot for a second about Dublowski. "Maybe you won't want to hear from me."
"You guys think you're indestructible. You're not. Call me if you need help. Tell Dan that too."
Thorpe looked past Giles and noted that Parker was watching them both, her forehead furrowed. Thorpe quickly looked away. He spent the rest of the flight in contemplative silence, which was immediately disrupted when they landed at the staging area on shore.
Parker walked next to Thorpe as he headed toward one of the rental vans Giles had hired for this operation.
"What's going on?"
"Nothing." Thorpe hadn't seen Major — now Lieutenant Colonel — Parker in over a year.
"How are things on the home front?" Parker asked.
"There is no home front," Thorpe changed the subject abruptly. "What are you going to report to Congress?"
"Don't change the subject." Parker folded her arms across her chest. "What happened to Lisa and Tommy?"
"Not here, not now," Thorpe's words were clipped. "What are you going to report?"
Parker regarded him for several seconds, then relented. "You know the Department of Defense people are going to be putting their own spin on what just happened. They're going to declare the joint Delta-SEAL Team Six operations a success no matter what really happened."
"Spin kills. If they aren't willing to admit they screwed up, then what are they going to do when the real thing happens?"
"That's why I filmed it," Parker said. "They can't deny the truth when it's on film."
"And then?"
"And then?" Parker shrugged. "Hopefully someone will do something."