The Cygnus Agenda

by Richard Martin

  “That was some experience, wasn’t expecting a bike ride,” she said. “I`m beginning to get your love affair with that Harley thing you`ve got going.”

  “Only life I have right now. Sold my car and now that bike`s like home.”

  “See the attraction, but I don`t really get it.”

  “Nobody does unless they want to. It`s all about attitude.”

  “Don`t you feel lonely out there, all on your own?”

  “Alone, yes. Lonely? no.”

  “Never one to fit in, were you, Arnie?”

  “Guess not. Most people need stability, know what`s coming next in their lives. But not me, I like my independence.”

  She smiled and waited a moment. “Anyway, life moves on and I`ve got a living to make, I like a roof over my head.”

  “Don`t mind that part, just can`t be a treadmill, Jess.”

  After looking out the window at a sunset halfway down the horizon, she turned to him. “Nice place to take me,” she said, bunching her hair and tying it in a ponytail. “Bring a girl here often?”

  He laughed. “Only the special ones. Been coming here since my late teens, used to camp up at the canyon then kick around the beach all day. When I got my first Harley I was here every weekend.”

  In her career she had met mostly men in suits, earnest people, all lacking individualism. When she first met Arnie she knew straight off that he was different, had a maverick way about him, a way that excited her. She had missed that and especially his laugh. “Guess that`s where your free spirit comes from then. Figured you were never the conventional sort the first time I saw you.”

  “Some folks are just made like that. Guess I`m one of them.”

  The remark made her pause, remembering how he was never a moody person, but at this moment he seemed different. Struggling with what to say next she nodded then spoke in a softer tone. “First up, I`ve got to say thanks for responding to my text. Wasn`t sure you would.”

  “You weren`t?”

  “Okay, I was.”

  “So what`s the deal? It has to be an assignment, right?”

  “It is. And it could be dangerous.”

  “Well, I reckon we need to agree on something, Jess. That our past is what it is and we start from scratch, you okay with that?”

  “Sure,” she said, a little surprised at his directness. “Business is business, no old feelings getting in the way. I did my bit of shouting at the moon on lonely nights, pouring myself some large ones and feeling sorry for myself. Bad times happen, and all you can do is drag yourself out from under the debris then get on with life.”

  He nodded. “First, I need to know how the hell you found me. That you had my cell-phone number means a government connection, am I right?”

  She took a moment, looking at his hair that had been messed up by the coastal breeze and was shorter than before. “You remember Congressman Carlucci? That`s who found you. He`s now a senator and has started a personal investigation into why those three Marines were murdered in Texas. Why they seemed to have turned into cowards and got themselves killed because of it. It`s a straight out career move for him, wants the limelight, and to benefit from the votes it`ll bring.”

  “I read about the killings. Looks like the military are up to no good, running some kind of experiments that they shouldn`t.”

  “That might well be but there are signs it was something else, and whatever it is, the politicians are spooked. Carlucci wants me to run a parallel investigation, get where the committee won`t go.”

  “Met him twice, never trusted the guy. I know he came through for us on the Hydrax assignment but there was something about him.”

  Jessica frowned. “He`s a goddamned politician, Arnie, what do you expect. But he was right up front with me, no bullshit, and I believe him. This is no official investigation, we`re in there under the radar, he wants the truth. I`ve been eating stress for too long now, need to catch a break and this could be it.”

  “Fair enough, Jess, I`ll buy that. So where do we start, got to be the military base I guess. Do you have clearance, a contact there?”

  “Got it all. Carlucci`s set it up, just have to get ourselves on a plane.”

  “Where to, where`s this base?”

  Now she looked hesitant, smile gone. “Honduras.”

  Arnie didn`t let his surprise show. He knew Honduras was a mean and dangerous place for anyone other than tourists who were protected in the resorts along the coast. “We have a military base down there? What the hell for, the country`s run by drug cartels in cahoots with the corrupt bastards who govern the joint.”

  “Surprise to me too,” she said. “Carlucci said it was there to protect U.S. interests.”

  “Sounds like a crock to me. There`s something else going on and I hope to hell we`re not about to walk into it blindfold. And what if our military`s not involved? Then something else must be freaking out our government. Carlucci could be running another agenda. I don`t buy his good-guy routine, seeking justice for the families.”

  “Don`t worry, we stick to finding out what could have happened to the Marines and that`s it. Military buddies, girlfriends and whatever leads off that, no drugs, no way. If that`s what we find then we wrap it up, get our ass back here.”

  “Well in the military they have a saying that`s stood the test of time: that the first thing to go wrong in any operation is the plan. So you`re in charge of the agenda, Jess, get to call the shots, but if things kick off then I take over, and that`ll mean getting the hell out of there when I say so, agreed?”

  “Agreed.” And now she smiled. “If there`s one thing I remember its not to get in the way of that logic-loop of yours.”

  He smiled back. “Not too shabby at that yourself, why we worked so well I guess.”

  CHAPTER 4

  Under a cloudless sky the flight to Honduras landed mid morning, Arnie and Jessica passing through immigration control quickly due to their American passports. Outside the terminal they were hit by a blanket of hot, humid air helped only by a brisk breeze, their skin showing a light covering of perspiration by the time they reached the taxi-cab. From Tegucigalpa airport the cab hit the main highway to town and soon veered off onto the by-pass and a series of palm tree lined roads. It had been a good surface on the highway and half decent on the suburban roads, but now the double track to the military base turned into pot-hole city.

  Surrounded by low hills, Tegucigalpa had been a surprise to them both. Modern at its centre, with few high rise buildings, the place had an array of impressive historical sites and a look of modest prosperity. Now some sixty miles beyond the city limits things changed dramatically. In the next big town, not far from the base, deprivation and poverty were plain to see. Travelling a road that took them around the outskirts, the place soon took on the appearance of a shanty-town. Dogs seemed to outnumber the residents, the few people engaged in any kind of work toiling in fields that looked barely fertile. What little farm machinery there was lay idle, rusted, stripped of bits and pieces, their shapes invaded by tall, brown weeds. It was a part of the country that reeked of neglect, where the ground looked arid and dusty, an environment that made scratching a living no easy task.

  Unable to wind down his window due to a broken handle, Arnie tapped the taxi driver on the shoulder and asked him to pull over. “Need to stop for a few minutes, Jess,” he said, looking out the window. “Gotta catch some fresh air.”

  She nodded in surprise. “You okay?”

  “Yeah, I`m fine.”

  As they walked along the brown grassy verge, Jessica stopped and drew a deep breath. “Feels like rain.”

  “Humidity, Jess. This far south it`s always like this. Later on it`ll chuck it down for an hour or so, clear the air, for a while anyway.”

  “Needs it, everything looks so dead.”

  “St
range place for a U.S. military base,” Arnie said, looking to the horizon, “a long way from the Capital.”

  Now he could feel her watching him and wondered if she had picked up on his uneasiness. Since his younger days he hadn`t left the continental United States, and as he wiped a line of sweat from his forehead he was struck by a nervy feeling: that he really didn`t want to be here.

  Approaching their destination, Arnie looked beyond the perimeter fence, noting only a small number of trucks and jeeps present, a few clusters of Marines under drill instruction, and a strange, overall lack of military activity. More like an outpost he thought to himself. Looking at the security barrier he reckoned that it might stop a car, but he could see that a decent sized truck would have no problem, something else that didn`t add up. Passing two helicopters parked up to their left and with their rotors tied down, he turned to Jessica. “Looks like one piss-ant sized base. No buildings of any real size, no signs of any sinister operation being run out of here.”

  “Just what they`d want you to think,” she said, handing her pass through the cab window to the guard.

  “Hope this Major guy isn`t some hard-ass who`s going to play us”, he replied as the cab passed the raised barrier. “The stonewalling unhelpful type who doesn`t give a damn that a U.S. Senator sent us, because we need something from him or we`re out of here with nowhere to go. I hope to hell that`s not what Carlucci`s banking on.”

  She turned and looked at him side-on. “You may think I`m naïve, but I reckon Carlucci wants us to succeed. And if I`m right he`ll have put some pressure on the Major.”

  “Yeah, well I wouldn`t bet on that paying off.”

  As the taxi cleared the check-point, Jessica turned in her seat once again. “Just so you know, Arnie, I don`t like military officers, strutting around in their power-play uniforms, getting off on their own importance. Not met many, but those I have were all assholes, so don`t expect me to play all coy with this guy.”

  Arnie hadn`t been expecting her to hold such a view, and knowing how officers ticked, hoped her approach would be tempered when it came to the interview. They needed co-operation, something the military was renowned for avoiding, and he knew that going in with attitude was not the way to get it.

  “Be nice in there, Jess, don`t get this guy`s back up. We need a charm offensive not a battering ram.”

  “When it comes to my job I don`t do charm, so he`ll have to take me as I am!”

  He was typical military. Buzz hair-cut, immaculately shaved cheeks, rigidity of a ramrod and the personality to match. His large frame overwhelmed the chair, giving him an imposing presence and his voice was deep. “You serve, son?” said Major Greenmire.

  Arnie looked as if he wasn`t going to answer as Jessica turned to him in surprise, the thought never having occurred to her.

  “Three years, one in Afghanistan,” he said, “long time ago.”

  “Saw some action then,” Greenmire said.

  Arnie nodded. “A bit.”

  “Figured that,” the Major said.

  “How so?”

  “Your eyes, seen things people shouldn`t have to. Don`t need to see action to be a patriot, son, signing up is good enough, but getting down and dirty with the enemy, that`s different. And surviving the Afghani badlands, with backstreet alleyways where a Taliban could jump out, that ain`t no cake-walk.”

  It was a strange moment, nobody talking as Jessica stared at Arnie who was staring at the Major. Now she turned back to Greenmire. “We`ve been sent here to get some answers, Major, find out what went on with those Marines, and the only start we have is this base. Senator Carlucci said you`ll assist us.”

  Greenmire turned his gaze from Arnie to her. “This is the United States military, young lady, we do things our own way. Your Senator Carlucci can request all he likes but I`m damned if he`ll order us about.”

  “Yes, I know,” said Jessica, “state within a state, answerable only to Congress, but not really. That right, Major?”

  “That`s right, we answer when we want to. So don`t go expecting your Senator Carlucci to have me open any doors for you. At his end of things this is a civilian affair, not a military one. Understood?”

  “Loud and clear,” she said. “We`re only here to find out what happened to those Marines, what changed them into opposites of the men they were trained to be, and of course, who was responsible.”

  “Well one thing the military doesn`t tolerate in its men is weakness, and we sure as hell don`t promote it. So whatever changed these boys has nothing to do with my base and if you think otherwise then you`re dead wrong.”

  Arnie hadn`t expected Jessica to open up with such a combative stance and decided to intervene but wasn`t quick enough as she came right back at the Major. “We have the authority of a United States Senator behind us, and the last time I looked the people`s elected representatives supersede the nations institutions, and that includes the military.”

  Now the major leaned forward, his eyes fixed on hers and making Jessica feel the six feet between them was now more like two. “Let`s get one thing clear,” he said. “The United States military is not supposed to lose, so we don`t, not ever. So if you try to make us your target, Miss Hahn, you`ll lose!”

  Tired from the long flight, Jessica straightened her back and tried to look unfazed by the intimidation. She could feel the heat in her cheeks and knew to dial down her tone. “Not our intention, Major. We`re not accusing the military of anything, we`re just trying to get some answers, so we need to speak to other Marines on your base. That`s all, we`re just investigating and have to start somewhere.”

  “Not going to happen!” said Greenmire.

  Arnie could see that the Major`s unflinching look was a warning, but it didn`t faze Jessica.

  “You are supposed to co-operate, Major,” she replied, sternly.

  Now Greenmire spoke with an abruptness that verged on rudeness. “I am co-operating, but on military terms, my terms.”

  She stared him out for a few moments before taking two pieces of paper from her shoulder bag and placing them on the desk. “You sent these reply emails to Senator Carlucci and neither shows much concern about the matter. I`m wondering why?”

  Greenmire shook his head and pushed the papers back to Jessica without looking at them. “No concern? Well let me tell you something. I`m responsible for every one of these boys when they`re on this base, and if you think what happened to them doesn`t make me madder than a hornet with a headache then you don`t know me and you don`t know the military.”

  Now the Major dropped his voice, eyes switching to Arnie. “They were my boys, I trained them and they were damned good Marines. Do I care? Goddamned right I do.”

  “Well whatever it was that changed these boys it happened here in Honduras,” Jessica said, “and starting at this base is the only lead we have.”

  “Then you`re looking in the wrong place, Miss Hahn, and that`s what I told your senator. Poking around my base just ain`t going to happen. As much power as Senator Carlucci thinks he has, he knows better than to take on the military. The answers you seek won`t be found here.”

  As a formidable operator, Jessica hadn`t got to her position without recognising that ability in others. She pressed on, her response determined but guarded. “Sounds like you`re warning me off, Major. Anyone would be tempted to see your stance as somewhat defensive, but I`m going to assume that your passion reflects a genuine care for your men.”

  Arnie didn`t like the stand-off and knew a military mind would interpret Jessica`s statement as being patronising. But he didn`t get a chance to intervene as Greenmire came right back at Jessica.

  “You`ve got one gutsy attitude, Miss Hahn, one that I admire, so I`m going to cut you some slack. I won`t stand in your way, but hear this: what changed these boys has nothing to do with this base, that`s a goddamned fact. So what you`re look
ing for exists outside these gates. Got it?”

  “We hear you, Major,” said Arnie quickly intervening. “We`re not pointing fingers, and that being the case, can you give us something to bite on? Names of their buddies we can talk to, off base of course.”

  The major sat back, indulging in a lengthy silence, looking only at Arnie. “I`ll give you just one name, a guy in their platoon. He knew them well and he`s real cut up about what happened. He has an advantage over the others, being half Honduran, and he knows the girlfriends. They might know what these boys could have been up to. Name`s Carbosa, Tano Carbosa. You`ll find him at Frederico`s Bar, a military hangout in our nearest town.”

  Jessica knew that was it, conversation over, so she flashed Greenmire a thin smile. “Thank you, Major,” she said. “We`ll start there then.”

  On reaching the door, Arnie turned to fire a last question. “Got to ask, this is a small base, no strategic value, so why are you here Major?” He had doubted there would be a reply but Greenmire obliged.

  “Protection of U.S. interests. Honduras is dangerous territory and we have important assets down here, some government, some private. I strongly advise you to stick to the downtown perimeter, stray too far and you could become targets. Some mighty nervous people down here and you guys will stick out like a cherry on a cream pie, so watch your step.” Now he paused. “I won`t be able to help if you get into trouble, so make damned sure you don`t.”

  From the doorway, Jessica stepped forward. “Pretty chilling line, Major.”

  “It`s meant to be, Miss Hahn.”

  CHAPTER 5

  Reaching the nearby town, Arnie and Jessica quickly moved away from the central square that was an arena of traffic noise; horns blaring, engines screaming, their exhaust fumes shrouding the group of Ocote trees barely surviving on a grassy knoll in the middle. Hitting the back streets, a labyrinth of shuttered apartments and some small stores, they found a place to eat, the choice limited to taverna style establishments. Sitting at a table on the cobbled terrace, the overhanging palm trees provided some welcome shade from the blazing, afternoon sun. Jessica had kept her silence in the cab, the burning question kept in check, waiting for the moment. And now she put it to him.