Danger Close (Shadow Warriors)

by Lindsay McKenna

  “Objection!” Dorn interrupted hotly. “You’re making allegations and statements that draw a conclusion even before Corporal Fremont can answer.”

  Fredericks leaned down the table and saw Roman sitting there smugly. The bastard had somehow gotten wind of Mackey’s wire attempt. Dammit, anyway! Who was responsible? Who? His angry gaze raked the assemblage.

  Major Louise Lane was sitting there with a triumphant gleam in her eyes.

  “My apologies,” Roman murmured graciously. He smiled at Cathy Fremont. “Tell us in your own words what relationship existed between Captain Boland and yourself.”

  “First of all,” Cathy began, her voice trembling, “let me answer your accusation. I only became aware of the plan to get me to wear a wire on my last day with Alpha Company. I did not know I was under surveillance by Captain Boland or Colonel Mackey. Secondly, I went on R & R with the entire Recon team that I had been assigned to. Colonel Mackey was the one who asked me if I’d wear a wire, not Captain Boland.”

  “Perhaps we’re to believe the good captain had nothing to do with Colonel Mackey’s plan to subvert one of her own women against Major Lane?”

  “Objection!” Dorn said.

  Roman shrugged, implying he would not pursue the wire issue any further at this time. “I’ll yield to the learned attorney’s objection.” His smile increased; his real purpose with such a question was to feed the information to the media.

  “By the end of your tour with Alpha Company, had you fallen in love with the handsome captain?” Roman coaxed gently.

  Cathy chewed on her lower lip, a deluge of emotion nearly suffocating her. “Yes…yes, I had.”

  “And wasn’t that love for him part of your decision to become a traitor to Delta and lie before this hearing?”

  “Objection!” Wagner thundered, slamming the palm of his hand down on the table. “Intimidation of the witness by labeling her a traitor!”

  “Sustained!” Fredericks barked. He looked down the table at Roman.

  “Senator, can you refrain from courtroom tactics long enough to get to the truth? This is not a trial nor should it pretend to be!”

  Roman smiled easily, watching the woman’s face very closely. He had her exactly where he wanted her. “My apologies. Wasn’t your love for him, Corporal Fremont, part of the reason why you decided to become an instrument for Colonel Mackey to investigate Major Lane?”

  Cathy sat there, her eyes narrowing. She felt as if she were in a firefight, her senses once again screamingly alert. All the grief and explosion of pain over Jim’s death sheared through her, tearing her apart inwardly. “No. It was not. After—” She hesitated, finding it almost impossible to say Jim’s name without breaking into tears. Grimly, Cathy pursed her lips and forced out in a low tone. “Jim told me the truth.”

  “And that was?”

  “That he could no longer support the wire plan. He felt it was too dangerous and knew I opposed it, too.”

  Roman straightened up, surveying the room like a lordly lion. “Now really, Corporal Fremont, what woman who is obviously and passionately in love with a decorated Marine officer like Captain Boland, is going to refuse to do anything he asks?”

  “Objection!” Wagner shrieked, throwing off Dorn’s warning hand on his arm.

  Cathy Fremont shivered visibly, her face growing waxen. Roman smiled down at her like an avenging angel, ignoring Wagner’s rebuttal and Fredericks’s stinging condemnation. His voice cut through the uproar. “Indeed, you were constantly in trouble under Major Lane’s command due to your inability to follow orders. You were transferred to easy duty in Alpha and fell in love with its captain. And then, you were opposed to acting as an informant against the object of your hate, your commanding officer, Major Lane.”

  Roman hesitated, his voice rolling like a hellfire-and-damnation preacher across the room at the peak of his fevered delivery. “I believe you are straining your own credibility. You are certainly going beyond my ability to believe you were nothing but a malcontent, willing to pull a knife on your superior. And then you dally around on R & R and have the nerve to tell the whole world you couldn’t support Colonel Mackey’s plan to get Major Lane. Bullshit, Corporal.”

  Both lawyers were up and shouting objections. Arnley’s hand bit deeply into Cat’s shoulder as she tried to rise, anger blinding her better judgment.

  Roman sat back, watching them trying to control the woman. He smiled, pleased that he had goaded her into a sufficient state of reckless anger. The room swam with deafening noise. Fredericks was furiously banging away with his gavel.

  Mackey watched Cathy apprehensively. He was just as stunned in the wake of what had happened as she was. Who had leaked information to Roman? My God, his general’s star was as good as gone. There was nothing left of his career now that the information had come to light. Roman and Lane would turn the hearing in on his abortive attempts to get Cathy Fremont to carry a wire and implicate Lane. Dammit all!

  Tucker sat frozen, watching every emotion register clearly on Cathy’s shocked features. Arnley was there, leaning over her, whispering in her ear, trying to get her settled down as she burst into tears, sobbing uncontrollably. Lane, Roman, Mackey, Fredericks and, yes, even himself, were using her to their own selfish advantage. He shut his eyes tightly and bowed his head. What had he done?

  JIM BOLAND cursed richly as he reached out, wrapping his fingers around the brass doorknob. He nearly ripped the door off its hinges as he entered Cornell’s lavishly appointed office. Two days being bed-bound and then three days of being isolated despite the fact he could move about had pushed even his considerable patience to an end. At first, Jim thought it was him: any phone calls he’d tried to place were snafued. Cornell was acting edgy. Today, he slipped out of his ICU room, unknown to the nurses, and found a lounge. He was walking through it, trying to locate a pay phone, when he saw Cathy Fremont being assaulted by Senator Jacob Roman on the television.

  Boland had stood frozen. First disbelief, then shock, and, lastly, boiling anger ripped through him. Why hadn’t Dr. Cornell told him about the hearings? He’d asked about Cathy so many times, only to get vague answers that she was recuperating Stateside from her wound. Something was up—he sensed it. He tasted it. And now, Cornell was going to explain his deceitful behavior and why he hadn’t told him the truth about Cathy.

  The doctor raised his head from a report he was reading as Jim strode over to the desk. The Marine’s face was drawn and livid with rage.

  “Dammit, Cornell, you get orders cut for me to get the hell out of here. I’m not sitting around here another day for tests. I’m going Stateside. Now! Do I make myself clear?”

  Cornell sat up, pushing the medical report aside. Boland had been restless since regaining consciousness five days ago. He had bitched more than once, although regaining some of his lost fifteen pounds and bouncing back quickly from the effects of the coma.

  “Perfectly clear, Captain,” he answered, unruffled.

  “I want those orders signed by you. I’m hopping the first military aircraft out of this place that I can get.”

  He stood, straightening his white jacket. “Why are you upset, Captain? I don’t understand.”

  “You damn pill pusher,” Boland returned acidly. He moved around the desk and grabbed Cornell by his jacket. “I managed to slip out of that little prison of mine in ICU and just happened to catch the senate hearings on a TV in a lounge.”

  Cornell visibly paled. “Very well. I’ll sign orders releasing you from the hospital.”

  Boland dug his fingers into the doctor’s shoulder. “I also want a phone number where I can reach Cathy Fremont. And no more screwing around.”

  “I don’t have a number for her. I can give you Colonel Mackey’s, however.”

  “Fine.” His eyes narrowed darkly. “Get it.”

  MACKEY WATCHED, stunned as he saw Cathy wrestling with and finally controlling herself. It was a magnificent tribute to some unknown reserve of strength that s
he was pulling from deep within her. She seemed to shift into overdrive, the tears that had spilled from her wide green eyes vanishing, her mouth compressed with anguish. Taking a glass of water, she gulped down a swallow, her eyes hurt but defiant as she set it back down.

  Mackey had never sweated so much in his life as he did the rest of the day, listening to the lightning exchange between her and Roman. The senator tried to destroy all of Cathy’s credibility again and again. She shot back snapping answers, fighting valiantly to maintain a flow of anger in order to sustain her through the questioning.

  Fredericks’s face lost much of its anxiety as she continued to parry and riposte Roman’s trapping innuendos.

  “You accused Major Lane of being a sadist in boot camp.”

  “Yes.”

  “Don’t you hate her enough to slander her?”

  “No. I hate her methods enough to tell the truth.”

  “Did she single you out as a scapegoat?”

  “Yes.”

  “So you have created these lies to get even with her for punishing you for continually disobeying orders?”

  “No. She had it in for me the instant I tried to keep my squad safe out in the bush instead of risking them for high body counts to make her look good.”

  “You disobeyed orders.”

  “Yes. A human life is more important.”

  “I see. Then you took it upon yourself to do what was deemed right in your eyes?”

  “Yes, I did. Just like Major Lane has,” Cathy hurled back hotly.

  Roman dropped back as though he had been shot, the question having outlived its usefulness. Soft titters rippled through the gallery and he frowned, looking at Fredericks, expecting to see him bang the gavel and bring the room to respectful order. He didn’t. Roman could have sworn Fredericks was smiling.

  By four o’clock, Mackey was sitting on the edge of the chair, the questioning continuing sharp, intense and unabated. A senate page came over and he leaned down.

  “Sir, there’s an urgent long-distance phone call for you from Hawaii.”

  Mackey controlled his facial expression as he got to his feet, excusing himself. His heart thudded dully in his chest. He wiped his perspiring brow. It had to be Cornell. What was wrong? Had Boland died? Gone back into the coma like he thought he would? Everything was going to hell in a handbag.

  He closed the door to a small office adjacent to the outside corridor. Shuffling to the desk, he sat down and exhaustedly picked up the receiver.

  “This is Colonel Mackey. Dr. Cornell?”

  “No. It’s Jim Boland.”

  Mackey’s mouth fell open. “Jim?” The word came out in a tone of disbelief and shock from his tight lips.

  “Yes. Cornell has had me sitting around here for five days now since I got out of the coma. I saw Senator Roman questioning Cathy. I need you to—”

  “What do you need?” Mackey buried his face in his hands. Cornell was supposed to keep Boland sequestered and away from all media. His mind spun with options, none of them very good.

  “Let me speak to Cathy.”

  He raised his head, scowling. “She’s in front of the senate panel right now, Jim.”

  “Then afterward.” He was insistent.

  Taking a deep breath, Mackey spoke slowly. “She thinks you’re dead.”

  An explosion of silence came from the phone line. Finally, in a choked voice, Jim asked, “What in the hell are you talking about?”

  As quickly as possible, Mackey covered the chain of events, leaving out his part in the cover-up to Cathy. Boland’s voice was little more than a rasp.

  “She doesn’t look good.”

  “No…no, she’s doesn’t, Jim. She’s had it. I don’t know how she’s hanging on with Roman at her throat.”

  “Get her out of there, Colonel. Now. It’s Friday. Get Fredericks to give her the weekend off. I’ve got to get Cathy away from there before she cracks under the strain.”

  “Yes. Yes, he’d do that. It’s Friday afternoon. Senator Fredericks wanted some time with Cathy Saturday afternoon, but this is an extenuating circumstance.” Mackey began to hope that maybe, just maybe, his star wasn’t completely down the drain.

  Boland’s voice was icy. “Send her to Grand Island, to my parents’ farm. I want to see her alone. I’m not going to walk back into her life with all those damn reporters around.”

  “All right. Then you don’t want me to tell her you’re alive?”

  “No. I want to be at her side in case anything happens. I don’t know where she’s at emotionally.”

  “Pretty close to a breakdown. She took your—” He hesitated saying death.

  There was silence on the phone and Mackey could feel Boland’s rage.

  “Whoever has lied to Cathy is going to deal with me. There’s no justifiable reason for it.”

  “There is, Jim. Look, let’s not discuss it right now. Just get home. I’ll contact the Pentagon and get a flight out of Hawaii for you. In the meantime, Cathy will be sent to Nebraska. I’ll contact your parents and let them know you’re both coming.”

  “They already know. I don’t want any interference on this, Colonel. No reporters, attorneys or anyone else in on this. Cathy will be back at the hearings on Monday. Do you understand?”

  “Yes. And Jim—”

  “What is it, Colonel?”

  “I’m glad you made it.”

  Boland’s voice turned harsh. “Anyone connected with this hearing is going to be sorry as hell I pulled through. Someone’s going to pay for what they’ve done to Cathy.”

  BY THE TIME the session ended, it was close to six o’clock. Cathy refused to sit in the wheelchair and hobbled out under her own power, mutely silent to the bombardment of harassing questions thrown by the crowd of reporters that hovered about her. Arnley led the way, finally getting her up to the hotel room. Cathy stopped in the hall and leaned against him as he found the key to open the door.

  “Damn,” she whispered emptily, “it’s like your worst nightmare. I don’t know how I made it through today, Buck. How did I do it?”

  Arnley said nothing and slipped his arm about her shoulder. He opened the door and led her into the room. “Because you don’t know the meaning of the word ‘quit.’ You’re a fighter, kid. One hell of a fighter.”

  Cathy disengaged her arm from around his waist. She lowered herself to the bed and nudged off her low heels. Her eyes had been bleak but warmed as she looked up at the sergeant. A sad smile shadowed her mouth.

  “Maybe I don’t have the brains to know when to quit.”

  He grinned and thrust his hands into the pockets of his khaki pants. “Can I get you anything, kid?”

  “No,” Cathy answered, her voice barely audible. She lay down, closing her eyes. “I’ve got to sleep, Buck. Tired…I’m just so damned tired.”

  Chapter 20

  CATHY LAY THERE in the darkness after Buck had turned out all the lights and quietly departed. Gradually, the shock of the day began to wear off. In its place was an avalanching wall of pain. “Oh, Jim…” she choked out softly. She drew her legs up toward her body in a fetal position, still dressed in her uniform, unable to do anything but feel the raw anguish as it deluged her.

  She didn’t hear the knock at the door at first. Sitting up, Cathy tried to compose herself and blindly stumbled to her feet. Through the peephole, she saw it was Leonard Tucker. She opened the door.

  “Cathy?” He frowned and a knifelike sensation twisted in his chest. He walked past her, swallowed up in the darkness.

  Without a word, Cathy shut the door. Leonard opened his arms and she came wordlessly, laying her head on his shoulder, his arms awkwardly wrapping around her shoulders. She felt frail beneath his hands and he took a deep, unsteady breath. “How are you doing?”

  She managed a hoarse laugh. “Got a hole I can crawl in? That’s about all I feel up to doing right now.”

  “I was worried…. Today has been hell on you.”

  Cathy lifted her
face, barely able to see him in the darkness. “I thought I knew what hell was when I was growing up or crawling around in the Thai jungle on my belly, Doc.” Easing from his arms, she slowly hobbled back to the bed and sat down. “Today was hell.”

  Leonard couldn’t tear his gaze from her silhouetted profile. “I don’t know how you’ve hung in like you have.”

  “Maybe I’m dead and don’t know it.” And then Cathy closed her eyes. “I’d rather be dead.” With a helpless wave of her hand she stared up at him. “I’ve got it all figured out. I’m the scapegoat to this hearing. Blind, deaf and dumb, I walked into it. Lane’s going free. I can feel it.” Her voice wobbled. “And those animals in the hearing are going to make a mockery of the love Jim and I had for one another.”

  Tucker flinched as Cathy buried her face into her hands and quietly began to cry. He walked forward woodenly and halted. Crouching down in front of her, Leonard reached out and touched her shoulder with his trembling fingers.

  “I can’t stand to see you suffer like this, Cathy,” he mumbled. “You don’t deserve it. You’re an innocent victim in this whole mess.”

  She fought back the tears she refused to let fall. “I hurt so much, Doc. I can’t go on. Mac expects me to go back into that hearing Monday and take it again. I can’t…. God, I’m empty…just empty…”

  “I know, I know. Just hang on. Can you do that for me?”

  Cathy lifted her head, her eyes dark with anguish. “I don’t have anything left, Doc, don’t you see?” She thrust out her hands in front of him. “Look at me. Go on, take a look. This is the real Cathy Fremont.” Her hands shook badly until Leonard reached out and captured them within his.

  “Now listen to me, Cathy,” he rasped urgently. “I’m going to get you out of this, child. This isn’t your fault and I helped get you into it.” He gave her a wan hint of a smile. “This is your doctor speaking, and I’m prescribing rest this weekend. Stop drinking the Scotch, sleep and relax. I’ll leave you some sleeping pills if you need them.”

  Cathy sniffed. “I’m not sure I’d trust myself with any drugs right now. I might be tempted to take the whole damn bottle and end this pain once and for all.” She was perplexed how he could help her get off the firing line of the hearing. Then she realized it was just his way of instilling her with hope. She hugged him for a long time, needing the strength he gave her in return.