Chapter 54
1120 Words
Is that an option?" Harper asked. he sat down, next to Gina.
Carly glanced at her. "I don't really know. I'm not sure there is any middle ground. Either you swallow it, or it goes public in a big way. "
"Did you look for the middle ground?"
he shook her head. "I'm the living proof. I just went ballistic. There was no middle ground there. At least, I couldn't see any. "
"Who was your guy?" Gina asked.
"A colonel called Gascoigne," he said. "He was always full of s**t about coming to him if anything was bothering you. I went to him about getting reassigned. I saw him five times. I wasn't pleading the feminist case or anything. It wasn't a political thing. I just wanted something more interesting to do. And frankly I thought the Army was wasting a good soldier. Because I was good. "
Gina nodded. "So what happened with Gascoigne? "
Carly made a face.
"I didn't see it coming," he said. "At first I thought he was just kidding around. "
he paused. Looked away.
"He said I should try next time without my uniform on," he said. "I thought he was asking for a date, you know, meet him in town, some bar, off duty, plain clothes. But then he made it clear, no, he meant right there in his office, stripped off. "
Gina nodded. "Not a very nice suggestion. "
he made another face. "Well, he led up to it pretty slow, and he was pretty jokey about it, at first. It was like he was flirting. I almost didn't notice, you know? Like he's a man, I'm a woman, it's not a huge surprise, right? But clearly he figured I wasn't getting the message, so then all of a sudden he got obscene. He described what I'd have to do, you know? One foot on this corner of his desk, the other foot on the other corner, hands behind my head, motionless for thirty minutes. Then bending over, you know? Like a porno movie. Then it did hit me, the rage, all in a split second, and I just went nuclear. "
Gina nodded. "And you busted him?"
"Sure I did. "
"How did he react?"
he smiled. "He was puzzled, more than anything. I'm sure he'd done it lots of times before, and gotten away with it. I think he was kind of surprised the rules had changed on him. "
"Could he be the guy?"
he shook her head. "No. This guy is deadly, right? Gascoigne wasn't like that. He was an old, sad man. Tired, and ineffectual. Canva says this guy is a piece of work. I don't see Gascoigne having that kind of ini
tiative, you know?"
Gina nodded again. "If your sister's profile is correct, this is probably a guy from the background somewhere. "
"Right," Carly said. "Maybe not connected with any specific incident. Maybe some kind of distant observer, turned avenger. "
"If Canva's profile is correct," Gina said again.
There was a short silence.
"Big if," Carly said.
"You got doubts?"
"You know I have," he said. "And I know you have, too. Because we both know the same things. "
Harper sat forward. "What are you saying?"
Carly made a face. "I just can't see a soldier going to all this trouble, not over this issue. It just doesn't work like that. The Army changes the rules all the time. Go back fifty years, it's OK to harass blacks, then it's not. It's OK to shoot g**k babies, then it's not. A million things like that. Hundreds of men were canned one after the other, for some new invented offense. Truman integrated the Army, nobody started killing the blacks who filed complaints. This is some kind of new reaction. I can't understand it. "
"Maybe men versus women is more fundamental," Harper said.
Carly nodded. "Maybe it is. I really don't know. But at the end of the day, like Canva says, the target group is so specific, it has to be a soldier. Who else could even identify us? But it's a very weird soldier, that's for damn sure. Not like any I ever met. "
"Really?" Harper said. "Nobody at all? No threats, no comments, while it was all happening?"
"Nothing significant. Nothing more than casual bullshit. Nothing that I recall. I even flew out to Quantico and let Canva hypnotize me, in case there was something buried there, but he said I came up with nothing. "
Silence again. Harper swept imaginary crumbs from the table and nodded. "OK. Wasted trip, right?"
"Sorry, guys," Carly said.
"Nothing's ever wasted," Gina said. "Negatives can be useful too. And the coffee was great. "
"You want more?"
"No, he doesn't," Harper said. "We've got to get back. "
"OK. " he stood up and followed them out of her kitchen. Crossed the hall and opened her front door.
"Don't let anybody in," Gina said.
Carly smiled. "I don't plan to. "
"I mean it," Gina said. "It looks like there's no force involved. This guy is just walking in. So you might know him. Or he's some kind of a con artist, with some kind of a plausible excuse. Don't fall for it. "
"I don't plan to," he said again. "Don't worry about me. And call me if you need anything. I'll be at the hospital afternoons, as long as it takes, but any other time is good. And best of luck. "
Gina followed Harper through the front door, out onto the shale path. They heard the door close behind them, and then the loud sound of the lock turning.
THE LOCAL BUREAU guy saved them two hours' flying time by pointing out that they could hop from Spokane to Chicago and then change there for D. C. Harper did the business with the tickets and found out it was more expensive, which was presumably why the Quantico travel desk hadn't booked it that way in the first place. But he authorized the extra money herself and decided to have the argument later. Gina admired her for it. He liked impatience and wasn't keen on another two hours in the Cessna. So they sent the Travo guy back west alone and boarded a Boeing for Chicago. This time there was no upgrade, because the whole plane was coach. It put them close together, elbows and thighs touching all the way.
"So what do you think?" Harper asked.
"I'm not paid to think," Gina said. "In fact, so far I'm not getting paid at all. I'm a consultant. So you ask me questions and I'll answer them. "
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