The Darque Side

Chapter Four

This was certainly not the first time the phenomena had visited Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, but there was something about this particular occurrence that seemed to be out of place almost as if it was a prophetic sign of some impending danger that was felt rather than seen.

The night before had been rather cool, but the building heat of the morning had created ground fog that undulated through the area, caressing each headstone like a mother gently tucking her children into bed for a well-deserved rest.

A retired Marine, who volunteered his services at the revered location, skillfully drove a small golf-cart type conveyance transporting a blind man and his guide dog to a particular grave site on the sacred grounds, but the perfect weather brought out the tourists, and it was getting increasingly difficult to avoid hitting them as they began to clog the black-topped pathways shared with the vehicles.

While the driver relayed stories about his exploits in the Corps, his passenger seemed to be satisfied to just sit in silence listening to the sounds around him.

In reality, the passenger was not blind, even though he wore opaque contact lenses that would cause anyone who saw him without his dark glasses to swear he was.

His passenger was Darque, and his purpose for being at the Cemetery that day was twofold: 1) a training exercise with his dog Bill in the performance of duties as a blind person with his guide dog, and 2) it was the date for their annual pilgrimage to the Cemetery to spend some time with Casper, whose remains now rested permanently beneath the headstone the retired Marine was driving toward.

During the ride, Darque could hear the clip-clopping sound of horse hoofs on the path, and his driver maneuvered the cart to the side of the track, and stopped before getting out and helping his passenger exit the vehicle.

While the two men stood at attention, an American flag-draped-casket-laden-caisson passed by carrying its silent hero to his final destination on this earth, and each hoof-fall seemed to punch a hole in the fog that immediately refilled with each succeeding step.

Next to the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, a passing caisson was probably the most iconic sight in the Cemetery.

Once the carriage had passed, the cart driver helped Darque settle back into the vehicle as his canine companion jumped in beside him.

The remainder of the drive to the spot the blind man had requested to visit was behind the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and it was made in silence out of reverence for the solemnity of the carriage’s meaning.

After exchanging pleasantries and helping the impaired man out of the cart, the Marine drove off.

Darque looked around the area for anything that appeared to be a threat before turning his attention to Bill.

“What do you think?” Darque asked.

While waiting for the caisson to pass, a tall, disfigured man with full facial hair carrying a plastic shopping bag and wearing a backpack had walked with a distinct limp past Darque across the path in front of the horses, and then continued on the grass toward an unknown destination.

Darque had interpreted walking in front of the horses and staying on the grass instead of following one of the paths as a sign of disrespect, and he noticed that Bill had immediately focused on the man until he was out of sight.

Bill had started to emit a low, menacing growl as he followed the man’s movements before returning his attention to Darque.

Out of habit, Darque had looked around the area when he first noticed the man, but didn’t spot any security cameras that would not have recorded his movements through the area.

That in itself was strange, because he remembered passing several cameras along the route they had taken to Casper’s burial site.

He had no reason to suspect the man of doing anything wrong, but there was something about the incident that set off alarm bells and raised his alert level.

From previous incidents, he had learned to be consciously aware of those around him because counter-surveillance and passive opposition were two problems he tried to avoid, even though both were difficult to detect.

“I think you’re right,” Darque said as he rubbed Bill behind the ears before turning back to the stone marker.

The headstone was marked differently than any other one among the many thousands throughout the grounds, but few if any onlookers would probably notice. The carved stone was engraved with the word ‘CASPER’, and nothing more.

Darque had considered adding the awards his friend had earned, to include the Silver Star, but that’s not what Casper had wanted.

At the gravesite, Darque talked to his friend for quite a while, bringing him up to date with what had transpired since his last visit. He also recounted some of their exploits and shared some amusing anecdotes, but also occasionally wiped away a tear trickling down his cheek from beneath his dark glasses, while others disappeared into the fog-layer on the ground.

The invulnerability of youth proved to be a short-lived myth for Casper, and as is often the case in life, Darque wasted a lot of time wondering why death had found his friend, but not him, before accepting the fact that he, too, was not invulnerable.

It took time, but Darque finally realized it had just not been his time to go, and decided to move on with his life while never forgetting his friend’s sacrifice.

Just as Darque was preparing to leave, his contemplative mood was suddenly broken by Bill’s low growling and raised hackles on the back of his neck … a sure sign of danger.

When he looked where Bill’s nose was pointed, he spotted the man they had seen earlier disappear around the corner of the Unknown Soldier’s Monument, and he and Bill immediately began to move in that direction.

Darque learned very quickly that portraying a blind person had its drawbacks, and quick pursuit was one of them.

He couldn’t move as fast as he wanted to because it would be out of character, and he couldn’t turn Bill loose to give chase because that’s not what guide dogs are trained to do, so they assumed their roles and followed the man as well as they could.

As they turned the corner near the front side of the Monument, Bill spotted the man walking around the perimeter of a fairly large group of people who had gathered to watch the changing of the guard.

With the assemblage focused on the activity, no one noticed the tall, bearded-man carrying a plastic bag among them.

The last remnants of the fog were beginning to dissipate as the man entered a clump of trees near the front of the Monument, and once hidden from view, he somehow managed to place the bag atop the marble retaining wall behind the guard post used to shelter the Tomb’s parading guard.

Satisfied with his effort, the man stood up and looked around, and not noticing that anyone had taken any interest in his presence, he casually walked out of the area and down the hill toward the street below.

While the crowd stood watching the military precision of the Tomb Guard’s ritual walk, and oblivious to the terrorist’s activity, Darque and Bill entered the trees trying to figure out what the man had been doing there.

After Darque let go of Bill’s harness, the dog immediately began to search the area for anything the man may have left behind, and it didn’t take him very long to spot the bag atop the wall.

Darque watched closely as Bill assessed the situation, but was surprised when the dog suddenly turned and charged directly at him.

Bill had been trained to alert on threats by sitting near them and waiting for Darque to come and check out what he had found, but on this occasion, he seemed to have forgotten everything he had learned and turned on his handler.

As Bill got closer to Darque, the dog launched himself into the air at full speed, and all 110 pounds of him hit the man in the chest.

The impact caused Darque to turn a backflip deeper into the woods where he hit his head on one of the trees, but just before losing consciousness, Darque heard a tremendous explosion, and that was the last thing he remembered.

Like all truly disastrous incidents, it took a couple of minutes before those immediately affected realized the gravity of the situation, but by that time, many of those people were already dead.

Those who survived were beyond rational thought and wandered around aimlessly, waiting for the medical help that would soon arrive on the scene as announced by the wailing of many approaching sirens.

Even though it went unnoticed, for some unknown reason, amid the screams of the injured and dying people near the Monument, the remaining fog suddenly dissipated.

Almost as if it had been nothing more than a specter.