order you to stay away from anybody’s efforts to find this Galantz individual. I am going to tell you not to hunt down Galantz yourself.”
““Going to’? As in orders that will be forthcoming soon?”
“Very soon.”
“And in the meantime?”
“In the meantime, I do order you to keep Karen Lawrence safe.”
Train nodded slowly. “And if that involves-“
The JAG raised his hands. “Use your best judgment on how to execute your tasking, Train. You need not bother me with details. In fact, I’d prefer you did not. But that’s your tasking: Keep Karen safe while she makes a determination that Admiral Sherman is either the victim of a setup or one diabolically clever villain. And your time is limited.
Remember what I am going to tell you-soon.”
Train nodded again and got up. “Got it. And I appreciate the latitude, Admiral. I think. I suppose if this thing goes off the tracks, I can expect to be chastised?”
“Most severely, although ultimately I’ll get over it.”
Train nodded. This was a game he recognized.
in probably doing the wrong thing here,” Carpenter said equably. “But it seems to me that Sherman deserves one chance, especially if he’s innocent.”
Carpenter got up walked back around to his desk. He picked up some papers and pretended to study them for a moment before continuing. “By the way, Karen had an archive request in to review the investigation records on the incident in Vietnam,” he said. “I’ve had her request intercepted. That investigation report is highly classified. But from what I saw, Sherman did the right thing in that incident.”
Train had been about to ask. He was glad the admiral had brought it up first. “Galantz may not think so,” he said.
Carpenter looked over at him. “You know that. I know that. That’s why I want you to keep an eye on Karen Lawrence. I have my reasons for having her on this case, but I don’t want her hurt.”
“I understand, Admiral,”
Train said, although he wasn’t sure he did.
“Good,” Carpenter said. “Remember, time is of the essence, especially for Admiral Sherman. That’s all.”
When the door closed, Carpenter sat back in his chair and thought for a moment, then punched the intercom.
“Get me a secure call into Admiral Kensington’s office,” he said. He punched off and waited. Kensington came on the line.
“Admiral Kdnsington.”
“Good morning, Admiral,” Carpenter said. “Further to our last conversation on the Sherman matter, I have a suggestion to make.”
There was a moment of silence. “Is this thing under control, Tom?”
Carpenter thought about the DNI’s little bombshell. “I think so, Admiral,” he said slowly. I
“Because if it isn’t, we need to do something. We’ve had i enough dirty laundry hanging out there lately.
I’m not sure any of us could stand this thing getting loose.”
“I understand. I think we need to take Sherman out of circulation for a few days.”
“I’m all ears.”
Train left the JAG’s office, shaking his head as he walked back to his own cubicle on the fourth floor. Neatly done, Admiral, he thought. You want me to beat the bushes, but you can always say that I was never tasked to find this guy.
If there was to be any trouble, Mrs. von Rensel’s bouncing baby boy, Train, had, in fact, been told to stay away from Galantz.
He reached his cubicle, checked his voice mail, and then called Karen to back-brief her on his meeting with Carpenter. “He wanted an update, soup to nuts, on the whole case.
I gave it to him.”
“You told him about last night?”
“Yup. That upset him. I also got the impression the bigs are stirring.”
“What did he say about that archived file?”
“That he blocked it. That it contains highly classified material. That it shows Sherman did the right thing back there, whfttever that means.
But we’re not going to see that report.
She was silent for a moment. “Any new instructions?” she asked.
It was Train’s turn to hesitate. He did not want to tell her what his tasking had been. She was nervous enough already.
“Not exactly,” he said. “The gist of it was to confirm that I’m to help you in your inquiries. So right now, I’m going to put on my NIS hat and enter some federal databases.”
“So you agree we should concentrate on the son first and not Galantz?”
There was a thread of concern in her voice.
“Galantz is complicated,” Train said. “Let me explain that when we’re not on an unsecured phone. There definitely might be other players in this game, though.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah, oh. Hold that thought. Right now, see what you can get from Sherman on Little Boy Blue. If I can get a read on where the son is, maybe we’ll go see him this afternoon. If you’re up to it, that is.”, in up to that.”
“Okay. I’ll get back to you.”
He hung up and sat back in his chair. You really need to talk to Mchale Johnson, von Rensel. He sighed and got out his personal phone book, looked up a number, and then placed a call. Johnson wasn’t in, an anonymous voice said, so he left a call-back message and mentioned the word SEAL. Then he called the NIS database query center over in the Washington Navy Yard, identified himself, and asked them to call him back at the JAG IR division’s secure number. The database administrator got back to him in five minutes and he gave him the name and the few general match points he had regarding Jack Sherman’s military service, approximate age, and a last- known location in the vicimty of Quantico, Virginia. He told them he would have better-defined data and a Social Security number later in the day. He asked for searches within the military and FBI criminal identification and information systems, since Sherman had said the kid had been thrown out of the Marines. He put a priority label on his request and asked for a voice debrief, with a final report to be transmitted electronically into his PC address within the JAG local-area computer network as soon as possible..’ You say you’ll have better definition data this afternoon?” the administrator asked.
Train’s heart sank. Should never have said that.
“Yeah.”
“Then come back in with that data. Then we’ll do the coarse screen, Mr.
Train agreed and hung up. He sighed. He had hoped for a quick look, but the database people weren’t about to do something twice. He then decided to try one of the most sophisticated search tools available-namely, the telephone company’s information operator.
“Northern Virginia information, what city?”
“Woodbfidge, Quantico, Virginia.”
“Go ahead.”
“John Lee Sherman. Address unknown. Might be Triangle, or Dumfries, or just Stafford County.”
“One moment please.”
He waited. About half the time he went looking for someone, the guy was in the damned phone book.
“I have a John L. Sherman.”
“Let’s try that.”
“Hold for the number.”
Bingo, he thought, as he recorded the number. Then he called the database administrator back and luckily got a new voi e. He went through the identification drill again, but this time he gave him the telephone number, asking for an address trace. The database guys could do this on a local PC.
