me closer to the four men I was supposed to lead.
“Time is short,” Church began, “so let’s cut right to it. With the loss of Bravo and Charlie teams at the hospital we are critically shorthanded. Over the next three months we will recruit and train at least a dozen additional teams, but that doesn’t help us right now.” He paused and looked at Grace’s team. “Echo Team needs to build, train, and get to combat readiness asap. I expect each member of Alpha Team to assist in any way possible.”
Grins began to form on the faces of some of the Alpha Team bucks, but Church said, “Understand me here. If anyone, any single person, no matter what rank or MOS, does anything to interfere with the training process- whether by a harmless stunt or some kind of hazing nonsense-I will take it as a personal insult. It will be better for you to wake up in a room full of walkers, let me assure you.”
That wiped the smile off everyone’s face. We all knew he meant it, and I was starting to get a pretty good idea that he was a total whack job.
But he was our whack job.
He turned to Echo Team. “Lieutenant Colonel Hanley has chosen to spend the rest of the day in intensive care. Apparently his larynx got in the way of his good judgment. Pity about that.” He looked real broken up about it, too. Church pointed to me. “Captain Ledger is now your team leader, effective immediately. You will all offer him your very best support.” He didn’t add a cheesy “or else” but everyone heard it.
He waited for questions. Perhaps “dared” is another word, and then beckoned me over. When I was within range for a quiet comment I murmured, “ ‘Captain’ Ledger? I was only an E6 in the army.”
“If ‘captain’ doesn’t suit you, we can discuss it later.”
“Look what’s my brief here? Is this a hand-to-hand session? Do you have a curriculum you want me to follow?”
“No, but in short I need you to know their capabilities and their flaws so that you know who to trust and at what moment.”
“With Alpha Team watching?”
“Yes.”
I shook my head. “Not going to happen. If my guys are going to have to go in alone, then we train alone. Show them some respect.”
I was aware of having said “my guys,” and Church was aware of it, too. He smiled. “Fine then.” He signaled to Grace. “Captain Ledger will be using the gym floor. Take your team to the small arms range.”
She hesitated and then nodded, called to her team and led them away.
Church walked over to a chair on which was a stack of thick folders. He handed the top four folders to me. “These are the records for your team. These are the men who have the best overall qualifications and whom we could get on site in time to meet you. I have a few others on their way here from the field, but the earliest ETA from that group would be thirty hours. These other folders are possibles. I’m having them all brought in and if you have time I want you to review the candidates and make your selections.”
“Who do I have to clear them with?”
He shook his head. “No red tape in the DMS, Captain. Your team, your call.”
Jesus Christ, I thought. No pressure there. I said, “Listen, Church, since you yanked me out of my life and stuck me with this job, and since you seem to want to give me a lot of personal freedom of action and authority, I hope you’re as good as your word when I want to do things my way.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning, as of this moment there’s the police department way, the federal law enforcement way, the military way and my way. If you want me to function at my best then you’re going to have to accept that I’m going to have to make up some of my own rules. I don’t know enough about your playbook and, quite frankly, I don’t like the way you operate. If I’m not a cop anymore then I’m something else, something new. Okay, then from here on out I’ll decide what that is; and that includes building, shaping, and leading my team. My team, my rules.”
We stood there like a couple of mountain gorillas, eyeing each other to see if this was going to be a fight or a collaborative hunt. He smiled. “If you’re looking for an argument, Captain, you’re wasting your breath and you’re wasting your own training time.”
“Do I have to salute you?” I asked, keeping the smile off my face.
“I would prefer not.”
“What about my job? I’m supposed to report back to work tomorrow and I have to let someone know at the precinct. And my-”
He cut me off. “If time allows, you and I can sit down and go over whatever details need seeing to. I’ll even have someone go and feed your cat. All of that is beside the point. Right now, I need you to step up and be the team leader.”
“I want to see Rudy.”
“Dr. Sanchez and I will have a talk first. You can see him later.”
“Can you tell me one thing at least?”
“Make it quick.”
“Who the hell are you?” When he didn’t respond I said, “Will you at least tell me your first name?”
“As far as you’re concerned, it’s ‘Mister.’ ” Blindsiding this guy was never going to be easy. “Have fun getting to know your men, Captain Ledger,” he said. “I’m sure they’re all dying to get to know you better.”
With that he turned and left.
“Son of a bitch,” I said softly and turned to face my team.
Chapter Thirty-Five
HMS HECLA / Royal Navy Hospital Ship / Four days ago
THE MEDIVAC CHOPPER airlifted the wounded British soldiers from the field hospital at Bastion, across Pakistani airspace into the Gulf of Oman where it touched down on the helipad at the stern of the HMS Hecla, a hospital ship, and an hour later the ship headed out of the Gulf into the Arabian Sea and steered west toward the Gulf of Aden and then turned northwest into the Red Sea.
Within forty minutes of the transfer of wounded from the helicopter to the Hecla, Lieutenant Nigel Griffith was in surgery. Griffith survived the operation but coded in recovery. The ICU team brought him back once, then again, and finally Griffith’s heart simply failed.
Corporal Ian Potts was treated and made comfortable, but the doctors were already planning the amputations of his hand and leg.
Of the third man from the ambush, Sergeant Gareth Henderson, it was later reported that he died as a result of head trauma. His death was observed and recorded by Nurse Rachel Anders and Dr. Michael O’Malley, both of whom were temporary medical staff from the Red Cross, coming off a six-month volunteer stint aboard and expecting to transfer off the Hecla to join an international infectious disease medical research team stationed in the Great Bitter Lake region of Egypt. His body was wrapped in a body bag and transferred to the cold room in the ship’s hold, along with forty-one other corpses from the meat grinders in Iraq and Afghanistan.
At 2:55 that morning a second helicopter landed on the stern of the Hecla, and Nurse Anders and Dr. O’Malley boarded the chopper along with four very large wheeled metal equipment cases. Drugs and medical supplies for the research team. The helo lifted off and flew east toward the lake. When it landed, Anders, O’Malley, and the two others were greeted warmly by the research team, all of whom were strangers but each of whom were happy to have their team strengthened.
O’Malley oversaw the unloading of the metal cases personally while Anders loitered outside the tent, smoking a cigarette, ostensibly relaxing after a harrowing tour. Two men approached: a tall sandy-haired man in a lightweight white suit and a slightly shorter dark-haired man in dun-colored trousers and a Polo shirt. The tall man bent and kissed her on both cheeks. “It’s good to see you, Rachel. I trust the flight was without incident.”
“Everything went well,” she said, exhaling as she spoke.
“Jolly good.” The man gave her a wink and then slipped in through the tent flaps. The shorter man lingered for a moment to survey the surroundings before following his companion inside. In the tent the doctor looked up suddenly from behind one of the cases, but his face changed from alarm to pleasure instantly.
