Megan nodded.
“Please respond verbally, Mrs. Gander. I may ask that the tapes be admitted in court as evidence.”
“Court?” Megan couldn’t believe what the lieutenant was saying. “Who’s talking about court?”
“The provost marshal’s office,” Benbow answered.
“Frank Marion is talking about taking me to court?” Unable to sit any longer, Megan stood. Her chair screeched as it shot back. As soon as she stood, she felt light-headed. The scratches along her arm that Gerry had left during his panic before he had slipped from her hand stung.
“I’ve not spoken with Provost Marshal Marion yet,” Benbow replied. “I hope to speak with him in the morning regarding the other extenuating circumstances that have occurred here on base tonight. I don’t know how you can be held accountable for Gerry Fletcher’s disappearance.”
“I’m not.”
Benbow nodded politely. “Yes, ma’am. That’s why I’m here: to help prove that you were not responsible for what happened to Gerry Fletcher.”
“What has happened to him?”
“We don’t know, ma’am. The MPs have scoured that building and they’ve found no sign of the boy.”
“He disappeared.” Megan forced the words out. “I had him. Then he fell. He just … just never hit the ground.”
Benbow pushed out his breath easily. “You’re sure you had the boy, Mrs. Gander?”
Megan faced the lieutenant and folded her arms. “Of course I’m sure.”
“And he was hanging over the building?”
“Yes.”
“It’s just that—” Benbow hesitated—“I know that things up on that rooftop had to have been confusing. You got called out of bed in the middle of the night after a hectic day, already worried about one of your children who hadn’t yet come home, and learned that your husband is engaged in action along the Turkish border before you got up on that rooftop with Gerry.”
“What are you trying to say?” Megan demanded.
“I’m trying to suggest that perhaps you weren’t at your best, Mrs. Gander. That’s all.”
“That maybe I wasn’t holding that boy? That I imagined all of that?”
Benbow hesitated, then reluctantly nodded. “Yes, ma’am. Without wanting to be offensive in any way, I guess that’s what I’m trying to suggest.”
“Lieutenant, this is crazy. A waste of your time and mine. There were at least a dozen people who saw Gerry disappear. The MPs had spotlights on Gerry and me. Haven’t you talked to them?”
“As a matter of fact, Mrs. Gander, I have talked to most of them. Every man I’ve talked to has told me that he wasn’t sure if you had the boy or not. No one got a good look.”
“That’s impossible.”
“As I said, Mrs. Gander, I know things had to be happening very fast and were probably intensely confusing up on that rooftop.”
Megan forced herself to be calm when all she wanted to do was scream. Everything that had gone on tonight, from Joey not showing up at home, to Goose being involved in unexpected action, to the whole situation with Gerry Fletcher, had been overload on her already strained emotions. “And if I didn’t have Gerry, what was I holding? What fell from that building?”
“The boy’s clothing.” Benbow sat quietly. His pencil sat poised over the legal pad. “I’ve verified that the clothing found at the base of that residence building was the same clothing the boy wore when he entered the hospital.”
“They’re saying I dropped Gerry’s clothes over the side of the building?”
Benbow nodded.
Frustration and fright filled Megan. Before she could stop the emotions, some of them boiled over. “Speak up, Lieutenant. The tape recorder only records verbal responses.”
“Yes,” Benbow said. His tone was totally neutral and he appeared to take no offense. “That’s what they’re saying.”
“Why would I do that?”
“I don’t know.”
Tears filled Megan’s eyes. “I want out of here. Do you hear me?”
The lieutenant frowned uncomfortably.
“I’ve been here for nearly an hour,” Megan said. “Up until the last fifteen minutes, I’ve been asked over and over where Gerry Fletcher is.
I’ve been asked straight out, and I’ve had MPs who thought they were very clever try to get me to admit I know where Gerry is.”
“Mrs. Gander—”
Megan hurried on, cutting the lieutenant off. “I want to get my baby out of child care, and I want to go home so I can pray for my husband and those Rangers over there in Turkey. I want to know my oldest son is all right. I am a good mother and I’m a good wife, and that’s what I should be doing. And despite whatever stories you’ve been listening to and however you may feel, I am a good counselor.” Her voice was thick with emotion. “I did my best to save Gerry Fletcher’s life tonight, and I don’t know what happened to him.”
Benbow was quiet for a moment. “They’re not going to let you leave right now, Mrs. Gander.”
“Why?”
“Because the provost marshal’s office is considering bringing charges against you.”
“For what?” Megan’s voice tightened into a hoarse whisper.
“For the kidnapping of Gerry Fletcher.”
25
Turkish-Syrian Border
40 Klicks South of Sanliurfa, Turkey
Local Time 0947 Hours
A flash of movement caught Goose’s eye. He drew back down to the shelter of the overturned Syrian T-72 main battle tank that had remained remarkably intact after the fusillade leveled by the arriving Marine Harriers and Apaches. A scattering of vehicles, Syrian corpses, and ashes of tents and other flammable materials littered the ground around them.
“Phoenix Leader confirms a hostile,” Goose warned over the headset. He brought the butt of the M-4A1 up over his right shoulder, maintaining a tight profile that would allow him to move quickly and sweep the assault rifle up if he needed to, while at the same time remaining a compact target. He peered around the edge of the tank, feeling the hot metal of the tread pressing against his cheek.
Tense seconds ticked by as quiet reigned along the skirmish line that had taken shape on the border. Off in the distance to the north, Goose could hear only a few scattered truck noises, jet engine
