Clear and Present Danger

'The court is back in session,' Wegener announced. 'Do we have a statement for the defense?'

'May it please the court, neither defendant chooses to identify himself.'

'That does not please the court, but we must take that fact at face value. For the purposes of the trial, we will identify your clients as John Doe and James Doe.' Wegener pointed to designate which was which. 'The court chooses to try John Doe first. Is there any objection? Very well, the trial judge advocate will begin presenting his case.'

Which he did over the next twenty minutes, calling only one witness, Master Chief Riley, who recounted the boarding and gave a color commentary to the videotape record of the boarding.

'Did the defendant say anything?'

'No, sir.'

'Could you describe the contents of this evidence bag?' the prosecutor asked next.

'Sir, I think that's called a tampon. It appears to be used, sir,' Riley said with some embarrassment. 'I found that under the coffee table in the yacht's main salon, close to a bloodstain - actually these two on the photograph, sir. I don't use the things myself, you understand, sir, but in my experience women don't leave them around on the floor. On the other hand, if someone was about to rape a lady, this thing would be in the way, sort of, and he might just remove it and toss it out of the way so's he could get on with it, like. If you see where I picked it up, and where the bloodstains are, well, it's pretty obvious what happened there, sir.'

'No further questions. The prosecution rests.'

'Very well. Before the defense begins its case, the court wishes to ask if the defense intends to call any witnesses other than the defendant.'

'No, Mr. President.'

'Very well. At this point the court will speak directly to the defendant.' Wegener shifted his gaze and leaned forward slightly in his chair. 'In your own defense, sir, you have the right to do one of three things. First, you can choose not to make any statement at all, in which case the court will draw no inferences from your action. Second, you are allowed to make a statement not under oath and not subject to cross-examination. Third, you may make a statement under oath and subject to cross-examination by the trial judge advocate. Do you understand these rights, sir?'

'John Doe,' who had watched the preceding hour or so in amused silence, came awkwardly to his feet. With his hands cuffed behind his back, he leaned slightly forward, and since the cutter was now rolling like a log in a flume, he had quite a bit of trouble keeping his feet.

'What is all this shit?' he demanded, again making people wonder about his accent. 'I want to go back to my room and be left alone till I can get my own fucking lawyer.'

'Mr. Doe,' Wegener replied, 'in case you haven't figured it out yet, you are on trial for piracy, rape, and murder. This book' - the captain lifted his 'Rocks and Shoals' - 'says I can try you here and now, and this book says that if we find you guilty, we can decide to hang you from the yardarm. Now, the Coast Guard hasn't done this in over fifty years, but you better believe that I can damned well do it if I want to! They haven't bothered changing the law. So now things are different from what you expected, aren't they? You want a lawyer - you have Mr. Alison right there. You want to defend yourself? Here's your chance. But, Mr. Doe, there is no appeal from this court, and you'd better think about that real hard and real fast.'

'I think this is all bullshit. Go fuck yourself!'

'The court will disregard the defendant's statement,' Wegener said, struggling to keep his face straight and sober, as befitting the presiding officer in a capital case.

Counsel for the defense spoke for fifteen minutes, making a valiant but futile attempt to counter the weight of evidence already presented by the trial judge advocate. Case summaries took five minutes each. Then it was time for Captain Wegener to speak again.

'Having heard the evidence, the members of the court will now vote on the verdict. This will be by secret written ballot. The trial judge advocate will pass out the voting papers, and collect them.'

This took less than one minute. The prosecutor handed each of the five members a slip of note paper. The members of the court all looked at the defendant before and after marking their votes. The prosecutor then collected the ballots, and after shuffling them in his hand about as adroitly as a five-year-old with his Old Maid cards, handed them to the captain. Wegener unfolded the ballots and set them on the table in front of him. He made a note in his yellow pad before speaking.

'Defendant will stand and face the court. Mr. Doe, do you have anything to say before sentence is passed?'

He didn't, an amused, disbelieving smirk on his face.

'Very well. The court having voted, two-thirds of the members concurring, finds the defendant guilty, and sentences him to death by hanging. Sentence to be carried out within the hour. May God have mercy on your soul. Court is adjourned.'

'Sorry, sir,' the defense counsel said to his client. 'You didn't give me much to work with.'

'Now get me a lawyer!' Mr. Doe snarled.

'Sir, you don't need a lawyer just now. You need a priest.' As if to emphasize that fact, Chief Riley took him by the arm.

'Come on, sweetheart. You got a date with a rope.' The master chief led him out of the room.

The other prisoner, known as James Doe, had watched the entire proceeding in fascinated disbelief. The disbelief was still there, everyone saw, but it was more the sort of disbelief that you'd expect to see on the face of a man stuck in front of an onrushing train.

'Do you understand what's going on here?' the lieutenant asked.

'This ain't real, man,' the prisoner said, his voice lacking much of the conviction it might have held an hour or so earlier.

'Hey, man, aren't you paying attention? Didn't they tell you guys that some of your kind just sort of disappear out here? We've been doing this for almost six months. The prisons are all full up, and the judges just don't want to be bothered. If we bag somebody and we have the evidence we need, they let us handle things at sea. Didn't anybody tell you that the rules have changed some?'

'You can't do this!' he almost screamed in reply.

'Think so? Tell you what. In about ten minutes I'll take you topside, and you can watch. I'm telling you, if you don't cooperate, we are not going to fuck around with you, pal. We're tired of that. Why don't you just sit quiet and think it over, and when the time comes, I'll let you see how serious we are.' The lieutenant helped himself to a cup of coffee to pass the time, not speaking at all to his client. About the time he finished, the door opened again.

'Hands topside to witness punishment,' Chief Oreza announced.

'Come on, Mr. Doe. You'd better see this.' The lieutenant took him by the arm and led him forward. Just outside the wardroom door was a ladder that led upward. At the top of it was a narrow passageway, and both men headed aft toward the cutter's vacant helicopter deck.

The lieutenant's name was Rick Alison. A black kid from Albany, New York, and the ship's navigator, Alison thanked God every night for serving under Red Wegener, who was far and away the best commander he'd ever met. He'd thought about leaving the service more than once, but now planned on staying in as long as he could. He led Mr. Doe aft, about thirty feet from the festivities.

The seas were really rough now, Alison noted. He gauged the wind at over thirty knots, and the seas at twelve or fourteen feet. Panache was taking twenty-five-degree rolls left and right of the vertical, snapping back and forth like a kids' seesaw. Alison remembered that O'Neil had the conn, and hoped that Chief Owens was keeping an eye on the boy. The new ensign was a good enough kid, but he still had a lot to learn about ship handling, thought the navigator, who was a bare six years older himself. Lightning flashed occasionally to starboard, flash-lighting the sea. Rain was falling in solid sheets, the drops flying across the deck at a sharp angle and driven hard enough by the wind to sting the cheeks. All in all it was the sort of night to make Edgar Allan Poe salivate at its possibilities. There were no lights visible, though the cutter's white paint gave them a sort of ghostly outline as a visual reference. Alison wondered if Wegener had decided to do this because of the weather, or was it just a fortunate coincidence?

Captain, you've pulled some crazy shit since you came aboard, but this one really takes it .

There was the rope. Someone had snaked it over the end of the cutter's radio/radar mast. That must have