Authors: Leigh Bale
And then, Mac realized what he’d
tried so hard to deny. He still believed in God, but he was angry. Livid at God
for allowing Eric to die. Furious that he’d survived.
“Mac, where’s Cara? I’ve got to
find her.” Toni could hardly speak around the sobs wrenching her throat.
“Shh, it’ll be okay. Take deep
breaths.” He helped her into his truck and handed her a tissue, then held her
close, their fingers entwined.
“I don’t understand what’s
happening,” she croaked.
Neither did he. Obviously Ryan
Andrus had something to do with Cara’s disappearance. But who had killed
Andrus? And why?
Mac flipped open his cell phone and
dialed 9-1-1 to report the murder, then he called Colonel Wilkinson. Within ten
minutes, the whine of police sirens and an ambulance blared along the street.
The Colonel followed minutes later, accompanied by several NCIS agents, one
dressed in plain clothes, the others dressed in black shirts. Mac and Toni got
out of his truck to greet them. Neighbors came out of their houses, standing in
their yards, craning their necks to see what was going on.
Agents and the coroner swarmed the
house. While Mac explained what they’d found, Toni stood beside him, her face
ashen. He kept one arm wrapped around her back, offering silent support.
Feeling protective of her.
The Colonel and a homicide officer
joined them. Dressed in a suit and tie, the officer introduced himself as Agent
Miller. “You’re gonna have to come down to our office. We’ll need a written
statement from both of you.”
“Okay,” Mac agreed. “Whatever we
can do to help.”
Two men dressed in white smocks
wheeled a gurney out into the yard. Toni stared at the zipped body bag, then
bit her lip and pressed closer to Mac’s side. As she clutched his arm, he heard
her faint groan of despair.
“I’d like to get Miss Hamilton out
of here, if that’s okay,” he told the men.
“Sure, follow me. I’ll have a car
take you to our office. You can come back later to pick up your truck. It’d
help if the Colonel comes along, too.”
Mac hesitated. “Wait a minute. You
suspect us of killing Andrus?”
“I just need to follow all leads.
The coroner estimates death around five o’clock last night. Where were you
two?” Agent Miller glanced between them, his gaze intense.
Toni’s face went very pale. “We
were having dinner together. I didn’t even know the man. Why would you think we
might have killed him?”
“Look, ma’am, your boyfriend is a
seasoned marine. He knows how to kill.” The detective jerked a thumb at Mac. “I
have to ask.”
“He’s not my…” Toni didn’t finish,
but Mac knew her thoughts.
He wasn’t her boyfriend, although
he wished he was.
The detective shrugged, looking at
Mac. “Regardless, you have access to weapons and you knew the deceased. Maybe
you quarreled. Maybe one of you owed someone money. I don’t know what the story
is. I’m not accusing you of anything, but I have to ask the hard questions.”
“Toni and I were having dinner at
an Italian restaurant around five o’clock last night.” Mac dug inside his pants
pocket for the receipt and handed it to the agent. “I’d like a copy of that,
but you can track down the waiter. He’ll confirm we were both there.”
“How can you be so sure the waiter
will remember you?”
“Because he couldn’t keep his eyes
off of Miss Hamilton.” Mac didn’t add that he’d felt a blaze of jealousy.
Toni stared at Mac, but he kept
talking. “After that, we went to Toni’s house and found the burglary. The
police came. I took Toni to her aunt’s house around ten o’clock. The cops and
her aunt and uncle can confirm that.”
“I can confirm his story from my
end,” the Colonel said. “They came to see me this morning.”
“Okay, it sounds like you both have
a solid alibi for last night.” Miller studied the receipt like it might give
him some answers. “In this neighborhood, anyone could have killed Andrus. Drugs
or a few dollars would be enough incentive. I hate seeing you boys survive the
war only to come home to the states and get killed by a thief or drug dealer.
It seems so senseless to me.”
“Yeah, I agree,” Mac said.
He didn’t understand this strange
turn of events. He’d felt confused yet excited to discover he wasn’t the only
man to survive the ambush. Finding Cara’s necklace and the empty cell in the
basement had been more than confusing.
Had Eric suspected Ryan Andrus of
espionage? Andrus had been an intelligence officer, so it was plausible. Andrus
must have kidnapped Cara. But who had her now?
Mac and Toni rode to the NCIS
office where they were questioned again and signed written statements. Mac
explained again about the ponytail man and the fact that he’d been spotted in
Clarkston with Andrus the day before. He also told the cops about the call from
Cara’s kidnapper. Colonel Wilkinson offered silent support.
“I have no idea what they were
into, but the man with the ponytail could have killed Andrus,” Mac said.
“We’ll check into it,” Miller
promised.
The agent promised to bring a team
to Toni’s house when she expected the kidnapper to contact her again.
“That’s it? You won’t help us any
other way?”
Miller shifted his weight and
glanced at the colonel. “Sorry, but that’s all we can do at this point.”
Toni stared in shock. Mac couldn’t
blame her. He couldn’t understand why the authorities wouldn’t help them find
Cara.
“Can we go, now?” Toni asked, her
voice sounding small.
Miller released a deep exhale.
“Yeah, you’re free to go. But stay in town in case we need to ask you some more
questions.”
Toni popped up out of her chair
like a ping pong ball and headed for the door. After bidding the Colonel
farewell, Mac followed and a black sedan delivered them out front of Andrus’s
house. Toni immediately retreated to the cab of Mac’s truck, looking anywhere
but at Andrus’s house. Mac understood her reticence. They were both sick of
being grilled by suspicious NCIS agents.
* * *
Toni sat quiet inside Mac’s truck.
After he climbed into the driver’s seat, he found her staring at a piece of
paper in her lap, her face devoid of expression. In one glance, he saw the open
glove box and a tissue lying beside her on the seat. She must have gone looking
for something to wipe her eyes…and found his letter from the military regarding
the investigation into Eric’s death.
A sinking dread settled over Mac.
He stared out the windshield, both hands gripping the steering wheel like a
lifeline. Without reading the letter, he knew what it said. Every single word.
“Mac, what is this?” Her voice
choked as she handed him the paper.
He reached out but didn’t take it
and she let it fall. It floated to the seat, settling between them like the
Great Wall of China.
No! Not like this.
Panic shot up from his toes. He
could get into a lot of trouble if he told her the truth. The military still
considered the matter top secret. But he couldn’t evade it any longer, not with
it staring them in the face. Not when she’d found out on her own.
Looking at her, he tried to read
her thoughts from the distant expression in her eyes. Her trust had been
replaced by suspicion and doubt.
“I don’t suppose there’s any way
you can just forget about that letter for the time being.” His voice sounded
strange to his own ears.
“No, I’m afraid not.”
“That’s what I thought.”
Wiping his upper lip, Mac realized
there’d be no more stalling. Amidst his worry and fear, he felt almost
relieved. Finally he’d have to tell Toni the truth. Finally he’d get this heavy
weight off his chest.
And she’d never want to see him
again.
He’d give anything not to destroy
her trust in him. Not to make her cry.
“It may not have been Taliban fighters
that killed Eric,” he said.
A long pause followed.
“I don’t understand. What are you
saying, Mac?”
His gaze locked with hers. Taking a
deep breath, he spoke the words he’d been avoiding for so long. “Eric may have
died via friendly fire.”
Toni’s mind spun haphazardly. A
queasy feeling settled in her stomach. She stared at Mac, then at the subject
line on the letter she’d found in the glove compartment of his truck. It read:
Investigation of Suspected Friendly Fire Incident in the Death of Lieutenant
Eric Hamilton Near Kabul, Afghanistan.
Friendly fire? This was the first
she’d heard of it.
“You think Eric died by friendly
fire? You don’t know for certain?” she asked.
“No, NCIS needs more time to investigate.
To complete a ballistics test. I may get thrown in the brig for telling you
this much.”
She shook her head, feeling dizzy.
“But the military told us that Eric died during a skirmish against Taliban
fighters. He died in battle. Didn’t he?”
“Yes,” he croaked. “The military
doesn’t like to advertise things like this. It causes a media frenzy and makes
them look incompetent. Also, they try to protect the man who messed up.”
He gave a short laugh, sounding
hollow and cold. Something in his voice stopped her heart. He was talking about
a cover up.
A lie.
A depressing premonition settled
over her. She wished she could pretend she hadn’t found the letter. But she
had. And now, she had to know everything.
Since Eric’s funeral, Toni had
sensed Mac was keeping something from her. Now, she knew what it was. She
watched his face intently, confused and frightened. She didn’t want to ask, but
she had to know everything. “Why does the military think Eric may have been
killed by friendly fire?”
Beads of perspiration dotted Mac’s
forehead and he turned on the truck before switching on the air conditioning.
He rested his head back against the seat, staring out the windshield. “I didn’t
want to tell you like this, Toni. I reported my suspicions to Colonel Wilkinson
as soon as I came out of anesthesia in the hospital. The military is running a
ballistics test on the slug they took from Eric’s chest.”
She winced in spite of her efforts
to remain calm. “I don’t understand, Mac. Who is the military protecting? Who
may have killed Eric?”
He looked at her, his eyes filled
with anguish and dread. “Me.”
Toni blinked. She couldn’t move,
nor barely breathe. Outrage screamed inside her mind. She couldn’t believe
this.
No! Eric! Killed by his best
friend. It couldn’t be true. It just couldn’t.
She reached for Mac, but then moved
away, her hands trembling. “You must be mistaken, Mac. Tell me this isn’t true.
Tell me it’s all a cruel joke.”
He shook his head. “I hope I’m
wrong, Toni. Everything happened so fast that night. So much confusion. I’d
give anything if it weren’t real. I hope it isn’t true.”
“But how? How could such a thing
happen? Maybe you’re wrong. Maybe…?”
“No, Toni,” he spoke low. “I was
there. I saw it happen. Eric died in my arms. I only hope the tests show that
the bullet didn’t come from my gun.”
Opening up like this and revealing
his possible guilt must be more than difficult. Toni felt torn by compassion
and outrage all at the same time. Mac may have killed her brother. An accident.
But with deadly results just the same. What should she think? What should she
say? She felt hurt and confused. Numb.
“When will they know for sure?” Her
voice sounded monotone, but inside she was screaming.
He wouldn’t meet her eyes. “I don’t
know. If the bullet was too damaged, they won’t be able to determine whose gun
it was fired from. We may never know the truth.”
And then what? She knew deep in her
heart of hearts that Mac would never have harmed Eric intentionally. She tried
to tell herself it didn’t matter who had killed Eric, but it did.
“What…what happened that makes you
believe you may have killed Eric?” She spoke quietly, her voice sounding tight
with agitation.
Mac turned his head away. She knew
what he was about to tell her would change their lives forever. Now she knew,
she could never go back to how she’d felt before. She could never forget.
Through no fault of her own, her heart was about to be broken.
For the second time.
In a voice squeezed by emotion, he
told her about the ambush. That Eric seemed upset. Mac had sensed friction
between Eric and Andrus, but he didn’t know what was wrong.
Mac pinched the bridge of his nose
and clenched his eyes closed. “Eric hadn’t been himself for two days. We never
kept anything from each other for very long.”
Toni waited for him to continue.
“Fire had gutted the plane, but
Eric headed toward it, to confirm the electronic components had been
destroyed.” Mac’s brow furrowed with pain. “I was dazed by the explosion. My
ears rang from the impact. I crouched low and fired, aiming at the bursts of light
coming from enemy fire on top of the ledge above. Taliban fighters had the high
ground. I have no doubt they knew we were coming. They’d been waiting for us.
Someone on the inside must have told them our mission. It was an ambush.”
“But what about Eric? Where was
he?” Toni asked.
“Pinned down in the middle of the
canyon, huddled behind a large rock. He couldn’t move.”
Toni flinched as a graphic image
filled her mind.
Mac started speaking faster, his
eyes clenched shut, as if he were reliving the battle. “I was pinned down and
couldn’t move. To my right, I heard Silvestri radio the chopper for air
support. I feared the whole mountain might come down on my head. I had to get
Eric out of there. Against regulations, I cross-fired over his head, trying to
give him the chance to run for cover. He bellied down in the sand and tried to
inch to a safer position, but spatters of gunfire forced him back. He crouched
low, prepared to run. He’d be cut to ribbons. And then…”