Two Days Of A Dream (24 page)

"Before I open the floor to the thousands of questions I can't answer, the men would like to show you what they've been doing in their free time while you've been goldbricking in the infirmary."

Everyone laughed. Larsen and some of the other guys hurriedly pulled papers from a manila envelope and laid them out on the table. Duran saw drawings and numbers but couldn't comprehend what they were for. There were distances and angles and a map of the camp and surrounding area. What were these guys up to?

The men nudged Larsen forward. He glanced over his shoulder and smiled. Following the sergeant’s gaze, Duran saw Coleman at the opening to the tent and waved her to come in. She smiled and hustled in where a few men made room for her near Larsen in front. The men didn't leer or try to get her attention. Instead they treated her like one of the guys. Duran wondered what she did to finally get their respect, glad because Coleman deserved it. He knew he respected her more now. She handled Kelly's disappearances much better than he had.

Larsen cleared his throat. "Cap, after Ms. Goins disappeared, we were all wondering why she was here in the first place." Agreement rolled through the group. "She was only here for two days, but in those two days, she drew out the infiltrators in no man's land and she got shot. Because she found the three terrorists, our camp was safe from the attack but why would she get shot?”

Duran shook his head.
They are getting a little farfetched.

Larsen threw his hands up. "Now wait, Cap, hear us out." Larsen rushed on before Duran could object. "Granted, nothing is that simple, but you have to admit the coincidence is just too neat." Duran shrugged, not willing to agree to anything. "If the timing is too exact for the first event then maybe the second event is too tidy as well. I'm not one to look for elephants in clouds-"

"Elephants, Sergeant?" Duran said too derisively and regretted his tone.

Larsen glanced nervously back at Coleman but grinned when she did. "It's just a saying, sir." He cleared his throat. "What I'm saying is I'm not a conspiracy theorist like some of these guys." He jabbed a thumb over his shoulder at the chuckling crowd. "I'm more of an 'everything in its place’ type of guy, and I believe everything happens for a reason, especially weird stuff." The others vigorously nodded.

Duran shifted in his seat and Stover waved Larsen on. "You're taking too much time, Sergeant, get on with it."

"Yes, sir." Larsen pulled out the map of the area. "Here's where Ms. Goins was when she was shot." He pointed to a red X and recognition did cartwheels in Duran's stomach. "Here's where the sniper was." He indicated another red X.

Duran didn't remember seeing anyone else in the ward when he woke up. "Is he here?" He wanted a chance to
interrogate
him.

Stover blushed. "Oops ... uh ... that's another report but, uh ..." He looked around the suddenly somber group. "Uh, Larsen needs to finish."

Duran’s insides tumbled. "That bad?"

"Yeah." Stover nodded solemnly.

Duran squared his gaze on his second. "That will be your first report." Duran had a feeling what Stover had to say was going to be really bad. "Okay, Larsen, continue." The subdued atmosphere of the crowd didn't ease his mind or settle his stomach.

"Yes, sir, where was I? Oh yeah. Like I said, Ms. Goins was here and the sniper was here." He tapped the map. "On a hunch, we took a laser sight out to where the sniper was hiding beside the dune. We used Liz ... uh ... I mean Private Gering, because she's pretty close to Ms. Goins's height. We aimed the laser at her, approximately where Ms. Goins got shot. None of us could agree exactly where that was, so ..." He pulled out a drawing of the back of a body with Xs and a circle drawn around them with a large X through it all. Duran flinched at the sight despite himself. "We drew a circle around all the guesses and X'd through the circle. That became our target.” He pulled out another drawing. "This one indicates the difference in elevation. Not that there's much more than two feet difference, but we needed to know the exact trajectory angle."

The diagram showed the sniper was lower than Kelly. Duran merely glanced at the papers before him and didn't understand what the big deal was. "What does it matter what angle she was shot? She got shot, that's all that counts!" He was dangerously close to losing his officer facade in front of his men.

Stover gave Larsen the 'move it along' signal. Duran took deep breaths while Larsen continued.

"Good question, sir."

Larsen motioned to Stover and Gering. Duran hadn't noticed the young Private off to the side. They stood in front of Duran's table while the other men helping Larsen jumped into motion. Duran had always enjoyed watching his men in action, but this time he feared what they might show him.

One held a string to Gering's back while two others ran the string back and fussed over the angle. When the men with the string signaled they were ready, Stover stepped in front of Gering and took her in his arms.

Everyone was quiet while Duran studied Stover and Gering. Duran remembered the position. It was etched for eternity in his mind. He remembered the feel of her body against his. Those beautiful blue eyes and the sun glinting off her golden hair. He smiled.

Then he remembered the
ffssst
of sniper fire, her falling into his arms and the gush of blood in his hand. Then she was gone!

Jerked back to the present, he had to breathe deeply numerous times and fight the urge to drop to the ground and put his head between his knees. With much effort he kept himself upright.

Concentrating on the string and board, Duran steadied himself. String, board, angle. String, board, angle. The string and the board at that angle? He followed the length of board.
From the guys at the other end of the room to Kelly's ...
he meant Gering's back. He got up and walked around the two of them. Larsen couldn't possibly be implying that. The bullet's path, according to Larsen and his crew, went from the middle of Gering's back through Stover's upper chest ... his chest. Duran looked at Larsen, who pulled Gering to the side.

"If Kelly hadn't been there ..." The sergeant with the string pulled it up the plank and held it over Stover's heart. "Major Talbit said that you probably wouldn't have survived it."

"No, I ..." They both shook their heads which blurred into the sea of faces that also shook their heads. "But I always wear my vest," Duran whispered.

Stover twanged the string. "I made them recalc three times before I believed their findings. If they weren't so good at this, I'd have made them do it three more times."

Duran swallowed with difficulty and sat hard on the closest surface. It was a good thing the soldiers on the bench were fast.

"She saved my life?" Duran's voice wasn't much more than a scratchy whisper because he couldn't dislodge the lump or catch his breath.

Someone handed Duran a cup of water and he gulped it down.
The woman I have growing feelings for … was hurt to save my life? What’s next, a firefight? A grenade? I can’t allow that. To lose her again, … perhaps permanently? That is out of the question!
He struggled to keep the horror off his face.

"Captain Duran, sir?"

Duran looked up to see the colonel’s aide, Sanderson. "Yes, Corporal?"
The day is about to get worse.

"Colonel Broan would like to see you now, sir."

Yep, definitely worse
. "Tell him I'm on my way."

"Yes, sir."

Duran didn't see the Corporal leave, only his own hands where they lay limp in his lap. "It looks like you all did a lot of hard work." He slowly stood and faced his men. He would put this 'not quite there' chapter in his life behind him. It was time to start a new chapter. Duran, a very good officer and a Marine, needed to act like it starting right now. "I doubt NCIS could have topped you. I'm proud of all of you. As a unit, you are the best there is. I couldn't ask for better. The fact that you took the initiative when you saw a problem to solve makes me even prouder. You could have sloughed it off, accepting whatever was presented to you. But no, you are top notch Marines who wanted answers and you got them. Thank you for your investigation. It answers a lot of my questions as well. Now if you'll excuse me, Colonel Broan has questions of his own."

Duran tried to make his escape but Larsen stopped him.

"Wait, Cap, sir!" Larsen and some of the others gathered their hard work and stuffed it back in the large envelope. "Here's all the papers. All our research is there."

A reminder of that awful event was the last thing Duran wanted, but he took the papers as graciously and appreciatively as he could. He would tuck them away and dispose of them quietly.

Duran clutched the offensive folder as he put distance between him and the demonstration. He would always be involved in something dangerous. He had chosen this life and had accepted that for the rest of his career he would be alone. He had no idea what he could have been thinking when he thought maybe Kelly could be his. This was not a life he could drag a defenseless woman into.

Duran came to the corner of the colonel's tent. He saw the tool shack in the distance and quickly looked away. He was going to have to get over himself. But first he had to get over her.

Chapter Thirty-five

"I know all of this doesn't make any sense to you; it doesn't make any sense to me, either. All I know is what I saw." Duran held his arms to his chest. "I had her in my arms, sir, her warm blood oozing between my fingers. I was looking right at her ..." He found himself staring at his hands with a lump stuck in his throat, unable to continue.

Broan got up with a sigh and came around to where the shaking Duran sat. He patted Duran's shoulder on the way to a file cabinet. Unlocking it, he pulled out a bottle of brandy and brought it back to his desk with two mugs. He half-filled one and offered it to Duran.

"No, thank you, sir, I don't drink."

Broan swirled the amber liquid. "That's something else you have in common with Ms. Goins." He took a sip. "Do you remember what she said? ... Oh yeah, drinking is for second place." He chuckled.

"Captain, I don't usually get involved in my officer's personal lives, but this situation is a little out of the ordinary. I'm curious as hell to know why she came here."

"Oh, good." Broan took it, pulling out the papers before tossing the manila envelope on top of a huge file. "I want to give this to the investigator when he gets here." He flipped through the pages. "They were very thorough. You should be proud of your men."

Duran squared his shoulders. "I'm always proud of my men."

Broan pulled up a smile before he replaced the papers and gathered the tome that was his file on Kelly. It had grown immensely since the first time Duran had seen it four days ago. He realized he was sitting in the chair where Kelly had sat for the interigation.

Broan cleared his throat. "Speaking of your men, has Stover told you about Tanyard and Millam?"

"Millam? He vaguely mentioned Tanyard being shipped out, but hadn’t wanted to discuss it in front of the men."

"Yes, well, rightfully so. That's been a hard one for Stover to handle, but I've been impressed with how well he's done."