“Very well.” Chin turned to the commandant. “Mr. Welch, I’ll withdraw my report and recommend that your fine be retuned. But for pity’s sake let’s not have an incident like this again. There’s an old expression never heard anymore: ‘The customer is always right.’ Public relations demands we act upon it, even though it’s abject nonsense.”
“I understand. And thank you.”
“All right. Let’s bury the matter.”
Chin produced a photo badge, handing it to Welch, who inserted it into a desk console and pressed a button twice. A concealed wall panel slid open, revealing a corridor. After reclaiming his badge, Chin led Elliot and Lorimer several hundred feet to a steel door. He inserted his badge, and it slid open. Beyond the door was the yet unfurnished anteroom to a suite of offices. Jack Guerdon was kneeling on the floor, installing a carpet.
Chin cleared his throat. Guerdon looked up, noting their presence and Chin’s expression of disapproval. Clapping the dust off his hands, Guerdon stood up. “Now, Major Chin, you know it’s the only relaxation I get.”
“I wasn’t criticizing, sir,” Chin replied. “But there are others who …”
Guerdon furrowed his brow slightly.
Chin shrugged resignedly. “Perhaps it’s time for proper introductions?” he offered. Guerdon nodded. “Mr. Vreeland, Ms. Powers, may I present General Jack Guerdon, supreme commander of the Cadre’s TacStrike forces.”
For the second time upon meeting Guerdon, Elliot’s eyes widened. “Uh—I thought you ran a construction company
…sir?”
Guerdon grinned. “I do. The general’s job is only part time.”
“The general is much too modest,” said Chin. “First tour of 202
Alongside Night
duty in Vietnam, 1965. Trained for and made the Green Berets, three more tours of Indochinese duty, returning the last time as a major—brevet, later confirmed. After the war, transferred to the Corps of Engineers, retiring as a full colonel. Awarded the Purple Heart with bronze cluster, Bronze Star, Silver Star, Legion of Merit—”
“That’s quite enough, Major,” Guerdon said in a low voice. Chin looked sheepish. “Sorry, sir.”
Lorimer dimpled slightly. “I hope you won’t take this the wrong way, General,” she asked, “but do your men ever call you Black Jack?”
Guerdon chuckled resonantly. “Some of them, no doubt
…but in the original moniker given to Pershing. Major, what am I being called lately?”
“Sir?”
“Not the vulgar version, son.”
Chin smiled slightly. “Well, I have heard one of the men refer to you as One-Eyed Jack, sir.”
Jack Guerdon snorted. “I must be too easy on them.”
The four removed into an inner office that Guerdon had commandeered, the only completely outfitted one in the suite, and settled comfortably around a conference table with computer stations at each place. Before getting down to business, Chin provided mugs of too-hot, too-bitter coffee from a standard-issue military urn. Chin removed Elliot’s telephone key from a pocket (it had been confiscated by the pilot during the preflight search) and handed it to Guerdon, who examined it briefly, then placed it on the table. Elliot stirred dry creamer into his coffee, looking at the two Cadre officers expectantly. Guerdon asked, “Would you tell us where you got this?”
“Sure,” Elliot said, hooking his thumb toward Lorimer.
“From her father.”
Guerdon looked to Lorimer. She nodded.
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203
“You don’t have to worry, though,” Elliot continued. “He didn’t exactly give it to me of his own free will.”
“I wouldn’t have expected so,” said Guerdon. “How did the opportunity arise?”
“It arose when Lor—Deanne, I mean—”
“I prefer Lor,” said Lorimer.
“…when Lor got the drop on her father when he walked into my father’s hotel room.”
Guerdon’s eyebrows rose.
Elliot nodded. “It gets rather involved, but what Lor and I agreed before that we should tell you is that my father is going to rise from the grave in a few days. This time as a friend of the Administration. What the Administration gets out of it is gold-backed money courtesy of a loan from EUCOMTO—with my father as the loan’s cosignatory. What my father gets out of it are the promises of my mother and sister back …and the job of U.S. economic czar. What you get out of it is the shaft.”
“When you called us,” Chin asked, “you were calling to tell us where they are so we could intervene?”