[1]
A BURNT-ORANGE SUN KISSED the horizon to the west as twenty-six-year-old Second Lieutenant Evan Scholler led his three-pack of converted gun-truck support Humvees through the gates of the Allstrong Compound in the middle of an area surrounded by palm trees, canals, and green farmland. The landscape here was nothing like the sandy, flat, brown terrain that Evan had grown used to since he’d arrived in Kuwait. The enclosure was about the size of three football fields, protected, like every other “safe” area, by Bremer walls—twelve-foot-tall concrete barriers topped with concertina wiring. Ahead of him squatted three double-wide motor home trailers that Allstrong Security, an American contracting company, had provided for its local employees.
Pulling up to the central temporary building, over which flew an American flag, Evan stepped out of his car onto the gravel that extended as far as he could see in all directions. A fit-looking American military type stood in the open doorway and now came down the three steps, his hand extended. Evan snapped a salute and the man laughed.
“You don’t need to salute me, Lieutenant,” he said. “Jack Allstrong. Welcome to BIAP.” Calling Baghdad International Airport by its nickname. “You must be Scholler.”
“Yes, sir. If you’re expecting me, that’s a nice change of pace.”
“Gotten the runaround, have you?”
“A little bit. I’ve got eight men here with me and Colonel…I’m sorry, the commander here?”
“Calliston.”
“That’s it. He wasn’t expecting us. Calliston said you had some beds we could use.”
“Yeah, he called. But all we’ve got are cots really.”
“We’ve got our own on board,” Evan said. “We’re okay with cots.”
Allstrong’s face showed something like sympathy. “You all been on the road awhile?”
“Three days driving up from Kuwait with a Halliburton convoy, four days wandering around between here and Baghdad, watching out for looters and getting passed off around the brass. Now here we are. If you don’t mind, sir, none of my men have seen a bed or a regular meal or a shower since we landed. You mind if we get ’em settled in first?”
Allstrong squinted through the wind at Evan, then looked over to the small line of Humvees, with their M60 Vietnam-era machine guns mounted on their roofs, exhausted-looking and dirty men standing behind them. Coming back to Evan, he nodded and pointed to the trailer on his right. “Bring ’em on up and park over there. It’s dorm style. Find an empty spot and claim it. Showers are all yours. Dinner’s at eighteen hundred hours, forty minutes from now. Think your men can make it?”
Evan tamped down a smile. “Nobody better stand in their way, sir.”
“Nobody’s gonna.” Allstrong cocked his head. “Well, get ’em started, then.”
IT HAD COME TO DARKNESS outside through the windows, but even inside, the noise never seemed to end. Planes took off and landed at all times. Beyond that constant barrage of white noise, Evan was aware of the hum of generators and the barking of dogs.
He’d gotten his men fed and settled and now he sat in a canvas-backed director’s chair in the spacious double-wide room at the end of a trailer that served as one of Allstrong’s personal offices. His gaze went to the walls, one of which was filled with a large map. On the other, commendation and service plaques, along with half a dozen photographs with recognizable politicians, attested to what must have been Allstrong’s illustrious military career—his host had been Delta Force, finally mustering out as a full-bird colonel in the Army. He’d received two Purple Hearts and the Distinguished Service Cross. No sign of marriage or family.
Evan, taking Allstrong’s measure as he pulled a bottle of Glenfiddich from what appeared to be a full case of the stuff behind his desk, put his age as late thirties. He had an open face and smiled easily, although the mouth and eyes didn’t seem in perfect sync with one another. The eyes tended to dart, as though Allstrong was assessing his surroundings at all times. Which, now that Evan thought of it, probably made sense after a lifetime in theaters of war. Allstrong wore what he’d been wearing when they’d met outside—combat boots, camo pants, a black turtleneck. He free-poured a stiff shot into a clear plastic cup, handed it over to Evan, and splashed a couple of inches into a cup of his own. Pulling another director’s chair over, he sat down. “Don’t bullshit a bullshitter,” he said.
“It’s not bullshit,” Evan said. “They weren’t expecting us.”