Call to Treason - Tom Clancy [115]
"Is that what you think is happening?" Rodgers asked.
"Yes. You or someone at Op-Center has obviously made up their minds that we are guilty of murder, or worse."
"No one has made that determination," Rodgers told her. "This is an investigation."
"Yours or Op-Center's?"
"Until my resignation takes effect, I am working for Op-Center by assignment and command of the undersecretary, Department of Defense Security Cooperation Agency," Rodgers replied.
"Then I suggest you get back to Washington and complete your assignment there," Kat said.
"For the record, I have spent most of my career in the field, protecting America and the rights of its citizens. I have condemned no one, either openly or in here," Rodgers tapped his right temple. "You, on the other hand, have made up your mind that I am out to get you. If that were true, I would have turned this over to Paul Hood and his bulldogs."
Kat's expression returned to neutral. She looked at her phone and tapped it in her open palm. "It sounded like an attack," she said.
"I'm a soldier. A lot of things I say come out like that."
"Not always." The young woman regarded Rodgers. Neutrality suddenly looked more like exhaustion. "General Mike I really don't know about what Lucy did or did not do. And I do not want to be defensive. It's just this whole thing has been a distraction at the worst possible time. Part of me believes it was designed that way by a person or group that does not want to see the senator become president or even have a voice in this election."
"Do you have any idea who that might be?"
"Sure. Every lobbyist and politician from the center to the left.
Political rivals like Senator Debenport and Governor Jimmy Phyfe of Ohio, both of whom want President Lawrence's job."
"Do you have specific information that either of those men may be involved in the assassination?" Rodgers asked. "If you do, even if it's just a suspicion, this would be the time to tell me."
"There are rumors that Debenport and Lawrence are using the presidency to attract allies for partisan activities, but we have no proof of that," Kat told him. "Anything you can imagine is possible in Washington, but I don't even want to believe that."
Rodgers had always felt like a resistance fighter, risking his life to stop oppression. At the moment he felt like a collaborator, dirty and small. He moved closer. "You just said that anything you can imagine is possible. I have never done a lot of abstract thinking, Kat. I look at maps, at facts, at logistics. Since this thing started, I have been taking one small step at a time, just as I did whenever I led a unit against an enemy position. The difference is, I am accustomed to knowing who my opponent is. This is new ground for me and for Op-Center."
"For all of us," Kat said. "I have never been part of a murder investigation."
"At least your involvement is peripheral at best," Rodgers pointed out.
"For that matter, the spotlight is on Lucy now, not any of your coworkers."
"I still do not believe she had anything to do with it."
"Why? Talk to me."
"Let me ask you something first," she said. "You've killed people.
What does it take to do that?"
"Unless you're a textbook sociopath, all it takes is the first kill to commit the second and third," Rodgers told her.
"I don't understand."
"It's like skydiving or eating snake," Rodgers said. "You've already made the determination that it's something you need to do. What you need then is something to kick you over your gag reflex. One of my Strikers, Corporal Pat Prementine, had to think of a high school bully he hated the first time he lobbed a grenade."
"What did it take for you?"
"Economy."
"What?"
"Two weeks after I arrived, my platoon was doing recon in the southern region of the Central Plateau," Rodgers said. "We bumped into a large "Cong encampment. They tried to surround us, and we knew we would have to punch hard and fast to secure an exit route. I was ordered to hunker down behind a rank-smelling tree trunk and cover