The Teeth of the Tiger - Tom Clancy [37]
"What the hell are you doing here?" Dominic was the first to ask.
"Me? What about you?" Brian shot back, heading to help with his brother's bags. "I read about your shoot in Alabama. What's the story?"
"Pedophile," Dominic replied, pulling out his two-suiter. "Raped and killed a cute little girl. I got there about half an hour too late."
"Hey, ain't nobody perfect, Enzo. Papers said you put an end to his career."
Dominic looked right into Brian's eyes. "Yeah, I managed to accomplish that."
"How, exactly?"
"Three in the chest."
"Works every time," Captain Brian Caruso observed. "And no lawyers to cry over his body."
"No, not this time." His words were not the least bit jolly, but his brother heard the cold satisfaction.
"With this, eh?" The Marine lifted his brother's automatic from its holster. "Looks nice," he said.
"It shoots pretty good. Loaded, bro, do be careful."
Brian ejected the magazine and cleared the chamber. "Ten millimeter?"
"That's right. FBI-issue. Makes nice holes. The Bureau went back to it after Inspector O'Day had that shoot-out with the bad guys-you know, Uncle Jack's little girl."
Brian remembered the story well: the attack on Katie Ryan at her school shortly after her dad had become President, the shoot-out, the kills.
"That dude had his shit wired pretty tight," he said. "And you know; he's not even an ex-Marine. He was a Navy puke before he turned cop. That's what they said at Quantico, anyway."
"They did a training tape of the job. I met him once, just shook his hand with twenty other guys. Son of a bitch can shoot. He talked about waiting for your chance and making the first shot count. He double-tapped both their heads."
"How did he keep his cool?" The rescue of Katie Ryan had struck home for both Caruso boys. She was, after all, their first cousin, and a nice little girl, the image of her mother.
"Hey, you smelled the smoke over there. How did you keep yours?"
"Training. I had Marines to look after, bro."
Together, they manhandled Dominic's things inside. Brian showed the way upstairs. They had separate bedrooms, next to each other. Then they came back to the kitchen. Both got coffee and sat at the kitchen table.
"So, how's life in the Marine Corps, Aldo?"
"Gonna make major soon, Enzo. Got myself a Silver Star for what I did over there-wasn't that big a deal, really, I just did what they trained me to do. One of my men got shot up, but he's okay now. We didn't bag the guy we were after-he wasn't in a mood to surrender, so Gunny Sullivan sent him off to see Allah-but we got two live ones and they talked some, gave us some good information, the Intel guys told me."
"What did you get the pretty ribbon for?" Dominic asked pointedly.
"Mainly for staying alive. I shot three of the bad guys myself. Weren't even hard shots, really. I just took 'em. Later they asked me if I had any nightmares about it. The Marine Corps just has too many doctors around-and they're all squids."
"Bureau's the same way, but I blew it off. No bad dreams about that bastard. The poor little girl. I should've shot his dick off."
"Why didn't you?"
"'Cause that doesn't kill your ass, Aldo. But three in the heart does."
"You didn't shoot him on the spur of the moment, did you?"
"Not exactly, but-"
"And that's why you're here, Special Agent Caruso," a man said, entering the room. He was over six feet, a very fit fifty, both of the others thought.
"Who are you, sir?" Brian asked.
"Pete Alexander," the man answered. "I was supposed to meet you last-"
"No, actually you weren't, but that's what we told the general." Alexander sat down with his own cup of coffee.
"So, who are you, then?" Dominic asked.
"I'm your training officer."
"Just you?" Brian asked.
"Training for what?" Dominic asked at the same time.
"No, not just me, but I'm the one who'll be here all the time. And the nature of the training will show you what you're training for," he answered. "Okay, you want to know about me. I graduated Yale thirty