The Escape (John Puller 3)

CHAPTER

19

PULLER WAS DRIVING and Knox sat beside him staring moodily out the window.

“How did you think of the manner in which the neck was broken?” she asked, turning to him. “A horizontal break? You showed the ME how it could be done.”

“The snap-crackle-pop. At least that’s what we call it. It’s a technique they teach in the Rangers and the Marine Corps. It’s used to quickly kill, typically perimeter security of a target you’re trying to take. Hand and forearm cups the top of the head. Other hand and forearm rests at the base of the neck. You apply the requisite foot-pounds of force in separate directions, the neck snaps right in two. Clean and quick and silent.”

“But they don’t teach that in the Air Force?”

“I don’t know what they teach in the Air Force other than to tell their people not to jump out of a perfectly good plane. They leave that to us grunts toting rifles and eighty-pound rucks.”

“Okay, but did you by chance teach your brother the maneuver?”

Now Puller glanced at her. “Are you interrogating me?”

“No, just asking a simple question.”

“I don’t remember. That’s my simple answer.”

She glanced once more out the window. “Looks like a storm is rolling in,” she observed.

“Then maybe we’ll have another blackout and another prison escape,” retorted Puller.

She shot him a glance. “Don’t even joke about something like that.”

“We need to ID that guy.”

“I know.”

“And I don’t want to wait however long it’s going to take the guys in Dover to do it. And since I don’t think he’s an American, they probably won’t find anything anyway.”

“And the ME said he didn’t get a hit in the military database off the prints or facial recognition. So it’s doubtful he’s military.”

“At least not our military. Which leads to another question.”

“What’s that?”

“Four platoons.”

“Right, but now we think your brother might have taken the dead guy’s place. After killing him,” she tacked on, perhaps just to see Puller’s reaction.

He ignored this. “How did the dead guy get into Fort Leavenworth? And how did he manage to join a company of soldiers going to quell a possible crisis at DB?”

“Well, he must’ve gotten onto the base somehow. And it was chaotic. If he was dressed in riot gear I doubt anyone took the time to do roll call.”

“Which means this all was planned out, Knox. The transformers blowing. The backup gas generator breaking down. The sounds of explosion and gunfire. The Army manual is clear on that. You call in reinforcements. Whoever planned this, they knew how the Army would react and they had a guy at Leavenworth ready to join in.”

“But why, Puller? What was he going to accomplish?”

“Helping my brother to escape, maybe?”

“But the guy ended up dead.”

Puller said, “Maybe the plan changed. Maybe someone else other than my brother killed him.”

“How was he planning on getting your brother out? There’s no evidence that he had a second set of riot gear with him. Your brother probably took his gear. In fact, that’s the only way he could have gotten out. So, the guy had to die. And they were about the same size.” She looked at Puller. “Your brother’s about six-three? About two hundred pounds or so?”

“Around that.”

“So was the dead guy.”

“But why go in on a mission like that if you know it’s suicidal?”

“Maybe he didn’t know it was suicidal,” replied Knox.

“Well, if he didn’t then he had to believe he was going in there for some reason that had the possibility of him getting out alive. And we have to find out who came and took those transformers.” He eyed her pointedly when he said this. “That’s what started this whole chain of events. The transformers blowing.”

“Puller, I don’t know who did that. I’m telling you the truth.”

“I did some reading online. INSCOM conducts operations for military commanders.”

“No big secret.”

“But you’re also tasked to do the same for ‘national decision makers.’ That term is both suggestive and fluid. Could include folks like the president, the secretary of state, Speaker of the House.”

“I’m not here on behalf of any of them, I can assure you.”

“And the head of NSA also runs the U.S. Cyber Command.”

“I was aware of that.”

“Interesting.”

She shrugged. “There’s a lot of overlap. Some claim they’re mirror images of each other. Although NSA operates under Title 50 while Cyber Command checks in under Title 10 authority.”

“Is that an important distinction?”

“Maybe, maybe not. There’s talk that the entities will have different leaders in the future. Fact is they’re now both full-time jobs. But they’ll always be operationally related.”

“And they’re both based at Fort Meade.”

“Yes.”

“Kissing cousins, then.”

“Not a term I’d use,” she said, sounding slightly offended.

“Somebody came and got the transformers, Knox. And the guy they took them from said they outranked him. But that’s all he would say. That tells me he was told to say no more. Even to the official investigators.”

“Which tells you what?”

“That there are multiple investigations—both official and unofficial—going on here along with multiple agendas. It’s hard enough to solve a crime without all that baggage. And that baggage is definitely coming from spook central. I can feel it in my official Army jockey shorts.”

“Well, what exactly do you want me to do about it?”

“We’re a team. Or at least that’s what you led me to believe. So based on that the answer to your question should be pretty obvious.”

“You want me to find out if anybody on the intelligence side had anything to do with the transformers’ disappearance?”

He forced a smile. “I’ll make you into an investigator yet, Knox.”

Ignoring his sarcasm, she said, “Maybe that’s what I’m afraid of. Speaking of spooks, any ideas on Daughtrey?”

“If my brother killed the man back in the prison, he could have killed Daughtrey.”

“Why?”

“They both worked at STRATCOM.”

“So you think that’s at the center of this?”

“I have no idea. You know more about that world than I do. And it’s a big one. A lot bigger than most people realize.”

“Did you know that Cyber Command technically comes under STRATCOM’s leadership?”

He looked at her questioningly. “But how does that work with NSA?”

“It’s all very incestuous, Puller. NSA operates from under hundreds of intelligence platforms. You never know where the tentacles are going