“Ah, no,” Tony said sadly. He drew in a deep breath, scrubbed his face, and looked at her in anguish. “The guy that messed with my and Marcia’s parachutes.” He stopped when she held up her hand.
“Remind me again why he messed with them?”
“This all started his first week with our team. He was fresh out of Army bootcamp. I’m all over the place in this telling, but while he was in boot camp, he was almost kicked out because of his entitlement and lack of respect for the drill instructors, or the rules of the military. His father was some big wig in Washington DC. Some senator or something, and he threw his weight around to keep his son in themilitary. Anyway, during his first weeks with the Guard, Ramos saw he was packing his parachute wrong and ran a test. We had to walk, or rather, run ten blocks, climb ten stories, then jump off the edge of the building.” He held up his hand with a grin. “Don’t worry, the fire department was there with their air bag in case a parachute didn’t open. Out of everyone, they all opened except for Burrows. He packed it wrong, and when Marcia saw it, she called him out on it, he back talked, that’s why she had us run ten blocks and jump off the side of the building. When his chute didn’t open, she reamed him out for failure to follow orders, back talking, which ended up with him being written up.” He shook his head sadly as he remembered.
“Marcia was my superior, even though we were the same rank.” At her confused look, he grinned. “She referred to me as her older younger brother. I’m three years older chronically, so that’s the older part.”
“And the younger part?”
“After high school, I went to college to get a degree. I couldn’t find a job in my field, so I joined the National Guard. I thought one weekend a month, and one month in the summer was good to still serve my country. I don’t know if this was bad of me, but after going through boot camp and being assigned to my unit, I was able to get a great job. Marcia went about it differently.”
“How?”
“She joined the National Guard as soon as she graduated from high school, went through boot camp, got assigned to her unit, got a job, then when she was ready, she used the GI Bill to attend college classes. The younger part is that she became a Sergeant before I did. In the end, at the time of the accident, we were both Sergeants but because of her seniority, she was the most senior one. I deferred to her leadership. However, because of the little pissant Burrows, we agreed to stand together, write him up, and report to our Commanding officer. We even recommended that he, Commander Hall, Article 92 Burrows.” At her confused look, he nodded.
“That’s a military thing which kicks a soldier out of the military, and if the allegations against him are proven correct, then he is kicked out with nothing. No VA benefits, no pension, nothing. It would be like he had never served. It’s the cruelest way to kick a soldier out, but it’s not taken lightly by the people that have to issue or investigate it. This course of action can’t be taken lightly, and the people, Marcia and myself, had to have substantial evidence against him in order to go to our commanding officer to get this done. Then it goes up the chain of command, and at each level, an investigation is formed. However, once the Article 92 is issued, the person that received it is immediately stripped of his rank and duties. He or she cannot do anything with the military until the final hearing. In the meantime, theyare sitting there with their hands on their asses waiting for a response. It could take up to six months.”
“Oh wow, so he must have been bad?”
“Yes, and he refused to listen to Marcia when she issued an order. He thought he didn’t have to take orders from a woman. I had overheard him tell many other teammates that he was more important than she was. She had over ten years in the service, he had six months or less. He also kept throwing around that his daddy was someone important. He really was an entitled little shit.”
“Ah, so he was one of those men.”
“Yeah, well, anyway, Commander Hall called Burrows in a day earlier than when we were supposed to meet for our monthly service, so no one on our team was present when he issued the Article 92. Or that was the supposed to be plan.”
“A day earlier than what?”
“Oh, we were about to start our monthly rotation. However, no one knew that we would be called in a day early. There was a big emergency where the National Guard was needed. After receiving his Article 92 Burrows lied to the MPs and said he needed to get something of his from one of the buildings. The buildings we kept the parachutes in. That’s where he messed with them, it wasn’t until we were in the air that Commander Hall notified the pilot not to allow Burrows tojump. He attacked the guy manning the door, and jumped anyway.
“Marcia was the one that realized the chutes were fucked up, she was able to get hers opened halfway, and helped me. As we saw that mountain coming toward us, we heard ungodly screams over the rush of the wind, looked down and saw Burrows hit the ground, then everything went blank as we hit the wall.” He shook his head and sighed heavily. “At least it did for me, I didn’t wake up until weeks later, and I was in the hospital.”
“As for anyone coming after me, not going to happen. Private Burrows died on impact from his parachute not opening. Senator Burrows, his big-wig Daddy, tried to sue both Marcia and I personally, as well as the United States Army for wrongful death. We had all the correct information and proof that we did nothing wrong. Our lawyers had a field day in court against him. They even had proof that the Senator blackmailed or threatened people at the Army boot camp to keep his son in the military. Oh, and if that wasn’t bad enough, after Burrows died, and before the court case, the Senator’s wife divorced him and because the home was in her name, as well as most of the assets, he lost his shirt in the divorce. After the verdict in Marcia’s case, the Senator showed up drunk and threatened her. Last I heard, he was still doing time in prison for his actions.”
“Damn, and he’s still in jail?”
“As far as I know. I was between surgeries, and recoveries when the trials happened, most of it is a blur, all I know is that Senator Burrows was taken down, is serving a prison sentence, and whatever was left of his estate was divided between Marcia and I for compensation for the harm he ultimately caused. I don’t know about Marcia because it’s none of my business, but I only received seven hundred and fifty dollars from his estate. That’s all that was left.”
“Damn, that’s a drop in the bucket.”
“It is, but I don’t care. I didn’t sue him for the money, I sued him to let him know that just because he was a Senator, he didn’t have a right to treat us like he did.”
“It was the principle of it?”
“Correct. But with Private Burrows dead, Mrs. Burrows divorced her husband, took what was owed her, and disappeared. Which I don’t blame her one bit for it, and the former Senator is in prison. So, to answer your original question, no, no one will be coming after me.”
They both sat there in silence for a long time, each lost in their own thoughts.
CHAPTER 15
Staci lookedat Tony as they drove over to Erin’s Way to talk with Jason and Ilsa about her case. Ilsa had called both of them, requesting them to come to the office, because they had uncovered some important information, and they needed to discuss it with the two of them.
As they entered the building the two lawyers worked out of, they didn’t know if it shocked them or not to see Marcia Ramos and Lloyd Berry standing next to the coffee pot. The other couple looked up, then nodded to Tony and Staci, stepping aside so they could get some coffee. It had been three months since Staci had shown the two lawyers the information her previous lawyer had forwarded.
“What’s up?” Staci asked as she settled at a table.
Jason looked at Ilsa, and at her nod, they turned to the four people before him. “We ran into someinformation on your original case, and it is being used in this new case. We invited the four of you here to discuss it. Well, actually, we need to discuss it with Tony and Marcia first.”
“Me?” Marcia asked in shock as she looked at Lloyd, then Tony. “I have no idea what you’re even talking about.”
