Jason invited Staci to tell them about her first case of being sued for her designs by the professors, and the new case, but Ilsa filled in the blanks on that one because it had ended up that Staci hadn’t even read the information Paula had sent her.
“Damn,” both Lloyd and Marcia said. Then Marcia turned toward Jason. “Okay, I understand it now, but what does this have to do with me?”
Jason scrubbed his face, rose to his feet, and went to refill his coffee cup. Ilsa began the conversation, while Jason stayed over by the refreshment table.
“This new information the professors say they have is suspect. We have used Kevin Lassiter in Seattle, Duane Manchester, and Jake Cogburn to dig for information when we needed it. In the course of those investigations some disturbing news keeps popping up.”
“What?” Staci asked as she reached over and gripped Tony’s hand hard enough for him to wince, but he didn’t tell her to let go.
Jason walked around to face them, but didn’t sitback down. “You guys know that I was a lawyer for the DOD, right?”
“I do,” Lloyd said, and looked at the others. “A few years back, while I was still in the military, Jason came to the base Delta team was stationed on overseas. We were on our deployment and he asked for volunteers for a highly classified mission. Delta team took the challenge.” He looked at Jason and received a nod. “I can’t tell you what we did, but there were six of us on that team. Myself, Clark, Reid, Perry, Ryan, and Denver. It was so sensitive that once we walked off base, we were on our own. If we ran into trouble, no one was coming for us. No teammates, no US military, no Congressmen, not even our commanding officer who introduced Black to us. Completely alone.”
“Ah,” Tony said with a nod. “One of those missions.”
“Correct. It took us two years to complete it. We were successful in what we were tasked to do. When we returned and were debriefed, Jason was the one conducting the entire debriefing. It took six weeks for that debriefing, then the six of us, were transferred to Coronado. On the way there, we stopped here to support Clark, because that mission I just mentioned was dark. During that time, his parents had been killed, and Erin had lost her hand. We came here for him, and once we were released from the military, we made our way here. We were welcomed,given a job, and I met the love of my life.” He looked at Marcia with a sappy smile.
Jason nodded and turned toward Staci then. “Iwas the guy in DC that helpedyou get the grant to work on veterans. I didn’t know everyone here, except for the former Delta Team. When I advocated for you to receive the grant, they weren’t even a thought in my head. I did what I did because I had seen veterans on the streets of DC that the government forgot about. Homeless, begging, some in wheelchairs, and some using crutches. It made me sick that the government could toss away human beings after serving their country.” He shook his head and sighed heavily. “That’s neither here nor there now, but like I said, in the course of reading your previous case, and the new information, I can honestly say that the professors are grasping at straws. Also, I invited you here to discuss something with Tony and Marcia.”
“Again, why me?” Marcia asked.
Jason took another deep breath and let it out in a rush. “I need the two of you to tell me what you know professionally about Private Caleb Burrows, Jr.”
“Son of a bitch!” Marcia and Tony both yelled, and jumped to their feet. It took a few moments for them to calm down, then Tony looked at Marcia with a nod, indicating for her to go first.
“What do you want to know?”
“Everything, if you can, keep your personal observations out of it. I need the military interaction with him.”
Before either of them spoke, the door opened, and Jake Cogburn entered, carrying several bags, Duane Manchester was right behind him with more. They didn’t speak, but set up the food Jake had brought, and Jason told everyone to fill a plate, because they would be there for some time.
Once they settled back down, Jake spoke, “Don’t mind me, I’m here to take notes to see if I have to do any more investigating.”
“Me too,” Duane said with a nod.
For the next four hours, both Marcia and Tony took turns on how they had interacted as superiors to not only Burrows, Jr, but the rest of the unit.
“One question,” Jason said at one point.
“What’s that?” Tony asked.
“This is for Marcia, who was your lawyer when your case went to court?”
“Ethan Lyons, he was from JAG.”
Everyone sat back when a slow, almost evil, smile came across Jason’s face. “I know him. Personally and professionally.” He walked over to the table, picked up his phone, and pressed several numbers. He nodded, turned it, and held it up. “I still have his contact information. I’ll reach out to him to discuss your case. Now, who actually issued the Article 92 against Private Burrows?”
“Our commander,” Marcia said, then went on to tell the story of how they had learned it had been issued, when they got the call in the plane.
“What is his name?” Ilsa asked.
“Commander Shay Hall,” Tony said. He turned to Duane and Jake. “You ran a background check on him shortly after I arrived here.”
The two men nodded and turned to Jason. “That’s right, and he passed with flying colors. The only thing preventing him from coming to Colorado is he’s still got time left to serve. If my calculations are correct, he still has roughly five months left before he retires with twenty years of service in the National Guard.”
“Good, I’m going to need his contact information. I’m going to subpoena him to testify on Staci’s behalf at the trial for this case.”
“Why?” Staci asked. “All this is fascinating, and I’m glad that Tony and Marcia got justice for what that terrible person did to them, but what does it have to do with my case?”
