“When I completed there, I arrived at Pendleton. My MOS was logistics. One CO called me a puzzle solver. Will looked me up and started to pursue me. He poured it on. I was an idiot and thought I was in love. When he proposed, I accepted. My brother instantly disliked him, and my father gave him the stink eye.” She giggled nervously. “After I was home and alert, Scott told me he asked for the transfer to Pendleton to follow me.”
“Will looked you up?” Wes asked.
“Yes.” She cocked her head. “I'm older and a lot wiser now. And I realize what love is and what love isn't.”
Talking about Will, she couldn't face the men with her. “Will was on his way up the command structure, Mr. Military Police. And the way things were going in the Middle East, I knew it was a matter of time before I’d be deployed. By that time, there were no ifs, ands, or buts; everyone went through the specialized training at Twentynine Palms.
“After spending six months at Pendleton, I was transferred there for training. When I was at Pendleton, being a second lieutenant, I incurred some harassment, but it wasn't too bad. I was working in the logistics office with a bunch of other women, and the men there had already seen our strengths, plus at the time, I didn't realize, but as Will Cook's fiancée, I gained a level of respect. I learned it was for him and not for me. I also learned along the way that he valued me as a wife-to-be. He could claim his trophy wife was an Army General's daughter and an Annapolis graduate. His plan for me was to resign my commission and become a wife and mother.
“Funny thing, he never asked me what I wanted. I was considering breaking the engagement. He never asked me a lot, I realize now. Will got himself transferred to Twentynine Palms for the duration of my training. I thought at the time it was cute. Now after everything that's happened, I'm not so sure.”She hesitated in her speech.
“Did you tell anyone you were thinking about ending the engagement?” Wes asked.
“I told my girlfriends, Second Lieutenants Iris Cohen and Mikki McCrory. I also mentioned it to Scott and my dad. Both cheered.”
“Troy told us he called you Gwenny. Did anyone else?” Wes asked.
A rod seemed to replace her spine, and sweat formed on her top lip. “Will’s friends. They all graduated from the Samuel P. Carter Military Academy...their Corps of Cadets. At the time, not quite knowing how things worked, I thought it was pretty great that their small group all ended up stationed together.”
“All?” Zach asked.
Gwen looked up at the ceiling and shook her head. “Well, twelve of them were together. Twelve angry men,” she mumbled.
Zach held his chin and stared at her. She was surprised he let the comment about the angry men go for the moment.
“You said Cook never asked you a lot. Like what?” Zach zeroed in.
“My name, Gwenny. Though, Fani calls me Circe. I don’t know which is worse.” Gwen looked down. “Will was controlling. He chose whom I spent my time with. He chose my civilian outfits. Made dinner plans. Chose what we would do. When we would have relations and how.” She closed her eyes and held back embarrassed tears.
“Gwen, did William Cook hurt you?” Zach asked.
She was still, her eyes focused on a paperclip on the table. “‘Gwenny, I told you how I wanted this,’slap. ‘Gwenny, change your clothes,’punch. ‘Gwenny, on your knees,’” she sniffed. “To answer your question, yes, he hurt me repeatedly. I was a Marine. I never fought back,” she whispered, swallowing hard. “I’m so ashamed.”
Zack tipped his head. “You have nothing to be ashamed of. Will Cook is an abuser. Abusers can be charming and cruel all wrapped into one. Gwen, other than beating you, did Will hurt you in any other way?”
Gwen wobbled her head, trying to escape the truth. One look at Zack’s and Wes’s faces and it was obvious they knew the answer to the question. “If I didn’t meet his demands, or…” she drifted off. “There was no such thing as saying no.”
“Or what?” Zach caught the extra word.
“Or…the demands of his friends.” She paraphrased the plot of the novel: “Twelve angry men deliberating the fate of a young woman.” Gwen dropped her face into her hands.
Wes’s voice was smooth and caring. “I’m sorry. Are you able to continue? Or do you need a break?” He pressed his lips together.
Small tremors ran through her. “I might not come back. Go on.” She wanted to run and never look back. Her eyes met Zach’s. The softness in them defied his persona.
“Are you able to provide us the names of the twelve men? You said you were at the whim of what these men wanted. Just to be clear, that included sexual favors? And was there any other reason why you consider these men angry?” Zach asked.
Gwen looked up and faced Zack and Wes, her eyes red-rimmed with tears. “To gain peace, I did not fight the caliph or el-Saab when they wanted something from me. In exchange, I received food, water, a bath, and a soft bed.
“With Will and his friends, the only thing I received in return was having it repeat over another day. I never knew what would trigger them. I closed my eyes to a lot of their horrendous behaviors. I was not brave; it was self-preservation. There was no getting away. No advancement and no career if I fought.”
If Troy didn't think I was a whore before, he will now…
“They all held rank and were spread around the command, from medical through intelligence, Marine Air-Ground Task Force (MAGTF) Plans, Training, Linguistics,
Public Affairs, Legal Services and Military Police and Corrections. They would sit around and go through case files and pick lives they wanted to make miserable. Their language and cruelty about victims of any type of assault, especially sexual assault, made me want to vomit.
“Two of them were psychiatrists. Those two pigs would sit there with this huge book and try to figure out what diagnosis they could attribute to a victim so they were not credible, nor was the service responsible for their care if they left.”
