Brodie looked back at Bucky, standing motionless beneath the desert sun, like a high-noon gunslinger in some perverted Western, without a weapon or arms or even, apparently, the will to live.
Sergeant Mendez then walked slowly to the general. “I am sorry, sir.”
“Don’t be sorry,” said Morgan. “Commit to this mutiny or standyour ground beside me. Either way, own your goddamn choice, Hector.”
Mendez appeared pained by that. He nodded slowly, then said, “I am disarming you now, sir.” Mendez then recited the Article 31 rights as he removed the general’s pistol from his holster and handed it to another MP. He gestured toward his car. “Let’s go, General.”
Morgan did not move. He locked his large brown eyes on Scott Brodie. Then he said, “Sergeant Miller, what is the injury radius of your munition?”
“A hundred and thirty meters, sir.”
“Then do your goddamn duty.”
Miller raised his M4 and aimed at Bucky, who remained still.
Colonel Howe strode toward Miller. “Stand down, Sergeant!”
Miller hesitated a moment, then said, “Fuck it,” and pulled the trigger.
Brodie whipped his head around in time to catch sight of Bucky for an instant before the grenade hit it center mass and blew the robot to pieces.
CHAPTER 25
CHARRED AND TWISTED SHARDS OFmetal plating littered the asphalt. Nests of insulated wiring steamed and blistered from the heat, creating an acrid stench. Bucky’s head, deformed beyond recognition from the blast, lay on its side, smoldering.
No one moved. Even the Rangers, who should have been the most thrilled to see one of their robotic tormentors blown apart, looked shocked.
Colonel Howe glared at the general. “There’s no coming back from this, sir.”
Morgan stared back. “No. There isn’t.”
Then Colonel Howe, taking on her new self-declared role as camp commander, said, “Sergeant Mendez, take General Morgan to his quarters and post a twenty-four-hour guard.”
Mendez replied, “Yes, ma’am.”
He looked at Morgan, who glared back at him a moment, then turned and walked slowly off the parade ground toward Mendez’s MP vehicle. Mendez quickly followed.
Captain Pickman, who, as Sergeant Miller had put it, followed whichever way the wind was blowing, kept his mouth shut as he watched Mendez drive off with the general. The captain must have been sensing a distinct change in the weather.
Howe turned to another MP, Corporal Nimitz. “Corporal, take Sergeant Miller to the brig.”
Nimitz hesitated. He looked at Sergeant Miller, who was still holding his M4 and grenade launcher and was flanked by four other armedRangers. The corporal replied, “Yes, ma’am.” He walked slowly toward Miller.
Miller said to Howe, “I obeyed a direct order issued by the camp commander.”
“It was an unlawful order,” replied Howe. “And it was issued after I had relieved the general of command.”
Miller stared at the colonel. “I didn’t go to Officer Candidate School, ma’am, but even I know a colonel can’t remove a general without authorization from higher up the chain. As General Morgan said, this is a mutiny. And if you had any sense at all, you’d repeat what I just did fifty-nine more times.”
Major Klasky said to Miller, “You’re out of line, Sergeant.”
The Rangers around Miller looked extremely pissed off, and as Corporal Nimitz approached them, everyone was on edge.
Then Miller handed his M4 and his sidearm to his fellow Rangers and said to them, “Staff Sergeant O’Connor is your platoon leader while I take a nap in the brig, boys. This will sort itself out.” Turning to Nimitz, he said, “Let’s take a walk, Corporal,” and headed toward the brig, with Nimitz rushing to catch up.
Colonel Howe and Major Klasky approached Brodie and Taylor. Howe said, “I apologize for the unprofessionalism and chaos displayed here today. The truth is, I’ve had my concerns about the general for a while, but I didn’t think he’d go this far.”
Brodie looked again at the charred debris scattered across the parade ground. “We need to get the D-17s out of this facility to be examined by a neutral party.”
