Duty from Ashes (3 page)

“Master Sergeant, what would you do after seeing the sorry state of the uniforms in this room?”

“Well, ma’am, they’d be making sure every uniform in their company was properly cleaned and ready for wear. Then they would be polishing boots and brass until not only you but the major here were satisfied,” Adamson answered, a slight smile touching her lips.

“Now, Lieutenant, I believe Major Shaw suggested you step aside so she can speak with your CO.”

Ortega’s voice was now deceptively calm, not that it would fool anyone with an ounce of sense in their head. Of course, Ashlyn wasn’t sure Young possessed that much just then. She had a feeling he was too shell-shocked by the way he’d been handed his head to do anything but simply stand there, trying to look very small.

Young’s green eyes flicked right and then left, as if he were looking for help or a quick exit, but neither came. Instead, silence filled the room as everyone waited for him to make his mind up about what he was going to do. As he did, Ashlyn fought the urge to smirk. The lieutenant had probably received the most thorough dressing down of his short Marine Corps career. What he eventually got out of it was up to him. Hopefully, it would make him a better officer. If not, he might just wind up getting people under his command killed should he ever see actual battle.

Before Young could decide what he was going to do, the door to the inner office slid open. A tall, grey haired man appeared. He took one look at the scene before him and shook his head, his mouth a firm line of disapproval. Then, with a curt nod to Ashlyn, he motioned for her to enter. When the others made to follow, he took a step to his right, barring their path.

“You really don’t want to do that,
sir
.” Ash rasped.

She might be skirting close to the edge of insubordination but she didn’t care. Not after what happened during the sim. For whatever reason, this man had changed the parameters and, unless she missed her guess, had done so without proper authorization. She wanted to know why. Because of that, and because her temper was so close to boiling over, Ash was glad Ortega and the others had come with her. Their presence accomplished two things: it provided witnesses for whatever was said and it would keep her from doing something foolish.

Hopefully.

“Major Shaw.” Lt. Colonel Kieran Brodsky’s voice was cold, his expression hard. No doubt about it, he was almost as angry as was she.

At least he stepped out of the way and let the others enter his office. After closing the door behind them, he moved to sit behind his desk. Elbows on the desktop, fingers steepled before him, he pointedly did not invite Ashlyn to sit.

“You are skirting very close to finding yourself brought up on a charge of insubordination, Major,” he said.

“Respectfully, sir, you are more than welcome to level that, or any other charge for that matter, against me. To be honest, I’d like to see you try to make it stick. Before you do, I suggest you remember that the ensuing investigation will force you to explain, on the record, why the parameters of the sim were changed without warning and why the new sim was nothing more than a replay of the mission that led to the false charges being brought against me and the surviving members of my team.” The words were bitter in her mouth. “Then you’ll be asked to explain why my son – my son, damn you! – was programmed into the sim.”

“What?” Ortega’s shock was mirrored by the stunned gasps from Talbot and Adamson.

“The boy at the end of the sim. I didn’t realize it until it was almost over, but it was Jake.” The fury and fear she’d felt in that moment returned and she fought the urge to take a swing at Brodsky.

“Colonel Brodsky?” Ortega turned a baleful glare on the man.

Not wanting her XO getting into trouble on her account, Ashlyn simply shook her head before indicating the woman should take a step back.

“Frankly, Major, I don’t have to explain anything to you,” Brodsky said. “You know as well as I do that we don’t have to inform teams of a change in mission parameters. Part of the reason why we run these sims is to see how well our people can adapt and react, no matter what the situation they might be presented with. Sorry if you didn’t like what we threw at you but you’re a Marine. You know how to adapt.” Venom dripped from his voice.

“What I know is that these training sims, when set up by the battalion CO – which I happen to be – are not to be changed without first informing said CO. The only exception is if someone higher up the chain of command orders it.” Ashlyn ground out the words. “So, Lt. Colonel, who gave you the order to change the sim and to include my son in it?”

Brodsky didn’t respond. Anger flaring, Ash took a step forward. Then she stopped. Something wasn’t right. It didn’t feel right. Not the way the sim had been changed on them and not the way Brodsky was dealing with her now. It felt like another test, one to see just how far they could push her before she broke. She might be wrong. There were several other possible explanations for what had been done. One thing was certain, however. She most definitely did not like the implications.

“Very well, Lt. Colonel.” She drawled out his rank, her disgust and lack of respect obvious. “As battalion CO, I am entitled to a complete copy of the records of the sim for evaluation by my team. Master Sergeant Adamson will remain here until you have it ready.”

As she spoke, Adamson nodded and moved to take up a position next to the door. Ashlyn felt sure none of them, Brodsky included, had any doubts about what she was doing. Adamson would remain there, and she’d make sure Brodsky did as well, until he turned the records over to her.

“Master Guns, go let the rest of the team know that we will be discussing the sim as soon as Captain Ortega and I return. Inform them that I expect full after action reports from each of them within the next two hours.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Colonel Brodsky, you are lucky that I happen to respect your rank since I don’t particularly respect you right now,” she continued. “Never play this sort of game with me or my people again.”

With that, she turned and left the office, Talbot and Ortega on her heels. No one said anything until they were in the elevator, safely away from prying eyes and ears.

“What the hell was that all about?” Ortega demanded, her eyes flashing with anger.

“I wish to hell I knew.” Ash drew a deep breath, held it for a count of five and then released it. “And I plan to find out. Loco, go make sure our team knows I want to see all of them as soon as I get back. We’ll do our own debrief on the sim as well as discuss what happened and, hopefully, why.”

“There’d better be a damned good reason for what went down, ma’am, or you’re going to have a bunch of angry Devil Dogs on your hands and I don’t mean just our team.”

Ashlyn nodded. Talbot was right. Marines stood together. Devil Dogs did that and more. Unless she missed her guess, she had a feeling Talbot – and Ortega – would be leading the Devil Dogs if she didn’t get answers for them all.

“And us?” Ortega asked.

“I’m going to see what our Division CO has to say about this. I want you to find out everything you can about Brodsky and any scuttlebutt there might be about how he is running the sims.”

C
HAPTER
T
HREE

F
URIOUS
, A
SHLYN
STEPPED
OUT
of the lift and started down the corridor in the direction of her office. Anger still burned deep inside her. Two hours later and she had yet to discover why the sim’s parameters had been changed, much less who had ordered it. That didn’t sit well with her, especially since she would have to tell her people she didn’t have the answers to their questions.

It would be so easy to fall back into the doubts and paranoia she had lived with after the Arterus mission. Then her questions – and objections – had fallen on deaf ears. At least that wasn’t the case this time, at least not yet. Not that it made her feel any better, especially when she thought about the rest of it.

When she had arrived at the office of FirstDiv’s commanding officer, it hadn’t taken her long to realize something was going on. For the first time since returning to active duty, she hadn’t been passed straight through to see Brigadier General Elizabeth Shaw. Before she could even ask why, the general’s aide told her he was under orders not to interrupt her conference. No, he didn’t know how long the general would be.

The niggling concern Ash felt grew when she received the same sort of greeting upon her arrival at General Helen Okafor’s office. The Commandant of the Fuerconese Marine Corps was in a meeting and had left orders that she wasn’t to be disturbed. No, there was no explanation and none had been asked for. The none-too-subtle verbal slap had done more than sting. It had warned Ashlyn that something had happened and she would bet her next month’s pay it meant the Devil Dogs would soon be shipping out. That meant she needed to be prepared, as did the rest of the battalion. She would just have to worry about the sim later, after she found out what was going on.

Doing her best to push down her concerns, Ash entered her office. One look around the anteroom and she stopped short. A young corporal sat behind the desk across the room and gave her an apologetic look. Before she could ask what was wrong, the door to her private office slid open and Ortega appeared. One look at her XO’s expression was all Ashlyn needed to know she wasn’t going to get the few minutes to collect her thoughts that she’d hoped for.

“Nolan, send notice out to the battalion of PT at 0500 in the morning followed by a briefing of company commanders at 0630. Uniform of the day will be BDUs. Then confirm with Colonel Johnson that Captain Ortega and I are to meet with him at 1100 hours.”

“Yes, ma’am.” The young man quickly noted all she said and she nodded in approval.

“Captain Ortega will have changes to the training schedule for the next week to you shortly. Once she does, confirm everything with the O-Course and the like. Then send it out. Make sure you get confirmation not only from our company commanders but the individual platoon commanders as well.”

“Understood, ma’am.”

Trusting that he did, she turned her attention to her XO. Ortega held her gaze for a moment and then moved aside so she could step through the doorway. As she did, Ash didn’t know whether to sigh or pound her head against the wall in frustration. What she did know was that she should have expected this.

This
was finding not only her XO but also Adamson and Talbot waiting for her. At least the rest of those who had been part of the sim weren’t there as well. Before she could say as much, Ortega handed her a mug of coffee and motioned for her to be seated.

“Consider yourself lucky it’s just the three of us, Ash,” Ortega said as she made sure the office door was securely shut. “MJ and Kevin managed to convince the others to let them handle this
debriefing
. But I warn you everyone is ready to go straight to General Okafor to demand an explanation for what happened. So, what did you find out?”

For a moment, Ash didn’t reply. It didn’t surprise her to learn the rest of the team wanted answers. If their positions were reversed, she’d feel the same way. That was one reason the team was as strong as it was. They looked out for one another, had each other’s back. Hopefully, they would give her and their superiors time to find the answers they all wanted.

Setting her mug on the desktop, she leaned back, glad Ortega had made sure the door was securely shut behind them. The last thing she wanted was for someone to overhear what she had to say.

“Nothing.” She shook her head when Ortega started to speak. “When I got to my mother’s office, her aide wouldn’t let me talk to her, wouldn’t even tell her I was there. When I asked how long before she’d be available, he told me he didn’t know.” She paused, giving the others a moment to consider what she said.

“While I can’t tell you why or what was so important that he wouldn’t even let her know I was there, I can tell you he was tense and worried. More importantly, so was Lt. Garrity when I tried to speak with General Okafor. So I left my report on the sim as well as a request to meet with both my mother and the Commandant before returning here.”

She lifted her mug and sipped. As she did, she waited. From the troubled expressions worn by the others, she had no doubt they were as worried as was she. But would they come to the same conclusions?

“The Callusians?” Ortega asked simply.

“That would be my guess,” Ash replied. “If we’re right, I expect we will be shipping out very soon. So we need to make sure everything is ready. That means not only making sure the Devil Dogs are ready but that we have a line on what happened today and why.”

“I may have a few answers where that’s concerned.” Ortega produced her datapad and briefly consulted it. “I did a little research into Brodsky and I don’t like what I’ve found so far.”

Concerned, Ash motioned for her to continue.

“I’ll start by saying this isn’t the first time he has changed the parameters of a sim without first informing the CO. I’ve uncovered at least three other times he’s done so. Each time, when called on it by the brass, he has responded much as he did today. Two of the instances involved Marine exercises.”

“Why hasn’t he been disciplined then?”

Or had he?

“My sources tell me he explained it away each time by saying he was following orders.”

“What? Whose orders?” Ash leaned forward, hands on her desk, eyes flashing.

“Dr. Jay Hines.”

For a moment, no one said anything. Ashlyn leaned back, stunned. Then Adamson surged to her feet. Anger flashed across her expression. Without a word, she crossed the office to the far wall. For a moment, Ashlyn wondered if the master sergeant was going to put her fist through the wall. It certainly looked like the blonde was considering it, not that Ash blamed her. She’d actually punched the wall in her mother’s office during the retelling of what happened and she had the sore knuckles to prove it.