ISLAMABAD
WEDNESDAY, 1000 HOURS
MASTER SERGEANT MALCOLM K. Turnbridge looked like a Marine. The dress blue trousers had a red stripe down each leg, and the starched khaki shirt held sharp creases, several rows of ribbons, and six stripes on each sleeve. The tie was perfectly knotted, and his shined shoes gleamed in the fluorescent lighting, as did the polished black bill of his white cover, which lay on a nearby file cabinet in his office. The overall effect reflected the old Corps recruiting pitch of wanting a few good men: The two jokers standing before him were not them.
“Staff Sergeants Rawls and Stone reporting, Master Sergeant,” said the tall African American, who had the build of a basketball player and wore a faded red Texas Tech T-shirt. “I’m Rawls,” he said. The smaller guy looked like a rat with a flare of long red hair. “I’m Stone,” he said. His T-shirt was black with pink lettering that read I AM VICTORIA’S SECRET. They both wore old blue jeans and tired sneakers.
“Welcome aboard, boys,” said Turnbridge, taking the oversized manila folders from them. “Botha you will get your hairs cut immediately and be totally squared away before setting foot in the public areas of my embassy. That clear? Lookin’ like that, how are you even in the Marines, much less staff sergeants?”
Rawls gave a big smile. “Sorry about the sloppy look, Master Sergeant. We just received the orders last night over at Bagram, and they put us on the first plane to Islamabad this morning.”
Stone also grinned. “Six weeks temporary embassy security with you guys instead of sweating in Afghanistan? Real chow instead of MREs? Clean sheets? American women to look at? Sweet!”
Turnbridge grunted with approval and immediately cut the boys some slack. He once had been an infantry sergeant himself before being ordered into what was then called the Marine Security Guard Battalion, and he showed all of the correct badges and ribbons to prove it. “Awright. I didn’t ask for help, but things are getting kind of tense around here, and I don’t mind plussing up with a couple of experienced men. Have a seat and let’s see what we got here.” He thumbed open the flaps and pulled out the paperwork.
The orders were computer printouts and were routine and straightforward, with all of the appropriate squares filled in, and signed by the colonel who headed the Marine Corps Embassy Security Group based back in Quantico, Virginia. The colonel oversaw the postings of Marine guards at U.S. embassies around the globe. Master Sergeant Turnbridge, in charge of the Islamabad detachment, went through the papers fast and found no irregularities. “Okay. I’ll take you over to the Marine House and introduce you. You’ll like the duty here because the embassy civilians treat us like pets. The other guys will probably make you newbies do the grocery run downtown today as part of the usual initiation.” He put the orders in a desk drawer and reached for his cover.
“Not quite yet, Master Sergeant Turnbridge,” said Rawls. “We have some other hand-carried orders as well.”
Turnbridge, halfway out of his chair, paused at Rawls’s comment and plopped back down. “I knew this was too good to be true.”
Looking serious, Rawls held out a sealed white envelope. There was no smile on the little guy’s face anymore, either. The envelope was marked TOP SECRET. EYES ONLY. DETACHMENT COMMANDER. ISLAMABAD. Turnbridge ripped it open along one edge and unfolded a single sheet of paper.
The new men were to be accepted as part of the Marine detachment but were not under the control of the master sergeant, and no questions were to be asked. He was to provide all requested support, including arms. It was signed by the president of the United States.
Turnbridge folded the letter and returned it. “I’m not comfortable with this, Staff Sergeant Rawls,” he said. “I believe it may put my men and the embassy at risk. This is a sensitive post. Also, since we are talking of orders from outside normal channels, I have to point out that I work for the ambassador here.”
Travis Stone interrupted. “And the ambassador works for the State Department, and the secretary of state works for the president. So here we are.”
“In other words, I just shut up and do what I’m told, huh?” The man’s face reddened as embarrassment and anger crept into his tightly controlled demeanor.
“I know this puts you between a rock and a hard place, Top, and no offense is intended. We just had to get here in a hurry for a special job, and someone decided this was the quickest way.” Rawls paused. “We won’t be here long.”
“And when we leave, we won’t be coming back,” added Stone. “Like Staff Sergeant Rawls, I don’t like big-footing anybody, but we don’t write orders.”
Master Sergeant Turnbridge calmed down. “Okay. Okay. Just burned my ass for a moment there. The orders are legitimate, so although I don’t have much to offer other than cover, my armory is open to you. I’ll furnish whatever you need. We can go pick it out now, get the serial numbers, and you can sign it out.”
“Sorry, but we cannot do that, either, Master Sergeant. We don’t sign for things. We just get stuff and are not supposed to bring it back. When we go, we’re gone.”
“My name is on that inventory list. I’m responsible for it!” said Turnbridge.
“Right. After we pick out what we need, you just send a classified message to the man whose name is on those orders, and he will erase all traces of those weapons from your Serialized Inventory List. It will be as if they were never here. Then they will be replaced with identical weapons carrying the proper paperwork.”
Turnbridge rubbed the prickly hair on his scalp. “Ain’t that some shit. You know, boys, I’ve been around the Corps for a long time, and the only people I know of who can operate like that aren’t even from Force Recon. We talking Task Force Trident here?”
Darren Rawls and Travis Stone just looked at him. “What kind of groceries you want?” Stone asked.